Willow

Over the last few weeks I've been helping a friend and former neighbor get her new website launched. She owns a dog "pooper scooper" business in Wasilla, and was having some problems with her previous hosting company and website tools. We got her set up on Wordpress with a new hosting company, and the result is her new Valley Poop Patrol website.

I've been very busy lately, and haven't taken the time to write any blog posts in a few weeks. The reason for my busy-ness is that I've created a new computer programming company in Alaska, Valley Programming.

2011 Iditarod Race Route News: Digging around between the Official Iditarod website and the Official Iditarod Race Guide, I've reproduced the table below of the Iditarod race checkpoints and the distances between the checkpoints.

There are a couple of differences in the Iditarod checkpoint distances between the website and the guide, so I've used the distances from the official website wherever there was a discrepancy. I'll try to figure out which source of information is correct.

2011 Iditarod photos: I just ran across this photo from my Iditarod photos collection, and couldn't resist adding a caption to it. If you've ever seen the movie Up!, or just tried to train a dog, I hope you find it funny also.

Yours in funny 2011 Iditarod sled dog photos,
Al

Lance Mackey 2011 Iditarod news - Some times you're just in the right place at the right time. Here's a video of four-time Iditarod Champion Lance Mackey taking off from the starting gate at the 2011 Iditarod Restart in Willow, Alaska, on March 6, 2011:

2011 Iditarod photos: I spent a lot of time watching the Iditarod sled dog handlers today, and after seeing a lot of sled dogs coming out of their trucks, I was curious what the inside of the trucks looked like. So, after some serious wandering around I found these photos.

First, here's one sled dog in the process of getting back into its truck:

2011 Iditarod photos: I just got back from my first-ever Iditarod start, the 2011 Iditarod restart in Willow, Alaska, and despite having a little cold myself, it was a blast. The weather was terrific, and I'm very glad I went.

I'll try to start trickling some of my favorite photos out here, and hopefully some videos as well. I happened to be at the Iditarod starting line right when Lance Mackey was taking off, and I hope some of that video works out well.

2011 Iditarod news: A great thing for an Alaskan newbie like me is that the torrential winds of the last few weeks have finally subsided. Living in Palmer, Alaska, I woke up this morning to things I haven't heard in several weeks, including the sound of airplane engines at the local airport, and neighborhood dogs barking.

In addition to the latest Iditarod news, here's one more great piece of information: The hurricane-like winds have stopped just in time for the Iditarod. I noticed last night around 10 pm that the apartment wasn't making all the usual noises, so I stepped outside, and sure enough, the wind had calmed down, and the flags on the flag pole two blocks away were just hanging on the flagpole.

Whoops, which reminds me, here's a video of the Alaska wind action from a few days ago:

2011 Iditarod news: Wow, do I have a lot to learn about the Iditarod. It turns out this morning (Saturday) is just the ceremonial start of the Iditarod in Anchorage, and even more importantly (for me), tomorrow morning (Sunday) is that Iditarod restart in Willow, Alaska. That's extremely good to know, because I was getting all ready to head out to Willow later this morning to watch the restart, lol.