Catching up with Shannon
Saturday 13 March 04

We decided to head out to the Iditarod trail to say hi to Shannon and to see if we could get the other teams to leave the checkpoints in the wrong direction. We eventually caught up with her in Galena, which more is than halfway. She had one of the fastest times from Ruby to Galena at 6.5 hours, but it was still pretty slow out there. Apparently the combination of warm temperatures (above freezing) and snow machines had turned the trail into mush, so to speak, and slowed everyone down. But Shannon was in great spirits ('Nobody told me to bring a bikini on the Iditarod'), her dogs looked really good, and she was looking forward to rest -- er, I mean the rest of the race.

We got rockstar seating for the race in downtown Galena.

That laptop is how Iditarod information gets out of Galena.

These dogs got, um, stuck together during their stop at the checkpoint. Who could blame him after eight hours of running nose-to-tail...

Further proof for evolution -- the post-coitus response in males of every species...

Galena's parking lot -- 2MB

Here comes Shannon!

Here she comes - 1.5MB

Who are you? - 1MB

Getting checked in at the checkpoint.

Shannon's sponsors.

More sponsors.

Time to make the doggie beds.

You can't sleep with booties on - 700k

No really, whos dogs are these?

Hot dogs - 2MB

Busted - 1.6MB

Shannon and Susan, discussing the best stocks in the post-war market.

I'm thinking ACS and Taco Bell are strong buys...

Yeah, but Microsoft is looking so good right now.

Trading the latest gossip with fellow mushers, before passing out.

Shannon was in 27 (out of over ninety) and the second placed rookie when we left her.

Click here for current race statistics.