bittersweet yukon quest this year

 Juni at 2months old watching a musher arrive at the finish line. Jon is pissed. Lol.

I'm back to waking when Juni wakes. 6am-730amish. Still not horrible but my writing time is 0.

Today I meant to wake around 4am and check the tracker on Allen Moore, the musher who was set to win the Yukon Quest. I was hoping to hop in the truck and head out to the Takhini Hotsprings (where the finish line is this year). But I didn't end up checking it until 6am and his little doggy icon was showing that he was at the High Country Hotel lol. So I missed watching the champ arrive. 

I was shocked and saddened yesterday when I found out my fav musher Brent Sass, who was neck and neck with Moore the entire race, was injured and taken out of the race. Reports are vague, but he apparently fell and hit his head. Not sure what is going on. He's an awesome dude. Super passionate about what he does. I had the privilege of interviewing him when I was the communication officer for the Yukon Quest a few summers ago. I called him up and got to chat about his summer training set up. He had just received an Artis Cart, which is basically a sweet-ass-sled on wheels, and was waking up in the middle of the night -when it is cool enough for his deedles- and taking his dogs out along the river bank where he lives in Alaska. He is just the chillest, most positive dude I have ever talked to. And he and his lead dog Silver (now retired) are known for heroic feats of sportsmanship on the trail. Silver even has an award named after him and it is given to a dog that shows the same spirit of heroism. I hope he is okay. I really thought it was his year this year. 

There are still 14 or so mushers heading towards the finish line. They are finishing a 1000 MILE journey across alaska and yukon over mountains and overflow and rivers and lakes and insane amounts of lack of sleep, all while caring for 14 amazing athletes: their dogs. I hope to take Juni out to see at least one of the team arriving at the end.