Hi Boys and Girls,

Good Morning.  I’m so confused.  I felt like I got up at my usual 5am getting up time but the clock said it was 6am.  It couldn’t be 6am because it was still very dark out and where I live it’s been just getting light out at 6am.  My human tried to explain this thing called Daylight Savings Time.  It sure doesn’t make sense to me, does it to you?  Anyway, I hope you remembered to reset your clocks to this new time.

Now for today’s update:

DATE: 3/11/2012 early edition

TIME: 1:17

LEADERS: 1. Aily Zirkle, 2. John Baker, 3. Mitch Seavey, 4. Aaron Burmeister, 5. Dallas Seavey

WHERE ARE THE MUSHERS: The top 5 have all left Kaltag along with 4 others.  There are 9 mushers in Kaltag, 5 mushers are on their way to Kaltag, 9 mushers are in Nulato, 6 mushers are on their way to Nulato, 8 mushers are in Galena, 6 mushers are on their way to Galena, 3 mushers are in Ruby, 4 mushers are on their way to Ruby, and 3 mushers are in Cripple.  13 mushers still need to complete their 8 hour mandatory rest.

RED LANTERN POSITION; Bob Chlupach who is in Cripple

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR POSITION: Brent Sass is the lead Rookie in 18th place and he is in Kaltag.

WEATHER: The weather in Galena is -14 degrees F and fair.  The weather in Kaltag is -17 degree F and mostly cloudy. It’s a little chilly out there tonight (it’s still night in Alaska).

SCRATCHED: I posted last night that Zoya DeNure scratched but at that time no reason was being given.  Zoya scratched over concern for her dogs.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: I have heard a lot of people talk about this time change thing. How do you think it will affect the mushers total time on the trail?

FAN QUESTION: JK asked asked how many dogs are needed to finish the race?

A musher must finish with at least 5 dogs.

This has been a great race so far.  Keep those questions and comments coming.

Until later today,

Gypsy