In McGrath for his 24-hour layover is Travis Beals.  He’s a three year veteran.  In his first two runs to Nome, he claimed 37th place each time.  In 2015 he improved to 11th.  Do the math, that’s 26 places.

He’s back this year with a core of veterans and some younger dogs for the sake of building for the future.  Travis says his team is very strong up front with veteran leaders.  He has high hopes for the younger dogs running further back toward the sled.

Travis had been in the checkpoint for six hours and was out feeding this morning at sunrise.  Travis likens the 24-hour layover to pushing the reset button on an outlet or choosing restart on a your computer.  He feels doing that at mile 311 fits his team best.  Although he says he still plans to rest a couple of hours 18 niles up the trail in Takotna just to have some of the famous Takotna pie.  Does Travis have a favorite pie that his heart is set on?  No, he just loves pie, any and all pie.

Beals is using a spreader on his tug lines where they attach to the gang line.  There are physical principles that suggest this system is more efficient in energy application.  The angle between tug line and gang line is consistent all the time and it’s fixed at an efficient gradient.  That’s all well and good except they are much harder to deal with if it’s necessary to replace a tug line.  There’s a lesson here for teachers – efficiency of movement and application of force.

Newly Engaged in 2013

Travis is really a bundle of energy.  Most pictures are blurred as he’s moving up and down the dogs line.  He’s distributing food – a soupy mix of kibble, chicken skins and beef.  Then he offers fish snacks.  He sees a dog he thinks needs a little more straw then while he’s dropping straw he does a little massage on a wrist or shoulder.  The dogs literally smile.  Beals says that compared to his other teams, the younger dogs are a bit higher maintenance.

Thinking back to Beals‘ rookie run in 2013 there are several things that come to mind.  Perhaps first and foremost was that he proposed to the love of his life, Sarah Stokey in Nome under the burled arch.  He hinted that to us here in McGrath.  He contacted his parents to bring him a ring for when he popped the question.  Yes, was Sarah’s reply.  

When Travis left Unalakleet, I was standing on the bridge.  As he passed under the bridge he looked back up to where I was standing, pumped his fist and yelled, “I’m going to Nome!”  Later he said, “That’s when I realized I was going to make it.”

HIs finance, Sarah Stokey is expected into McGrath within the hour, well before Travis completes his 24-hour layover.

Travis leaves Unalakleet in 2013