Grumpelstiltskin

It took a whole week, but me and all the stuff are now out in Kipnuk. Our weather decided to go ahead and stay ridiculous for just a little while longer. We had plenty of freezing rain, and then rain on top of that, which made the act of coming to a complete stop a thing of the past in Bethel. I didn't do any driving in this stuff, but was on a couple of hairy rides around town. And if it wasn't rain, it was wind. Have you ever said this to the driver of the vehicle you are in?: "hey, watch out for that sheet of corrugated steel that's flying at us." I have. Apparently high winds and freezing rain are even worse for air travel.

Because of the hot and weird weather, the K-300 was actually postponed. The start time was moved all the way back to Sunday at noon. Sadly, due to a variety of slow-ups, including my giving up on people coming/not being bundled up when they arrived, we missed the start. Even worse than missing the start was the disappointment of Erin at having missed the start. She assumed the darker, sinister twin of hers which I call Grumpelstiltskin. I hadn't seen anything like that since we took a road trip and I was slow to understand something called the Thumb-O-Meter. But that's another story. The point is that we were on disappointment level orange.

Fortunately, not all was lost. The K-300 is not the only race that takes off from Bethel each year. We were in time to see the start of the Bogus 150, but it was too cool out for us to wait another hour to see the start of the Akiak Dash. For me, the experience was still great. It was amazing to see how excited some of the dogs were to be able to run. I never made it up to the Beargrease when I lived in northern Wisconsin, so just seeing the teams in action made quite an impression. Erin and Macy seemed happy to see it too, especially Macy. I held her pudgy little rump up where she could see the teams of dogs. She looked and shook. Erin says that Macy gets big ideas and dreams big after the K-300. So we were having a better time at this point. I still wasn't about to hand Erin a flamethrower.

I think the end of the race would be even better to see. Maybe some other time. I do hope Erin and Macy find a way to make it there tomorrow for the finish. She was sweet enough, despite everything, to bring me a delicious cheeseburger. Erin, that is. Macy gave me nothing but bad attitude.

A few doggie pics, and then that's enough for today, I need to make a good impression in the morning. I would have some better pictures, but for some reason my camera decided to have a mind of its own when the race started.