WEBVTT - Iditarod Part 1 0:00:00.600 --> 0:00:03.600 Welcome to car Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio's 0:00:03.640 --> 0:00:09.399 How Stuff Works. Hi, and welcome to car Stuff. I'm 0:00:09.400 --> 0:00:13.039 your host, Scott Benjamin, and I am also your host, 0:00:13.119 --> 0:00:16.400 Ben Boland. We are not alone. We are joined, of course, 0:00:16.480 --> 0:00:20.880 with our good friend Kurt Garn. Hello everyone, Holy smoked Scott, 0:00:21.200 --> 0:00:24.800 Scott Benjamin. Is it good to see you man? You're back? 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:26.720 Thank you, thank you. I really appreciate that. It's good 0:00:26.760 --> 0:00:29.400 to be back. It's you kept the seat warm. We 0:00:29.520 --> 0:00:31.800 kept yeah, we kept the seat warm. We had a 0:00:31.920 --> 0:00:36.479 number of strange adventures, you know. Uh, Kurt and I 0:00:36.640 --> 0:00:41.599 are always getting into uh some some weird conversations. We 0:00:41.920 --> 0:00:45.519 learned about the Testlas cyber truck, which I would love 0:00:45.560 --> 0:00:48.080 to hear your thoughts on. One day we did a 0:00:48.240 --> 0:00:52.400 piece on the evolution of the El Camino, remember that one. 0:00:52.440 --> 0:00:55.120 That was a good one, like all caminos, you know. 0:00:55.200 --> 0:00:57.720 The thing that we got caught on was that the 0:00:57.840 --> 0:01:02.320 name of that translates to just the road. That's that's 0:01:02.360 --> 0:01:04.600 not too inspiring, and really, I mean and maybe a 0:01:04.640 --> 0:01:07.280 little bit, but uh, but yeah, it's it's good to 0:01:07.319 --> 0:01:09.480 be back. Anyway. I really appreciate it, and thank you 0:01:09.480 --> 0:01:11.200 guys for keeping the show a float here while I 0:01:11.240 --> 0:01:14.360 was gone. I really do thank you for that. And uh, 0:01:14.640 --> 0:01:17.160 just a quick explanation. I just took some time off 0:01:17.200 --> 0:01:19.360 to kind of get things pulled together in my own 0:01:19.400 --> 0:01:21.680 personal life. You know that Insomniac show that have been 0:01:21.720 --> 0:01:26.160 working on that. Uh, well almost said the word that's 0:01:26.200 --> 0:01:30.520 stuff is is real. Um, I was a kidding around that. 0:01:30.560 --> 0:01:33.160 Really I messed with my sleep, messed with my whole life, 0:01:33.600 --> 0:01:36.680 you know, from in here and outside of work, and uh, 0:01:36.720 --> 0:01:39.080 and it was a disaster. And I just took some 0:01:39.120 --> 0:01:40.720 time off to kind of pull some things together and 0:01:41.040 --> 0:01:43.640 get back in uh, in the right mindset to do 0:01:43.720 --> 0:01:46.200 this show and uh and be clear and you know, 0:01:46.240 --> 0:01:48.680 a lot more present here with you guys. And I'm 0:01:48.760 --> 0:01:52.320 really excited about getting back into car stuff and just 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:54.600 making it the best show that we can. I'm really 0:01:54.640 --> 0:01:57.360 really happy to be back behind the mic. Likewise, you know, 0:01:57.720 --> 0:01:59.880 the powers that be would not have let me back 0:02:00.080 --> 0:02:03.800 onto the show if circumstances have been different. I kind 0:02:03.840 --> 0:02:06.000 it's snuck back in here, you know how Well it's 0:02:06.040 --> 0:02:07.760 a bit of a reunion for us, right. I mean, 0:02:08.040 --> 0:02:09.480 you know, before it was Kurt and I and that 0:02:09.520 --> 0:02:11.400 was great, but then when I'm back here. It's like 0:02:11.400 --> 0:02:13.560 it feels comfortable again. It's like we never stopped doing 0:02:13.600 --> 0:02:16.640 the show that was years ago. Now it was a 0:02:16.680 --> 0:02:18.799 long long time ago, and we stopped doing that show together. 