So you would like to run dogs....

I happened to be in Fairbanks at about 3:00 pm on Thursday and learned that a musher was due in within the hour.  It is always fun to see them cross the finish line so I hung around.  Often it is only the dramatic stories that get told, but here is a rather humorous one.

Here Luc Tweddell, a rookie born in Quebec, is arriving on the Chena River to claim 14th place in the Yukon Quest -- as you can see, he is coming straight in.

For no apparent reason, about 200 yards from the finish line his dogs head off to the left toward downtown Fairbanks.

He is frantically shouting a droite!, a droite! (he is French-Canadian) but his dogs are looking unsure.

 
Pretty soon they are in a total muddle and here he is trying to turn them back towards the finish line.  He is moving very slowly and looks tired -- how would you feel after 1,000 miles on the trail?

Chaos and confusion...

... continue for a time

Finally, his lead dog gets the message and heads in the right direction.

... and here you see one happy musher.

However, some of his dogs look like less than happy campers

What's going on here...

Well, I'm sure glad this is over...

Here they are headed back to their dog truck

There are clearly still some issues

 ... but there they go.  All's well that ends well.