Happy Race/Valentines Day Everyone,
First, I would like to thank everyone for all the well wishes and awesome support.  We couldn't have gotten this far without your help.  We arrived into Whitehorse Tuesday night after a 12 hour journey.  Judy Beaumont, who runs the Braeburn check point invited us to stay with her before the race and we enjoyed her wonderful hospitality and beautiful home.  Wednesday afternoon was filled with gathering our bags we shipped down to Whitehorse, running various errands and going to the Meet the Mushers, where the mushers sign hundreds of posters and mingle with the fans.  All day Thursday was filled with meetings and also the Start Banquet.  Mike drew bib #4 and we are very excited with an early start time.  I will have a chance to watch all the other teams leave the start line.  An early 
bib number also means that the team will get almost 1 1/2 hours of extra rest in Dawson to make up the time differential between the teams.  Friday was a relaxing day with finalizing all the gear for the start and loving the dogs.
The starting team is:  Stump/Reba, Eliza/Mugs, Gila/Wilson, Logan/Merlin, Trip/Lotus, Jim/Hood, and Ambler/Curly.  Gecko's blood work came back with a low protein level.  We decided that without knowing the reasons for the abnormality in his blood work that we would not run him.  Gecko has trained all season, is very strong, eating well 
and appears to be healthy.  We didn't run him in last years race due to the same issue.  Not sure what is going on, but we will explore more after the race.  Curly is ready to take his place in the team, but Gecko truely earned his spot on the team. The trail report for the portion of the trail from Whitehorse to Dawson is that the trail is good, minimal overflow, little ice. Seems too good to be true.  Time will tell.  Race morning arrived after a good nights sleep and the dogs knew it was race day.  Having a good parking spot and close to the start line was great.  Mike and the dogs seemed more comfortable with the whole scene and we were ready to leave with no problems.  It was just beautiful to watch them go, but also sad to think about the journey ahead of them.  (I shed a few tears as an emotional release)  I watched the other teams leave, had some lunch with Moe and then drove up to Braeburn to catch a few ZZZ's before the next round of adventure.  Thanks for tuning in.  I'll keep you posted.
Handler Sue, Zirkle, and Gecko