Yesterday was a long day. I saw my first snow machine (think Todd Palin) up close, and then there were hundreds of them coming down the hill like North Koreans over the 38th parallel in the 50's. A better analogy for my younger grandchildren would be giant ants charging out of a giant ant hill. Anyway, I developed a pretty strong aversion to the loud, gasoline fume belching monsters that permeated my trail guard position for the restart, on the far side of Willow Lake. Fortunately, all the riders (adults and teenagers alike) were extremely cooperative and we didn't lose a single dog, sled, or musher at position #1. I can't speak for positions #2 through #8. I'll be posting several photos to give you a taste of what it was like at the official start (restart) of the Last Great Race. The best photos (Jeff King, Martin Buser, and Lance Mackey, all multiple winners) are above and were taken by Vicki Lumpkins who, along with husband Bob, worked as a dog handler so had a lot more time (and a better place) to take good photos than I who was busy protecting the human and canine participants from the hoards of snow machines out on the trail.
