THURSDAY MORNING

Well after 3 hours of sleep, 6:30 am found me driving over to the dogs to feed and water. Needless to say, after spending 2 days scrambling to keep Serum Run alive, I had frozen solid meat to deal with this morning. Happy to say, as I was chopping up brinks of frozen ground beef with the outdoor chop saw, I kept all of my fingers.

I was quickly covered in meat "dust", but it really didn't matter as I was in great need of a shower anyway. After shakedown I jumped in the shower only to find that my clean clothes were at Ted and Paula's...so I have been wearing the same clothes now for 6 days...lol...dogs don't seem to mind. But as soon as I finish this post, it is in the shower I go and I am looking forward to fresh clean clothes.

Today will be busy, as I will follow up on contacts made the past 2 days, prepare my drop bag for the race, and I have a pre-race vet check to do. I hope to load up and run two teams today. Then this evening it is off to the mushers meeting for the race. (I ended up having no time to run dogs.)

Went back to Joe's (where Ricky and I have been staying) and got Ricky up. We headed back to Ted and Paula's. We set up the "outdoor butcher shop" and we really went to town cutting up meat for the Don Bowers and Serum Run.

I used the chain saw and cut the 50 pound blocks in thirds. Then I took those chunks to Ricky who was stationed at the table saw. He ripped them into 4 x 4 x 12 in pieces. I then used the chop saw and cut them into small individual snack size pieces. Mostly I will use this ground beef for meals. It is important that they are cut into small pieces, as I fill the cooler with the meat pieces, and then pour near boiling water over them. I put on the lid and let it sit. The meat thaws out and I have a ground beef soup for the dogs. I add kibble and then feed them.

Ricky went to the musher's meeting with me at Sheep Creek Lodge. We had a nice dinner and got the scoop on the Don Bowers race. They give a trail report and go over how the trail is marked. The race was changed from a 200 mile race to a 110 mile race. It was due to dangerous conditions on the second half of the trail. While grooming the trails, Jim watched his snowmachine fall through the snow and ice to the bottom of the creek bed. Needless to say, his machine was swamped. He was lucky to have been by a roadside and a tow truck came and hauled it out. They took the machine to Magic Mountain and they dried it out and he was back in business for the start of the race.

I drew bib number 6. Don Bowers is always number one. We leave at two minute intervals, with the actual first musher on the trail being bib number 2, leaving at 12:02. Home and to bed.