The Magic Within

"And the men who hold high places must be the ones to start, to mold a new reality closer to the heart." --Rush
Hey Everyone,
Hope all is well in your worlds. Had a nice run with the pooches in Knik this morning. Spent last night at our friend Ray Redington's. Down in Anchorage tonite then back to Wasilla for race testing tomorrow. We wanted to put out a brief statement 'for the record' so that people who inquire about the Central incident have a reference point. First off I have no ill feeelings towards any of the race officials. They tried their best under unusual circumstances. I have no regrets taking the better conditioned trail- dawgs welfare always is 1st. Central isn't what forced us to finish in 2nd place. Spending 7-8 hours stranded on Eagle summit is what set the score. For the upper half of the Mountain not to be marked properly is unforgivable. Why do we have an entrance fee- to be toyed with? Sure, there were tripods yet without reflectors they were useless in the dark. John Little and myself had to wait til dawn before we we could discern where the actual trail was. At the same time a snowmachiner arrived from 101 telling us that he had been instructed not too worry about putting in trail, "It had already been taken care ofweeks ago." Anybody realize the leaders of the race are hunkered down in the middle of a blizzard here? Considering the snow was up to your knees, surviving this ordeal was certainly something that should have been avoided. I'm just glad it was veteran mushers there and not a bunch of rookies. I would later learn that the trail people had reflectors with them but had not put them up. They were too busy trying to save back of the packers from scratching- good luck! Anybody worried about how the folks up front are being taken care of? The Quest is what it is- that's why I love it so much- it reminds me of myself. So much unfulfilled potential. Just so sad when a dog race is decided not by the dog teams or mushers but outside human error. Hopefully someone owns up to this error rather than hoping it's just forgotten about. Life presses on however.
Pooches are looking beautiful while Tamra and I are hopefully getting over a nasty case of the flu. The next dance begins this weekend. Time to paint another pretty picture, one to last a lifetime. Peace, Hugh and The Laughing Eyes Kennel Crew
p.s.; receiving numerous inquiries about our race on April 1st, the Yukon River Flats 300. Contact Josh Cadzow in f-banks for more info.