Circle City - fourth checkpoint

Katie surprised us and arrived a few minutes after 3p.m. (Monday).  She said the trail from Central to Circle was "boring".  This is a good thing, it means that the trail was smooth going and the team was traveling well.  She decided not to stop and rest on the trail but rather keep moving and take one longer rest here in Circle City.  She is currently sleeping after eating a large plate of Turkey dinner, chocolate cake and three chocolate chip cookies.  She is a good sled dog - eating, drinking and sleeping as much as she can.  The mushers provide better care for the dog such as nice shoulder, wrist and foot messages and lots of hand on contact.  If only the dogs could give Katie the same treatments.  However, Katie knows that if she takes the best possible care of the dogs they will in turn take care of her on the trail.  She will have to wait till she gets home to get a message.  Maybe she will get one in Dawson.

From Circle Katie heads out to Eagle 158 miles of trail .  She will make the trip in three runs.  From Cirlce she will run 68 miles to Slavin's Cabin.  From Slavin's cabin she will break the run up into two more legs.  Resting/camping on the trail.  In Eagle, a remote checkpoint that we cannot access, she will have access to her drop bags.    Drop bags are bags that Katie packed before the race and are shipped out to every checkpoint. They contain all the necessary food and equipment that she and the dogs need for that checkpoint and for the section of trail from there to the next checkpoint.  From Eagle Katie will head to Dawson City 150 miles down the trail. This is where we will see her again.  She intends on arrive sometime Thursday, probably later in the day to evening.

Handler update - Clear skies, temperatures dropping to around -15'F tongiht.  Once Katie leaves Cirlce City, ETD 11:30p.m. Monday, Anita and I will curl up in the truck and sleep till morning (5ish) and clean up Katie's parking area.  This includes racking up the straw the dogs were bedded down on and hauling it away.  We also collect any extra supplies she left behind.  Then we will be heading back to Fairbanks to pick up the trailer.  Fuel up and head out for Dawson City, Yukon, Canada.  From Circle City (for the record this is not a city rather a very small town) to Dawson City it is about 1,100 miles of driving.  It looks like we will be traveling with a few other handlers.  Having said this it maybe a few days before we update the blog again.