YQ: The Day After

All is quiet here at the kennel this morning. It's a warm 30F and the dogs are stretched out on their houses or on the cool snow enjoying the warmth of the sun. The humans are relaxing also. I'm not sure we'll hear too much from Allen today.

Last night was exciting huh?

After watching Brent and his fantastic team cross the line, the crew had just over an hour to wait before we got to see our team coming down the river. We heard them coming before we saw them as there were so many people lining the river and the supporters around the bend started cheering when they saw them. It was a thrilling moment to watch the headlamp come closer then to see the dogs loping and trotting with wagging tails and animated expressions. What a nice sight! And so nice to be able to get our hands on the dogs! Since Dawson the handler crew has had to be "hands off" at checkpoints and that's difficult when dogs you see every day wonder why you aren't petting them, so we enjoyed giving our friends some love.

As soon as they crossed the line the dogs wolfed down their steaks and Allen spent time thanking each dog before talking to the crowd and media. The Quest Facebook page has a good video of the team crossing the line and Allen's interview with Marty Steury, the YQ Executive Director - Alaska. One of the questions Allen was asked was "What happened between Two Rivers and Fairbanks?" Turns out, with so many trails in our neighborhood that lead to our kennel, the dogs got a bit confused about where they were going so Allen needed to coach them a bit through it. Once they got past, it was all good again and they were on their way but not before Brent had gotten past them.

A nice touch was as both teams cross the finish line the church bells rang out, I believe in tribute for George Attla who recently passed away.

Allen was amazed at the number of people out on the trails cheering the teams on, from the Two Rivers checkpoint, along Chena Hot Springs Road and at the Pleasant Valley Store then along the Chena River near the end and at the finish line. He said that is so good for the race and hopes it keeps getting bigger and bigger every year!

We'll have more soon.