0:02:18.840 --> 0:02:21.359 But but we're here, we are again. We got Kurt 0:02:21.440 --> 0:02:24.120 joining us, who is fantastic, and we're all in this 0:02:24.200 --> 0:02:27.560 tiny little room staring at each other. There might be 0:02:27.600 --> 0:02:30.000 some awkward silence. You never know. We'll see what happens, 0:02:30.280 --> 0:02:32.960 but uh, it's it's I think it's a good team. 0:02:33.000 --> 0:02:34.320 I think we're gonna have a lot of fun with this. 0:02:34.560 --> 0:02:41.040 Well said, Well said Scott. Indeed, So today's episode is 0:02:41.720 --> 0:02:45.920 fascinating because as you would establish, you know, uh you, 0:02:46.200 --> 0:02:49.960 Kurt and I have been doing some variety or subversion 0:02:50.080 --> 0:02:52.000 or iteration of this show for the better part of 0:02:52.040 --> 0:02:55.360 a decade and for a peek behind the curtain. Folks, 0:02:56.320 --> 0:02:58.880 long time listeners you'll know this, or anyone with your 0:02:58.919 --> 0:03:03.880 own podcast us. After about year five or six, on 0:03:04.040 --> 0:03:08.440 some shows, you start saying, well, you start forgetting what 0:03:08.480 --> 0:03:12.160 you we covered, you know, in previous episodes, and wondering 0:03:12.280 --> 0:03:16.360 what you're going to do. And Kurt, you recently you 0:03:16.480 --> 0:03:20.400 had a fantastic idea. There was such a good idea 0:03:20.520 --> 0:03:23.160 that I was convinced we had covered it before at 0:03:23.280 --> 0:03:26.720 some point in the past nine plus years. And I 0:03:26.760 --> 0:03:29.800 was wrong. We had never covered it, which baffles me. 0:03:29.880 --> 0:03:32.680 I think it baffled you two. Scott's surprising yet. So 0:03:33.000 --> 0:03:36.480 we decided that we would cover sleddog races, most notably 0:03:36.480 --> 0:03:40.040 the Iditarod in Alaska. Now, some people are gonna say, 0:03:40.400 --> 0:03:42.720 what the heck, this is car stuff, right, but if 0:03:42.720 --> 0:03:46.040 you remember car stuff of the past, we have always 0:03:46.080 --> 0:03:49.720 covered just about any form of transportation, just about everything really, 0:03:49.720 --> 0:03:51.960 and and the funny thing is that can even be 0:03:52.000 --> 0:03:54.400 spun off into other things, like I remembered yesterday. We 0:03:54.520 --> 0:03:57.040 we've even done like the Pinewood Derby cars time with 0:03:57.120 --> 0:04:00.880 Derby races, everything that floats, fly, swims or drives exactly. Yeah, 0:04:00.920 --> 0:04:03.720 I mean every form of transportation. And I think this 0:04:03.800 --> 0:04:05.800 is the perfect time of year to talk about, you know, 0:04:05.920 --> 0:04:08.240 something like this, you know, some some way of getting 0:04:08.240 --> 0:04:11.400 around that maybe not everybody is familiar with. But it's 0:04:11.440 --> 0:04:13.440 really fascinating. I mean when you dig into it and 0:04:13.480 --> 0:04:16.880 how into uh you know, the sleds these people get 0:04:16.920 --> 0:04:19.960 into the dog teams, of course, they get um just 0:04:20.320 --> 0:04:22.720 the whole lifestyle that goes along with us, the history 0:04:22.720 --> 0:04:25.200 of it. It's all very rich, isn't it. Yeah. Absolutely. 0:04:25.240 --> 0:04:28.920 It's also one of those races, one of those events 0:04:28.960 --> 0:04:34.640 that takes us to the limits of what our bodies 0:04:34.800 --> 0:04:38.360 can like endure, and it takes us to the limits 0:04:38.400 --> 0:04:40.960 of what we call civilization. You're very much in the 0:04:41.000 --> 0:04:43.320 front here. I have either of you ever been to Alaska? 0:04:43.560 --> 0:04:46.479 I have you have? Okay, where'd you go? Well, I'll 0:04:46.480 --> 0:04:49.280 tell you it's not you know, the wilderness experience that 0:04:49.360 --> 0:04:52.400 you might think. I I took an Alaskan cruise many 0:04:52.480 --> 0:04:55.680 years ago. This is probably seven years ago, that's right. Well, yeah, no, 0:04:55.760 --> 0:04:57.880 I remember, and we did talk about this, so there 0:04:58.040 --> 0:05:00.360 and and you know, it goes to the usual reports. 0:05:00.400 --> 0:05:03.159 It was a celebrity brand cruise and we're not getting paid, 0:05:03.160 --> 0:05:06.600 don't worry. That's the celebrity brand cruise. So that tells 0:05:06.600 --> 0:05:08.240 you The ports that we went to, and I can't 0:05:08.279 --> 0:05:09.680 remember all of them, but it was like catch a 0:05:09.760 --> 0:05:13.680 can um gosh, I can't even Skagway was one. I 0:05:13.720 --> 0:05:16.360 know because I'll tell you this. When we went to Skagway, 0:05:16.360 --> 0:05:17.880 and we did go a little further north to but 0:05:18.400 --> 0:05:21.000 we went to Skagway, and one of the excursions that 0:05:21.000 --> 0:05:23.480 you could take and we did do this. One was 0:05:23.560 --> 0:05:27.400 to go to a dog sled training camp and I 0:05:27.440 --> 0:05:30.320 did that and we talked about that and it was fascinating. 0:05:30.360 --> 0:05:32.320 It was a you know, I don't know, maybe a 0:05:32.360 --> 0:05:34.280 forty five minute or an hour bus ride to get 0:05:34.279 --> 0:05:36.640 to this thing. You're seeing things like bald eagles on 0:05:36.680 --> 0:05:40.680 the way, and you know, it's just pristine, beautiful um 0:05:40.800 --> 0:05:43.800 Alaskan countryside, you know, my little boutanous you know, lots 0:05:43.800 --> 0:05:45.760 of trees and things like that. And it wasn't like 0:05:45.960 --> 0:05:47.760 a blizzard or anything like that. It was it was 0:05:47.800 --> 0:05:51.040 their off season. So they're in training camp, right and 0:05:51.560 --> 0:05:54.400 you get the opportunity to go and sit in a 0:05:55.120 --> 0:05:58.520 training dog sled and have them haul you for a 0:05:58.560 --> 0:06:01.680 one mile trek around this mountain course that they have 0:06:02.960 --> 0:06:05.360 and maybe should I hold onto this for later? Do 0:06:05.360 --> 0:06:06.800 you want to talk about it right now? It's it's 0:06:06.839 --> 0:06:10.480 pretty quick. So at the time, if you remember when 0:06:10.480 --> 0:06:12.360 I got back from this, I was so fired up 0:06:12.400 --> 0:06:15.320 about this because it's almost like if you can picture 0:06:16.000 --> 0:06:18.400 a golf cart, like an elongated golf cart, so it's 0:06:18.400 --> 0:06:21.640 on wheels. Obviously, it's not on skis, and it has 0:06:21.640 --> 0:06:24.480 a kind of a runner in front, like a bump 0:06:24.760 --> 0:06:26.800 bump guard maybe or something like that. It's it's it 0:06:26.880 --> 0:06:29.920 holds six people sitting. There's seats kind of built into 0:06:29.920 --> 0:06:32.159 this thing. It's an aluminum frame, I believe, or metal frame. 0:06:32.720 --> 0:06:34.520 And then the musher would stand on the back and 0:06:34.560 --> 0:06:36.080 they have a dog team in front of you that's 0:06:36.120 --> 0:06:38.159 pulling and they pull in this this kind of mountainous, 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:41.680 rocky road right and I'm sitting in this cart with 0:06:41.760 --> 0:06:43.680 you know, all these other tourists from the boat. And 0:06:43.680 --> 0:06:46.360 we're not small people, you know, we're adults. My daughter 0:06:46.400 --> 0:06:49.600 was with the shoes small, but everybody else's adults, even 0:06:49.600 --> 0:06:53.720 even the musher. So seven people. When those dogs took off, 0:06:53.960 --> 0:06:56.400 I mean it slammed me back in the seat. It was. 0:06:56.480 --> 0:07:00.000 It was a forceful takeoff, and they pulled and pulled 0:07:00.000 --> 0:07:02.279 old and pulled, and you thought they were never gonna stop. 0:07:02.600 --> 0:07:05.960 And then the funny thing is like these dogs were 0:07:06.040 --> 0:07:08.720 I mean, they were jacked about pulling that sled. They 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:11.640 loved it, and you think, no, there's no way, there's 0:07:11.640 --> 0:07:13.680 no you know, there's a there's got to be cruel 0:07:13.680 --> 0:07:16.320 in some way, which we'll get to that, because there 0:07:16.360 --> 0:07:19.240 are people that think that. Right, you see these dogs 0:07:19.280 --> 0:07:21.800 they are and I know it's hard to believe, but 0:07:21.920 --> 0:07:25.760 they're genuinely excited about pulling that sled, and I think 0:07:25.760 --> 0:07:28.640 it's it's I did. I didn't understand it until I 0:07:28.680 --> 0:07:30.920 was there and and felt it in person, saw it 0:07:30.920 --> 0:07:34.040 in person, witnessed all this and it was it was 0:07:34.160 --> 0:07:36.000 really cool day. It was. It was like a hundred 0:07:36.000 --> 0:07:38.760 bucks at the time. It's more now to do this excursion, 0:07:39.640 --> 0:07:41.680 but it was so worth it. It It was so much 0:07:41.680 --> 0:07:44.880 fun and just um a real eye opening experience, gave 0:07:44.920 --> 0:07:46.880 you a little bit of history, gave you some of 0:07:46.920 --> 0:07:49.440 the You could stand on a real and actual dog 0:07:49.560 --> 0:07:51.320 sled that they had retired, you know, a wooden one 0:07:51.360 --> 0:07:53.440 and check that out. It was really cool all the 0:07:53.480 --> 0:07:56.040 parts of it, and um, it just it gave you 0:07:56.280 --> 0:07:59.680 a greater appreciation for what the sport is, about the 0:07:59.760 --> 0:08:02.400 history of it that you know, the um the truth 0:08:02.480 --> 0:08:05.720 behind it. Really right, yeah, this is this is the thing. 0:08:05.840 --> 0:08:09.000 So I just went to Alaska earlier this year for 0:08:09.040 --> 0:08:10.800 the first time in my life. I was there for 0:08:10.840 --> 0:08:14.680 about ten days. I wasn't too far out in the wilderness, 0:08:15.080 --> 0:08:18.840 but I was captivated by how close to the wild 0:08:18.960 --> 0:08:22.280 people are. Like it doesn't even big, like the the 0:08:22.320 --> 0:08:27.200 biggest city in Alaska is still gonna have moose that 0:08:27.320 --> 0:08:30.040 run the town because moose are just huge. I would 0:08:30.040 --> 0:08:32.960 not be surprised if there's a moose in downtown Anchorage 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:35.840 that has like a mortgage business or something, you know. 0:08:36.240 --> 0:08:38.439 Uh So I was. I was amazed by how close 0:08:38.440 --> 0:08:40.599 a while we are. And this even goes into the 0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:43.200 rules of the idea Rod, which will will discuss in 0:08:43.240 --> 0:08:47.040 a little bit. Let's first separate two important things here. 0:08:48.040 --> 0:08:52.120 Although the race is often called the idea a rod, 0:08:52.440 --> 0:08:56.480 right there is it goes on a route for the 0:08:56.520 --> 0:09:01.040 majority of the time that follows a trail, the Dinerad trail, 0:09:01.160 --> 0:09:04.640 which is a different thing, and it's it's very old. 0:09:04.840 --> 0:09:10.840 It was used for centuries before the first Europeans arrived 0:09:10.840 --> 0:09:14.200 to use it. And the first people who identified and 0:09:14.360 --> 0:09:18.360 used this trail from you know, from the European side 0:09:18.400 --> 0:09:21.960 of the ocean where Russian fur traders way back in 0:09:22.000 --> 0:09:26.800 the eighteen hundreds. Native people in Alaska First Nations would 0:09:26.920 --> 0:09:29.880 use this, uh this trail system right to travel to 0:09:30.040 --> 0:09:35.319 different villages and eventually it became one of those things 0:09:35.360 --> 0:09:38.680 like a what do you call it, like a desire path. 0:09:38.720 --> 0:09:40.520 It was just the best route from point A to 0:09:40.600 --> 0:09:42.760 point B to point C and so on. And so 0:09:42.880 --> 0:09:48.760 in nineteen o eight, government employees cleared the Iditarod Trail, 0:09:48.840 --> 0:09:52.679 which made it a little easier to navigate. But in 0:09:52.920 --> 0:09:59.439 nineteen ten, someone found gold and that changes everything in 0:09:59.480 --> 0:10:02.599 the town, if i'd it or yeah, okay, well it 0:10:02.640 --> 0:10:05.560 did change everything because you know that that town I 0:10:05.600 --> 0:10:08.120 guess kind of blew up overnight, right, They became boom towns. 