Madison

Well, we're still here.  Still in Montana...

Us coaches were taken to the race start area in this 1953 Quebequois rig. Here's Marine. Showroom girl. A natural.

Coaches riding in style.  1953 style.

Andrew likes to start each day with a brief prayer and blessing of the skis. Marine and I usually just wait for him to finish his thing.

Here's the tail end of the lead pack. That's Marcus along for the ride. He skied with the group until it broke up about two kilometers from the finish. His best RMISA result to date. But I think this is only a preview of what's to come.

Here's Tracen. His first RMISA weekend in the books.

Brandon. (And a drama queen.)

Here's Hailey at kilometer six. Leading the lead pack of six.

The lead group whittled down to five. At kilometer eight (of ten). This is the eventual finish order: Jordheim (Utah), Hyncicova (Colorado), and Swirbul.  But not before Hailey charged ahead (at the very moment that this photo was taken) and made her attempt to put the race away with two kilometers to go.  She managed to get a ten meter gap on Hyncicova and Jordheim, but it wasn't enough and they both regained contact and outsprinted her at the finish. Sometimes it takes a few pushes to tip a thing over. You've got to get it rocking farther and farther before you can finally get it to go.  This was Hailey's first serious attempt at winning a college race. I think, with a few more pushes, she can get it done.

The podium:  Hyncicova, Jordheim, Swirbul.

No racing today.  Why not ski into Yellowstone National Park?

These national park signs have to be pretty tough to put up with this kind of abuse day in and day out.

Skiing on the park road.  Tracen, Brandon, and Master Guide Marcus Deuling.

As we skied through the park, Master Guide Marcus Deuling directed our attention to various flora and fauna along the way. This elk, for example.

And this bison (or, as Master Guide Marcus Deuling calls them, "beizen". This particular beizen was forced to stand here in the middle of the Madison River by a couple of wolves who, as Master Guide Marcus Deuling describes it, "were chewing on her earlier", and were sitting patiently on the hillside above the river, waiting for her to make her next move. She didn't give the impression that she felt like she had a lot of options.

Here's Tracen

I still have no idea why Master Guide Marcus Deuling was doing this strange dance, but he'd shown us so many interesting sights and so many fun animals that we wouldn't have seen without him, there was no way I was going to question his methods. (If I recall correctly, he was using this dance to call in swans.)

Here's Skippy. Out for a little ski touring beside the Madison River in the afternoon.

Cross country skiing the way it was meant to be.

The Madison River. Our day centered around this waterway.