The leaders are at the halfway point along the Iditarod trail now. Brent Sass was first out of Nulato at 03:43, closely followed by Mitch Seavey at 03:44.

Years ago I heard a wonderful song on CBC FM, probably on the first Saturday in March. I learned it was by 'Hobo Jim' and was called Iditarod Trail. Flash forward a few years and I had a coworker from Alaska, who said Hobo Jim was very well known in Alaska and she'd seen him sing. When she returned from a family visit she brought me a CD called Thunderfoot which included Iditarod Trail!! I play it every year during the Great Race (and sometimes at other times too, it's a wonderful collection of his songs). Flash forward again to present day and a book titled Iditarod, by Tricia Brown from Images of Sports which is from Arcadia Publishing, the same company that puts out those wonderful Images of America books I've used so often in this blog. One of the pictures is of Hobo Jim himself! I thoroughly enjoyed this book of the history of the Iditarod, and as always with this publisher, there are wonderful pictures. I've already read it twice.

Here's a book that would fit well with many of my trails, and it's a trail book! Along Alaskan Trails: Adventures in Sled Dog History, by Helen Hegener has chapters on delivering the mail with a dog team, the Iditarod, the use of sled dogs in WWII, trail blazing what became the Alaska-Canada highway ... and more. Lots of pictures, too. :-) Look for the chapter about Slim Williams from the book Sisters (March 6th post). There is different information here than is found there.

Reading Hermit With Dog