Jodi Bailey came in quicker than I had thought, so I missed her coming in. She was snacking her dogs some pork fat snacks when I caught up to her in the dog lot. Of all the mushers coming in here this morning, or better said, late morning, she was by far the most upbeat. Cheery and even singing. Her dogs clearly reflected that attitude. She also immediately declared her 24 hour layover.

Each one of her 14 dogs snatched the fatty snack out of Jodi’s hand. THAT is a good sign for a well managed dog team. The dogs are within their comfort zone. Hungry and not exhausted. At this point in the race, specially at these temperatures, fat is one of the best foods to offer to them. The dogs metabolism has changed, as to where before the race such a calorie rich snack would most likely go through their digestive tract too quickly resulting in (you know what I mean); it is now fully absorbed by the system. 

Although Jodi is in 9th place right now, that will change with the next group of mushers arriving. The earlier front runners of the race are now en route. They are also moving very well at 8 plus miles an hour. No surprise after coming freshly off a long rest. Jeff King, Mitch Seavey and Aliy Zirkle all seem to go straight through to Huslia, most likely in a 10 hr run. We might see Jeff around 4:30 p.m. If he then rests for about 5 hrs, that would get him out of here by 9.30 p.m., which would be very close to when Aaron Burmeister is allowed to leave after fulfilling his mandatory 24 hour break.

Here are some pictures of Jodi’s nice looking team: