The Iron Dog Challenge of 2009 is officially in the books, and you'll be happy to know Todd Palin and his partner finished the gruelling race, 6th overall.
After one week of being away from each other, this is how the Governor of Alaska greeted her athlete husband on Saturday, 14 February.
Man has Greta van Susteren been lying down on the job recently. Not one peep about the First Dude, Todd Palin, in the past month! That's gotta be some record for the lady who is patently a little sweet on Sarah Palin's man.
I reckon Monday's telecast might change that though.
Sunday, 8 February 2009, marked the beginning of the gruelling Alaska race on "snowmachines", known as the Tesoro Iron Dog Challenge.
That's 1971 grizzly miles in sub-zero temperatures, often at a 100 mph clip, across the landscape of the Great State of Alaska. They start off in Big Lake Alaska, work themselves around to Nome, and supposedly will finish this year in Fairbanks.
Will Todd Palin and his partner, Scott Davis, be able to five-peat as champs? We shall see.
Here is Governor Sarah Palin giving her old man a good luck kiss before setting off. Piper seems amused.
Palin gives the green 'go' flag.
I just hope no one is hurt this year, as Todd Palin broke his hand last year, nevertheless finishing the race. John McCain seemed almost mesmerised by this fact, and mentioned it constantly on the campaign trail.
Hey, Todd Palin may not be a "maverick" but he is one tough hombre, he seemed to say.
(Yeah? So why didn't they use this chap to the fullest of his potential during the campaign? What a crock)
Modern Western males are today wonderfully cooperative in the house, and certainly Todd Palin is nearly a paragon of this attitude. He plays at Mr. Mom with all the grace that only a genuinely macho man like he can muster.
My father is strikingly similar to him, though several years his senior. He has never "made" my mother do any of the usual wifely duties such as cooking, cleaning, or clearing up after him. He's egalitarian to a fault.
But I confess, he does insist on two points which have everything to do with male ego.
When the three of us were inside a car, he had to be the driver AND woe betide anyone who takes away the television remote control from him.
Interestingly, I see Todd Palin doesn't even have that hang-up. The Governatrix is firmly hanging on to the clicker as the Alaskan couple watch Senator McCain's last debate, in their New Hampshire hotel room.
He's not whipped though. She looks like she's even turning up the volume, and he's not at all pleased. You go Todd.
Todd Palin, Governor Palin's husband and Alaska's "First Dude", went to attend McCain-Palin events tied to snowmobiling in both New Hampshire and Maine.
You know, I had the oddest thought as I watched Governor Palin pay her diplomatic courtesy calls on Tuesday: "Wonder what Todd's doing whilst she's out?"
Turns out he took baby Trig out for a jaunt on the Carousel in Central Park!
Aww. He's already dressed up like a miniature version of daddy, too.
Here is his Monday night interview with Greta van Susteren, who has taken quite a personal shine to the Palins and Alaska. I think I'll forgive her for her Scientology, for now.
