Veteran Iditarod and Yukon Quest musher Bill Pinkham stopped in recently, introducing his wife, Jodi, to area dog kennels on the Kenai Peninsula and other areas in the state. Bill and Jodi had been married two weeks. You might remember that Pinkham proposed to Jodi from the podium of the 2008 Yukon Quest finishers’ banquet.

Bill and Jodi Pinkham drop in during their honeymoon tour of Alaska.

Aside from getting wet in the near constant drizzle around here, the newlyweds checked out land in the Homer area, where Bill is considering a move. He’s from Colorado (or is it Montana?), and says the six-day drive up the Alaska Highway just to race every year takes a toll on his team, not to mention his wallet. If he winds up relocating to Homer, Pinkham will be neighbors with Jack Berry and Bill Steyer. Mushers in that neighborhood train northward into the Caribou Hills, the same system that I access from the north side.

Pinkham said he was weighing the benefits of running either the Iditarod or the Quest this year.