Saturday Checkpoints

Tim and the pups arriving in Grand Marais

Today we headed out to follow Tim and the other mushers' progress. We first stopped by the Wetmore checkpoint where the mushers spent several hours overnight. After checking the stats board, we found out that our suspisions were correct last night--Tim was the first through Deerton. He was also first into Wetmore and the first to leave Wetmore for Grand Marais around 6:00 this morning. Our little entourage was now on its way to Grand Marais to try to see Tim coming into the checkpoint.

Heading to the rest area

As is usual for this area along Lake Superior, there was a snow warning out, and we drove through heavy whiteouts for nearly the entire 60 miles. Fortunately, we all made it safely and arrived just in time to see Tim arrive first in Grand Marais! We spent some time watching him feed the dogs and bed them down. Emmaline was particularly interested in the vet check and the fact that some of the dogs refused to lie down and take a nap--just like her!

Nap time!

We took off, knowing Tim would be resting there for the rest of the afternoon. Back at our hotel, Emmaline got out her four stuffed dogs, "hooked" them up to the the "gangline" (DSL cord for a computer), and mushed around the room!

Our little musher

This evening we called race headquarters to find out if Tim left on schedule. He did and had about a 40 minute lead. As we cuddled up in our hotel room watching his interview on the local news, we thought about him and the other teams out in the continuing white-out conditions.