Yukon Quest

I can tell you definitively that if I were to embark on the Yukon Quest, it wouldn’t take long for me to want to turn around and race back towards the cozy home and happy family I would have left behind.

First of all, I’d probably want to Instagram or Tweet everything I see on my 1,000 mile journey through the wilderness, and a lack of reception would probably not allow that. Second, winter camping is not my forte. I just don’t have the greatest tolerance for long exposures to bitterly cold temperatures. I am definitely a summer camper.

What a challenge: 1,000 miles through the Alaskan Wilderness from Fairbanks, AK to Whitehorse, YT. We drove that stretch on our way out here, and I thought it was a long ride by car. I can hardly imagine taking that journey by dog sled. Especially a dog sled team led by my elderly, overweight Beagle, Yango. I probably would elect to have a different lead dog, or we’d likely get nowhere. There are a great many reasons why I’m not cut out for the Yukon Quest — and a great many reasons why I highly respect the competitors. 

Each night I can easily track the progress of the racers from the comfort of my cozy living room, glad that I can enjoy the sport from afar. I’m rooting for Curt Perano, because I spoke briefly with his wife Fleur by chance when her toddler Wyatt wandered over to Margot in her stroller at the Co-Op Plaza. The New Zealand natives have been mushing for a very long time, with Curt Perano competing in the Iditarod last year and taking 27th place. What a fun legacy for baby Wyatt to inherit.

I also spotted former Iditarod champ Lance Mackey behind the starting gate. Alaskan Celebrities are much different than the Southern Californian celebrities I’m used to spotting (David Hasselhof, Tobey Maguire). But it’s still exciting to see a famous face!

This journey is likely to last 8 days or so for the mushers; an exciting week for the mushers, and an uneventful (but cozy!) week here at home, I can confidently predict.