I am doing true long distance armchair mushing, as I decided to stay in Koyuk for another night. For one I see some mushers I have not seen in a while, but more than anything, knowing that Elim is very limited for space and a lot of mushers are headed there, there is better sleeping here, with only 3 mushers en route and than quite a gap. Plus taking pictures at night is not as fun neither as during the daytime.
Mitch managed to secure himself a 2 hrs lead in his INTIME into Elim. Time will tell what the chase pack is doing. Jeff dropped into that chase pack, with a second, most likely not planned, stop en route. Also noticeable is that Ken Anderson after a long nonstop run across the sound is sitting in about the same spot as Jeff sat this morning. 7 hrs 20 minutes runtimes to Elim, which most of the front runners took, are not dramatically slow, but not a fast trail neither. I expect most mushers to stay between 2 and 3 hrs in Elim. But heck, quite a few times I have been off with my predictions, in this so far very unpredictable race. Lots of different dynamics. Changing leaders, people dropping in standings yet others drastically rising. Many mushers are taking chances, some work out, others pay for it with slow runtimes, or stopped teams. Its been very educational to see the different moves, and than seeing the teams first hand out on the trail and get an impression on how they react to the different tactics.
I am signing off for a while, taking a nap, well that is after watching Michelle Philips come in.
O.K. here she is and a few shots from the evening. Sure like the cool ” on the sled cookers ” Very efficient and a warm seat at the same time.
Mitch is on the move out of Elim, he rested three hours, still kept his string of 10 dogs. Looks like he is running in his comfort zone. 3 hrs is not much, but enough time to let the dogs rest for a while after a good meal.
Michelles dogs came in strong. Dang, she runs no necklines and they are all over the place looking like a fan hitch. Not sure how she can put up with that…. but the dogs clearly seem to enjoy the freedom.
Lance spending some time with local kids
Nick all fresh and well rested
sun going down
Josh Cadzow´s cooker. Cool construction
Evening in Koyuk
John Baker feeding his team a second meal
Lance´s sit down cooker. 
Lance getting ready to go
Michelle checking in 
Michelle and Karen Ramstead.
they are somewhat straightened out again