0:10:08.120 --> 0:10:10.040 And there were a lot of these in Alaska, as 0:10:10.080 --> 0:10:13.200 we all know just from our history classes and you know, 0:10:13.280 --> 0:10:15.240 elementary school, you can kind of learned about the gold 0:10:15.320 --> 0:10:18.480 rushes and what was going on there. But what happened 0:10:18.760 --> 0:10:22.080 is then a lot of the uh, the what are 0:10:22.080 --> 0:10:24.800 they called veins I guess of gold dry up. You know, 0:10:24.840 --> 0:10:26.640 they they go away. You know, the gold is no 0:10:26.679 --> 0:10:29.640 longer found. It's not profitable to do that. The town 0:10:29.840 --> 0:10:31.720 kind of drives up along the way with it. The 0:10:31.720 --> 0:10:34.400 town remains, it remains maybe uh, you know, a shell 0:10:34.440 --> 0:10:36.960 of itself. It remains kind of a skeleton of itself 0:10:37.000 --> 0:10:40.160 and becomes eventually, um, a ghost town. If if it's 0:10:40.200 --> 0:10:42.480 allowed to go that far. Some of them just kind 0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:45.240 of remain with a few residents here and there. But 0:10:45.280 --> 0:10:48.959 you know what, since we're talking about towns, we kind 0:10:48.960 --> 0:10:51.440 of glossed over your trip to Alaska. Where what towns 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:53.000 did you go to any of the towns that might 0:10:53.000 --> 0:10:57.080 have been on the trail or were you a cruise passengers? Well? No, 0:10:57.320 --> 0:11:00.079 mainly Anchorage and I had to add to send the 0:11:00.200 --> 0:11:04.839 team the Cordoba and then they also went to Hitchinbrook Island. Uh. 0:11:04.880 --> 0:11:08.600 And then I traveled up to Willow, Alaska. You see, 0:11:08.600 --> 0:11:12.840 you had to send a team. Okay, this is interesting. 0:11:12.880 --> 0:11:14.720 I didn't even know you went to Alaska, so I'll 0:11:14.720 --> 0:11:16.480 have to ask you about this later. A lot of 0:11:16.480 --> 0:11:19.000 water under the bridge band, A lot of stuff happened. 0:11:19.040 --> 0:11:22.000 It's like an undercover He's like, it's like a Navy 0:11:22.040 --> 0:11:27.440 seal or something Sea five somewhere. Oh man, you know, uh, 0:11:28.520 --> 0:11:32.199 I gotta say, like, maybe it's a story for another day, 0:11:32.240 --> 0:11:36.360 but yeah, the the boom and busts that you're talking 0:11:36.400 --> 0:11:39.760 about is very real and it's happened around the world. 0:11:40.080 --> 0:11:43.640 When a town rises up based on a single resource, 0:11:44.559 --> 0:11:47.240 it is therefore dependent on that resource. The cold dries 0:11:47.360 --> 0:11:49.520 up than a cold town dies, right, and the same 0:11:49.559 --> 0:11:54.080 with gold. Uh. Before the gold actually dried up, the 0:11:54.080 --> 0:11:58.360 Goggenheims bought up a bunch of the smaller scale mines 0:11:58.559 --> 0:12:01.000 in the area around Flat and I did a odd 0:12:01.240 --> 0:12:04.800 and they introduced a little bit more of like a mechanized, 0:12:05.120 --> 0:12:07.959 large scale way of mining, so it didn't take as 0:12:07.960 --> 0:12:10.880 many individuals like sitting there, you know, trying to strike 0:12:10.920 --> 0:12:15.079 gold in various places. So it kind of took away 0:12:15.080 --> 0:12:19.040 the need for mail deliveries and food deliveries and travel 0:12:19.240 --> 0:12:24.120 along the trails in between. So the gold may have 0:12:24.440 --> 0:12:27.360 dried up later, but before that happened, like kind of 0:12:27.360 --> 0:12:30.480 like a large I guess company or conglomerate came in 0:12:30.559 --> 0:12:34.959 and started doing all the mining, so it needed less individuals. 0:12:35.120 --> 0:12:37.440 So it's interesting is they they had less individuals, and 0:12:37.440 --> 0:12:39.320 it took away the need for food and the need 0:12:39.360 --> 0:12:41.920 for all that too, took for many many people. It 0:12:41.960 --> 0:12:45.760 means that they never were quite established the point they 0:12:45.800 --> 0:12:48.200 could have been. They didn't get the roadway systems that 0:12:48.240 --> 0:12:50.240 they would have had. They didn't get um, you know, 0:12:50.240 --> 0:12:52.679 the infrastructure that we would normally think of would associate 0:12:52.720 --> 0:12:55.480 with a larger town a small airport. Even a lot 0:12:55.480 --> 0:12:59.760 of things were happening railroads, for example, around this time 0:12:59.880 --> 0:13:03.320 or kind of starting to be built in Alaska. So 0:13:03.720 --> 0:13:06.439 