The dog yard continues to empty out. Anna waited for her twin sister Kristi to leave the checkpoint. We could hear her team barking up a storm a few hundred yards up the trail towards Ophir.

Short before they took off, Jeff Deeter came and went with a nice looking team. He did not spend much time here and headed on down the trail towards Ophir. Conditions are ideal. Still plenty cold and no wind.

In the dog yard Riley Dyche was walking his dogs, so was Fabio Berlusconi. Gabe Dunham and John Schandelmeier were joking about Johnny being one of Gabe’s mentors when she lived in Valdez. Same here. John was one of the 1st mushers I met when running the Copper Basin 300, as my first race ever back in 1998. He gave me lot’s of good advice back in the day, much of it still holding true today.

John talked about when he ran his first race and where he did not know to chop up his meat before, and carrying a big 50lbs chunk of chicken in his sled. Very fun stuff, of being back here together in Takotna and actually having time to socialize. Zoya send so much stuff here that John says he could at least stay 2 weeks here. He is in very good spirits and seems to enjoy is unplanned Iditarod adventure and wanting to bring 14 dogs to Nome.

Enjoy a few more morning shots: