Are you a musher, you look like one? ” No, sorry I am not “. O.k. then I have to serve you a breakfast burrito, if you were a musher you would get a steak. This pretty much sums up the level of service here in Taktona. I am more than happy to take the breakfast burrito. 

Takotna is not quite as busy at is has been in the past. A few teams are resting very early for their 24 hr layover, as far back as Nikolai:  Matt Failor ( due to knife injury ), Hugh Neff who had a rough run through the burn and Hans Gatt whose dogs do not appear to eat well. McGrath also has a few teams there; notably Wade Marrs who arrived in 3rd position and is battling a cold. Quite a few teams are also pushing on either already resting in Ophir or even  being en route to Cripple. In other years, specially heavy snow years, teams bunch up a lot more here in Taktona, specially when reports or rumours of unbroken trail over to Cripple ( Iditarod in odd years ) make the rounds. With the low snow cover having an unbroken trail is not an issue.

Of course now the more experienced mushers, who still rest here in Takotna, as they always do, are questioned for their wisdom. ” Don’t you think its better to try something new.”. Mitch Seavey had a very clear answer to that: ” You can never go wrong with Takotna “. The other places. You might have an advantage, but you might not. It’s a gamble. He prefers the amenities of Takotna, not having to melt snow for dog water, with hot water being readily available. It speeds up things and he feels he is getting more quality rest himself. Plus Mitch brings up another valid point. ” Right now I stop here with a team which could go further. Why run them till they get tired and then 24? ” Tired for sure is not the word describing Mitch’s team at all. They are on fire. 

It is nice to catch up with mushers I have not seen for a while, like Karin Hendrikson and Ed Stielstra. Both were milling around taking care of their dogs. Ed commented on how well the trail has treated him to this point: ” I have gotten 2 hrs of sleep on every stop thus far “. That indeed is a luxury and he did not look tired at all .He arrived after a fast 2 hrs 17 minutes runtime with 15 dogs. The second half of the race should be fun for him too. Karin was taking booties off her dogs, her technique quite unique, sliding on her butt down the hill from dog to dog : ” bending over is not an option right now “. Karin is still recuperating from a training accident in the fall of 2014 where her team got hit by an out of control vehicle.  It is nice to see her back in the race and doing well, 14 dogs strong.  Pete Kaiser was also limping around. I had never seen him limp before and upon inquiring he assured me that nothing had happened and that he has been battling a bad ankle for a while now, unrelated to running dogs.

This is where we get internet in Takotna; as in most villages, the schools are communications headquarters. Notice the big satellite dishes out front. I had hoped to see Dick Newton around and sure enough, he was out early in the morning riding his snow machine. A little new accessory  in form of a cane, does not deter this man from enjoying what he loves doing. He proudly showed me his new addition to this machine, a nicely welded aluminum auxiliary fuel tank. ” Now I can go 350 miles in one shot “. Let it be noted, that Dick must be well over 75 year young…. and talking about taking 350 mile snogo trips.