I think human travel along the trail is just kind 0:13:06.440 --> 0:13:08.760 of a lot of different things happen at once to 0:13:08.800 --> 0:13:11.760 make this perfect storm. If you don't use these trails, 0:13:11.800 --> 0:13:15.040 they just go into disrepair sort of. That's what keeps 0:13:15.080 --> 0:13:18.840 them there. It's a frequent travel. Yeah, this is exactly 0:13:18.840 --> 0:13:21.520 what happened to the Bates Hotel. And that's that's exactly 0:13:21.520 --> 0:13:28.720 what could lead to bad things. That's what a Hitchcock 0:13:28.800 --> 0:13:34.240 called it. Uh So, one question we have to address 0:13:34.280 --> 0:13:36.240 here at the top before we get in the nuts 0:13:36.240 --> 0:13:40.040 on the bolts of the race itself. We need to 0:13:40.480 --> 0:13:45.640 explore the role of dog teams in general in this 0:13:45.760 --> 0:13:49.880 part of the world. Nowadays, we're very fortunate there are 0:13:49.880 --> 0:13:52.840 airplanes all over the place. They like there are tons 0:13:52.880 --> 0:13:56.400 and tons of cessments in Alaska, right and they make small, 0:13:56.520 --> 0:14:00.680 you know, like puddle jumper flights because it's the best 0:14:00.679 --> 0:14:03.320 way to access uh point A to point B. In 0:14:03.360 --> 0:14:07.439 some cases, before there were airplanes delivery mail and supplies 0:14:07.480 --> 0:14:11.120 and so on, two very remote areas of Alaska, people 0:14:11.320 --> 0:14:14.640 used dog teams. It was the best way to transport 0:14:14.720 --> 0:14:19.640 yourself and goods, uh, you know, game, food, water, so on. 0:14:20.560 --> 0:14:26.800 And many people lived a subsistence lifestyle where you know, 0:14:26.840 --> 0:14:30.400 you were so familiar with your dog team. They it 0:14:30.560 --> 0:14:33.480 was like your daily driver, just like horses would have 0:14:33.520 --> 0:14:36.960 been back then in areas further south. Sure, and you 0:14:36.960 --> 0:14:39.160 you take care of them extremely well because that's your 0:14:39.200 --> 0:14:43.000 only way to get around. They're they're extremely valuable to you, right, 0:14:43.000 --> 0:14:45.800 I mean, they're they're like gold in themselves. I mean, 0:14:45.800 --> 0:14:47.520 you don't want anything to happen to your dog team. 0:14:47.520 --> 0:14:48.960 You don't want anything to happen to your horse team. 0:14:48.960 --> 0:14:51.840 Of course. Um, they become like family members, really, a 0:14:51.840 --> 0:14:54.320 lot of them, I would bet. I mean, it's not 0:14:54.400 --> 0:14:57.400 like they're not just work animals. They're also part of 0:14:57.400 --> 0:15:01.120 the family, similar similar to your cars. You yeah, I guess, 0:15:01.160 --> 0:15:03.360 so they have to take care of it. Yeah, well 0:15:03.400 --> 0:15:08.120 it depends on the car. You know, some some you 0:15:08.360 --> 0:15:11.640 grow out of favor with quickly, more quickly than others. Right, 0:15:11.800 --> 0:15:13.760 But this is this is a critical party here, right, 0:15:13.800 --> 0:15:17.800 because we're talking about delivery of goods and services. Well, 0:15:17.920 --> 0:15:21.280 I guess goods via dog sled. So you know what 0:15:21.320 --> 0:15:23.400 can you take You can only take small items, really, 0:15:24.000 --> 0:15:30.960 But what happens when there's maybe an emergency? Ah, excellent question, Scott. 0:15:31.360 --> 0:15:34.040 It's almost as if you're setting me up for something, 0:15:34.120 --> 0:15:38.760 you know. Uh, it's true. And this leads us directly 0:15:38.760 --> 0:15:41.400 to the story of the race that we call the 0:15:41.440 --> 0:15:44.880 ident a rod today also called the last Great Race 0:15:45.080 --> 0:15:48.160 on Earth. Well that's from my didad dot com. They're 0:15:48.160 --> 0:15:54.440 a little biased. So in ninet there were twenty mushers. 0:15:54.480 --> 0:15:57.320 Have we even talked? You mentioned musher? What's a musher? 