Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Day 8 of 14 - BZ BZ BZ

Yep, it was a busy day at my work place.  In addition to an unusually heavy load of haul road traffic I also had some medical duties to attend to.  Those were kind of hanging fire for a bit, so I was glad to get them out of the way. 

The weather has chilled down a bit, closer to average temperatures for this time of year.  Unfortunately there hasn't been much snow in it.  I guess I've pretty much given up hope on getting any sort of good snow this year.  We'll just have to muddle through until the trails disappear entirely.  Maybe I'll be able to find a used four wheeler that will allow me to extend the training season by a few weeks. 

I've been enjoying highlights from the winter games on television during the evenings.  After 12 hours in the guard shack about the only thing I can muster adequate energy to accomplish is a couple of hours of vegetation in front of the glowing screen, and then grab a few hours sleep before starting over again. 

News accounts of the Tesoro Iron Dog snowmachine race from Big Lake to Nome and then back to Fairbanks indicate that Iditarod racers are going to be facing some very challenging trails.  Apparently the lack of snow is very serious in the Fairwell Burn, where snowmachine racers had to search for snow, and once found stop to pack snow around their heart exchangers and onto the slide rails of their tracks to cool and lubricate their machines.  It sounds like that section of trail will be a serious test of both equipment and musher durability. 

Not much else to share tonight, so I'll sign off until next time.  Hope you are well and doing something fun.

Swanny

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