Hello friends,

In the last post my paws pounded out information about the Drop Bags. Lot’s of food and gear is sent in Drop Bags, but what about the sled? Rule 16 gives a list of mandatory items each musher must carry in their sleds.  The list includes: sleeping bag,  ax,  snowshoes with bindings, promotional material provided by the ITC, eight booties for each dog in the sled or in use, cooker and pot, Veterinarian notebook,  cable drop line, non-chafing harness for each dog and a functional neckline. They also carry a GPS tracker so my friends at home can track our progress during the race. There are surprise “checks” along the way to make sure they have the mandatory gear, but the Vet notebook is checked at EVERY checkpoint. They can’t EVER lose the Vet notebook!

Along with the mandatory items, mushers also pack other necessities to help them – and us – survive for 1,049 miles. This includes extra outdoor clothing for them (they don’t have the 2 layers of fur we have), blankets for us, freeze dried food in case they get hungry (after all, nobody feeds them), extra food for us, headlamps (for some reason they have a hard time seeing at night) and extra batteries. Rule 35 is a new rule this year. It states that our mushers can have a cell phone and/or satellite phone with them so that is something else they would carry in our sleds.

Mushers practice packing and unpacking their sleds so they know where everything is. BowWow! It’s a lot of work to organize and be prepared for the Iditarod!

Tail wags,

Zuma