Our sincerest sympathies to Jeff Holt; God bless you, Victor.

Tim's actually in Rohn right now, according to the Iditarod Insider, despite what the current standings state. It looks like another dog has been dropped, too, and we all have a different take on it this time; logically, it's probably another amorous little girl, but we won't know until we pick him/her up.

Folks think it might be an advantage to have a dog in heat at the front of the team, because the males will run like hell to catch up to her...but what usually happens is the female will stop, give everyone behind her the over-the-shoulder Paris Hilton look and high-tail it (literally)for the males in wheel. And males up front don't work in this situation because THEY ARE ALWAYS AWARE THE FEMALE IS BACK THERE AND WILL TURN THE TEAM AROUND TO FIND HER. Tim's said he's even heard of a dog breaking through a plate glass window to pursue a romantic interest. In any event, that's our take on the latest dog out of the loop; possibly a love sick male who doesn't want to eat, but more than likely it's a female.

On a completely different note, Tom, Emily and I headed south down Highway 1 to Girdwood and along Turnagain Arm; a fjord, of all things. Blocks of ice as big as picnic tables that can't keep up with the tide lay like bowling pins on the dark grey mud flats, menacing, surreal...I've read people walk out on the flats to get a good shot and get stuck in the silt. Then the tide comes in....

Anyway, Girdwood is one of those ski resort towns where everybody is smiling and patient, some on the verge of dreds, living on love and tips and sugar snow (with speculation that the E.R. treats a lot of broken legs and chlamydia). It's also home to the Double Musky Restaurant, rated one of the top ten eateries in the entire United States and boy, were we stuffed when we left. The eclectic, cluttered ambiance coupled with the Cajun themed fare was spectacular, despite it's suspicious moniker. Two thumbs up. We also visited the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center (two thumbs up on that, too) and some glaciers, but it was cloudy (angry fists).

Okay; time for bed after one last check of the current standings; hopefully more useful information tomorrow.