0:15:57.480 --> 0:16:01.280 Musher is the person driving the sled, riding the sled, 0:16:01.400 --> 0:16:07.600 I guess I don't know, driving, piloting, pilot. Captain shouts 0:16:07.640 --> 0:16:23.760 the commands the dog, Yeah, mus mush. So in a 0:16:23.800 --> 0:16:27.800 team of twenty mushers commanding about a hundred and fifty 0:16:27.840 --> 0:16:31.920 sled dogs, had to travel six hundred seventy four miles 0:16:32.480 --> 0:16:36.120 that's one thousand a five kilometers for everybody outside of 0:16:36.160 --> 0:16:39.040 the US and like two other countries. Uh. And they 0:16:39.160 --> 0:16:42.000 traveled this tremendous distance in five and a half days. 0:16:42.360 --> 0:16:46.920 And they were on a mission like some real superheroes stuff. 0:16:46.920 --> 0:16:50.000 What were they doing? They were delivering a serum to 0:16:50.160 --> 0:16:52.880 cure dip theory outbreak that they were having a Gnome 0:16:52.960 --> 0:16:56.520 at the time, how's there going from wherever the I 0:16:56.520 --> 0:16:58.760 think initially wasn't there. There was a plane I think 0:16:58.800 --> 0:17:03.320 that took the initial um serum right to a certain train, 0:17:03.720 --> 0:17:07.600 a train the first little bit, yeah, and then the 0:17:07.640 --> 0:17:09.720 train could no longer go the rest of the distance, 0:17:09.760 --> 0:17:12.000 and the dogs were able to accommodate that. And of 0:17:12.080 --> 0:17:14.720 course we we said there were twenty mushers, that means 0:17:14.720 --> 0:17:18.400 twenty dog teams. Yeah, yeah, like a big relay race. 0:17:18.440 --> 0:17:20.320 You're right, it's like, you know, hand off the serum, 0:17:20.440 --> 0:17:21.879 get it on its way and off to see them 0:17:21.880 --> 0:17:24.040 get on the way. And the reason they need the serum, 0:17:24.040 --> 0:17:26.480 I don't know if we even said this. It was diphtheria, right, 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:30.080 there was. There was a diphtheria outbreak in Gnome and 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:34.399 the surrounding smaller communities, and it was a It was 0:17:34.480 --> 0:17:38.560 an epidemic, There's no two ways about it. The authorities 0:17:38.560 --> 0:17:42.760 and Gnome realized that the diphtheria anti toxin they did 0:17:42.800 --> 0:17:48.879 have was bad. It was yeah, bum antitoxins that and 0:17:49.000 --> 0:17:52.919 expected to have efficacy, So they needed this stuff in 0:17:52.960 --> 0:17:55.439 a hurry, and that's why there's a relay because the 0:17:55.520 --> 0:17:58.119 dogs are still fresh, right, and so they can pass 0:17:58.160 --> 0:18:02.720 it off to one another. This became known spoiler alert. 0:18:03.240 --> 0:18:06.919 They successfully completed the run, the dip theory anti toxin 0:18:07.080 --> 0:18:10.480 was delivered, the town was saved. This is now known 0:18:10.640 --> 0:18:15.200 sometimes as the Great Race of Mercy or the Serum Run, 0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:19.720 and these people and their dogs became heroes. They were 0:18:19.760 --> 0:18:23.119 celebrities overnight, so much so that okay, we've gotta remember 0:18:23.119 --> 0:18:26.600 this too that we're talking about um um Wait, okay, 0:18:26.600 --> 0:18:28.720 we know where Alaska is right? How far away Alaska 0:18:28.760 --> 0:18:31.600 is from New York? Yes, okay, there is a statue 0:18:32.320 --> 0:18:35.760 in h in Um Central Park in New York City 0:18:35.800 --> 0:18:38.080 of one of the dogs that they considered to be 0:18:38.160 --> 0:18:40.919 like the hero dog. It's the lead dog that finally 0:18:40.960 --> 0:18:43.879 brought the serum into Gnome. Right, it's the last dog. 0:18:44.440 --> 0:18:48.560 Um it is um. His name is Balto Balto, Balto 0:18:48.680 --> 0:18:50.440 the Dog. And you can go see Balto the Dog 0:18:50.520 --> 0:18:53.479 statue in Central Park. And you have seen it, right, Ben, Yes, yes, 0:18:53.720 --> 0:18:58.000 it's still there, still there and uh and you know 0:18:58.080 --> 0:18:59.719 a lot of people had There was a little bit 0:18:59.720 --> 0:19:01.920 of con versity over Balto Balto. If you can believe 0:19:01.960 --> 0:19:03.919 this or not, I mean the musher of course, and 0:19:03.960 --> 0:19:05.880 I don't even remember the guy's name it right now, 0:19:05.920 --> 0:19:09.240 but he's also a hero. Um. But there was a 0:19:09.600 --> 0:19:12.479 particular dog and musher that they thought should have been 0:19:12.520 --> 0:19:14.159 given all this credit because it was the one that 0:19:14.200 --> 0:19:16.080 took the most difficult leg of the journey. And I 0:19:16.080 --> 0:19:18.399 don't recall from what town to what town that was. 0:19:18.440 --> 0:19:20.360 I read that yesterday and I should have written it down, 0:19:20.400 --> 0:19:23.480 but I didn't, So it's there. There was someone somewhat 0:19:23.480 --> 0:19:25.959 of a controversy between, you know, between Balto and this 0:19:25.960 --> 0:19:28.560 other dog, because this dog just simply was the last one. 0:19:29.119 --> 0:19:32.600 There were twenty along the way that that probably deserve 0:19:32.680 --> 0:19:35.920 equal credit. The one you're referring to a dog named Togo. 0:19:36.280 --> 0:19:40.120 Okay and um. He was the lead dog for Leonard 0:19:40.400 --> 0:19:43.840 sa Paula, who competed in a race that they had 0:19:43.920 --> 0:19:46.840 sled dog race that they had in Alaska pre World 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:51.119 War One. So he wanted the last four times that 0:19:51.160 --> 0:19:53.160 they did this race, it was called the All Alaska 0:19:53.240 --> 0:19:56.080 Sweep Steaks. Give us some background real quick on on 0:19:57.160 --> 0:20:01.320 what Sappola and Togo did. They did cover, as you 0:20:01.359 --> 0:20:04.879 guys said, the most hazardous leg of the journey. They 0:20:04.880 --> 0:20:07.760 made a round trip of two sixty one miles from 0:20:07.800 --> 0:20:11.520 Nome to shock Tulik and then back to Golovin. And 0:20:11.840 --> 0:20:15.679 this means they delivered the serum a total of nine miles, 0:20:15.680 --> 0:20:19.679 which is almost double the distance that any other team did. Okay, 0:20:19.680 --> 0:20:22.560 so they really they put it out there, they delivered. 0:20:22.800 --> 0:20:25.840 Balto just had a better pr team. I guess they got. 0:20:25.880 --> 0:20:29.360 They got they were the ones that they had finish. Yeah. Yeah, 0:20:30.920 --> 0:20:33.320 isn't there a thing? I mean, it's probably a bumper sticker. 0:20:33.359 --> 0:20:35.360 But you know, unless you're the lead dog, the view 0:20:35.400 --> 0:20:38.639 never changes. Oh that's what did you write that? No, 0:20:38.880 --> 0:20:41.040 that's pretty good. No, well it's uh, it's kind of 0:20:41.040 --> 0:20:42.920 funny too if you think about it. It also makes 0:20:42.960 --> 0:20:44.880 me think that if you're unless you're the lead dog, 0:20:44.920 --> 0:20:48.000 you're always looking at another dog's But that's what I mean. Yeah, yeah, 0:20:48.040 --> 0:20:49.480 that's what That's why I always take it. But I 0:20:49.480 --> 0:20:52.040 think it's it's kind of deeper meaning as well. I believe, 0:20:52.440 --> 0:20:56.520 you know, unless bud centric meaning. There's also a statue 0:20:56.520 --> 0:21:00.280 of Balto in downtown Anchorage. Can I up you for 0:21:00.320 --> 0:21:03.280 a second. Okay, since we're talking about this, I just 0:21:03.320 --> 0:21:06.200 have to say this one of the most shocking parts 0:21:06.200 --> 0:21:09.359 of the trip that the the one mile trip that 0:21:09.400 --> 0:21:13.280 I was on the dogs training camp is that well, 0:21:13.320 --> 0:21:16.199 we're this so gross, and don't let this discourage you've 0:21:16.200 --> 0:21:19.000 from doing this if you get a chance. The dogs, 0:21:19.560 --> 0:21:23.280 well they crap while they run. They don't stop, so 0:21:23.359 --> 0:21:25.320 like they don't wait until it's breast time to go 0:21:25.359 --> 0:21:27.680 off in the woods and go they go while they're running. 0:21:28.840 --> 0:21:31.800 And yes, and it gets flipped up and you don't 0:21:31.800 --> 0:21:35.080 realize it right as a passenger until you're done, and 0:21:35.080 --> 0:21:37.640 then you're like, what is that. You know, you may 0:21:37.720 --> 0:21:39.600