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Galena

Actual mileage from Wasilla: 575 miles

 March 09, 11:00 a.m.

    The ride from Ruby was fast.  The trail runs down the Yukon River and is flat and smooth and lent to a fast run up here.  The weather has been cold and clear since the race started, so we have seen some truly amazing aurora borealis displays as we travel in the night.

The Ruby checkpoint building.

My dad, Mitch, was camped here in Galena and was just getting ready to take a nap when we showed up at 4:30 a.m.  He is looking good compared to his surrounding competitors.  He does have to be very cautious with his relatively small dog team; if he drops too many more he'll be fighting just to hang on.  The main reason he is down to nine dogs is that a few days ago a sickness with flu-like symptoms went through his team forcing him to drop three dogs and compromising the rest.  They are getting over it now and he is having fast run times so I look to see him moving up in the standings during the next couple of runs up the River.

    One of the sick dogs he dropped was Finbarr who has been a very important young leader.  Without Finbarr he's short on leaders, but the few he does have are awesome!  Doo Dah, Tread and Willy are all doing an exceptional job.

    We are going to wait until Jim goes through Galena and then continue probably tomorrow morning.  The trails continues to run up the Yukon River for a hundred more miles so the riding will be good and we can stay ahead of the race.

Reporting from the trail for Ultimate Iditarod,

Tyrell Seavey 

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