DayStrider: Tales from a Time Traveler

Bonus Episode: Team Bailey & Iditarod Dreams

• Truman Pastworthy w/ Bailey Vitello

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What happens when you combine 16 high-energy dogs, a sleep-deprived human, and 1,000 miles of Alaskan wilderness? Hallucinated rock concerts, near-death ice rescues, and a man who lost 45 pounds in 11 days while chasing the ultimate mushing dream. Meet Bailey Vitello, who's been commanding dog teams since age two and now tackles the legendary Iditarod with nothing but determination, his canine family, and—shockingly—zero caffeine.

In this episode, we dive headfirst into the wild world of competitive dog sledding with a musher who:

  • Hallucinates Maroon 5 concerts in the Alaskan wilderness (sleep deprivation is a trip!)
  • Rolls soaking wet dogs in snow to dry them (it actually works!)
  • Shares his chili with his lead dog while sleeping in -10°F temperatures
  • Lost a shocking 45 pounds during his rookie Iditarod run

Meet the canine characters in Bailey's 16-dog dream team – from Senator (the teacher's pet) to Wyoming (a loveable wrecking ball) to Tuckerman (the class clown who steals everyone's toys) to YoYa (his sleeping bag heater when needed).

Whether you're a dog lover, adventure seeker, or just curious about what drives someone to race across Alaska in conditions that would make most of us question our life choices, Bailey's story proves that sometimes the craziest dreams are the ones worth freezing for.

Listen now and discover why, as Bailey puts it, "Dogs honestly are just truly the answer to everything."

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SPEAKER_01:

Dogs,

SPEAKER_02:

honestly, are just truly the answer to everything. You know, having a bad day, get on dog sled and we'll fix everything. My mom and dad have a picture of a hundred foot dash when I was two years old, standing behind my dog, Bridgie. on a pair of runners and a handlebar and this little basket sled, their little chat Mac. They had a hundred foot dash. Me and Bridgie went down there and then the other parent or handler would catch us and turn us around and send us back. Okay. That's fun. Yeah. So that's how I got like, and I wasn't like where the bug was really worth thinking.

SPEAKER_00:

That's Bailey Vitello who's been dog sledding since he was a toddler. And today he's a young man chasing the ultimate mushing dream. The Iditarod. Now, some of you may think racing a team of 16 dogs over 1,000 miles through the Alaskan wilderness sounds crazy.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, that's the thing. To be a musher, you've got to be a certain level of crazy to want to make yourself suffer at this level.

SPEAKER_00:

Got to be a certain level of crazy. Welcome, folks. From hallucinating Maroon 5 concerts in the Yukon to losing 45 pounds in 11 days, Bailey is about to take us on a wild ride through his world of competitive mushing. We'll also get to meet his fun team of dogs and learn how we can track his progress in this year's Iditarod. I'm Truman Pastworthy from the Daystrider Podcast, and today we're hitting the trail with a musher who's proving that sometimes the craziest dreams are the ones worth freezing for. There's no doubt how much Bailey loves his dogs.

SPEAKER_02:

So I actually have never known a life without dogs. We've always had sled dogs my whole life growing up. My dad had dogs before me and, you know, I've always had dogs. I've never been in a kennel that's not at least 30 dogs. Whether it be sprint mushing or mid-distance, for my whole life, we've always had dogs. And my dad and mom were so, I mean, we were all dedicated to this and loved it. The brothers did it. Everyone was, it was a family thing. And it was always how we grew up. And I fell in love with it, the passion of working with dogs and the athleticism and just working as one unit and coming together to make something awesome happen. You know, running races, I was running races at eight years old with 30 year olds because I didn't like because there wasn't any other kids doing it. So there's only three or four kid mushers running five mile races and I wanted to run the 30s and 60s. So I've always liked the distance. It's in your blood. I guess. I guess it really my dad had the bug and then I got it really.

SPEAKER_00:

And Bailey's parents had to be thinking that he was going to have a special relationship with these dogs. And that was way before they decided to move to Alaska.

SPEAKER_02:

They actually started in Massachusetts and then moved to Milan, New Hampshire. And that's where I really started growing the kennel. And that's where the Iditarod dream actually really started becoming a feasible thing. We thought it was going to be in my late 30s that we were going to attempt to do our first Iditarod. And I really realized that, you know, You're not getting any younger, so you might as well take a swing at it and, you know, start building a team and doing research and studying it. It's been a lifelong goal, you know, ever since I ran Junior Road, I've wanted to run it. Wow.

SPEAKER_00:

And I asked Bailey if they had a family meeting to decide this, or if he just woke up one day and said, let's do this thing. And well, like most great things, you need a little bit of luck.

SPEAKER_02:

You know, the funny thing is, is actually at a dog sled trade fair. My dad came up, and we'd been running the Northern Exposure Outfitters, and we were outfitting and selling gear and basically just talking dogs, seeing other mushers come down. And my dad came and said, what do you think about running Iditarod? I'm like, yeah, maybe in 10 years we could do it. I don't know if it's really a feasible thing in the next game. And just like that,

SPEAKER_00:

he has a championship caliber team. And of course, running the Iditarod isn't just about the musher. It's about those 16 four-legged athletes with personalities bigger than Alaska itself. Speaking of which, why don't we meet some of Bailey's best friends?

SPEAKER_02:

You know, everyone, that's the one thing of why I love dogs so much is they all have such unique personalities. Everyone has little, we call corks, whether they're being jerks or they're the stud of the yard and everyone loves them or if they're just flirts. And then we got our class clown. I'd call that definitely Tuckerman. You know, he, comes out and he has a goofy way about him and you know he loves everyone male female it doesn't matter he's best friends with everyone and he runs up he'll steal toys from him and you know free running he's one of those dogs you've got to watch out for because they'll try to take your legs out because he doesn't really think he is until he starts your first team that's tuckerman okay yep tuckerman and then we have senator is definitely the teacher's pet, I guess you'd call him. He's always right kind of thing. He's always led me true to the fact that what we're working for and towards, and he's definitely a big part of that. You know, as far as goofy, I would have to say Wyoming. Yeah, he's the goof of the class. You know, we were sitting at a bar. This guy would probably knock over all the stools and jump over the counter and tip over everyone's beer. he's a goof in that way he's a little clumsy but he is a powerhouse And I honestly, I would say our up and coming three-year-old Ryan, you know, he ran with me last year out of Aaron's kennel. My 24, I did a rod and then he just immersed fully into our kennel. And now he's one of our primary leaders with Senator. And man, he has just blown us out of the water, just showing off to everyone, running an open tundra and no trails at all. And that dog just, no questions asked. I say it, he goes there. Nice. A lot of faith and trust in each other. At a three-year-old, that's a lot to ask for a three-year-old. So I guess he is an overachiever. But, you know, the dog that's always right, I would say, is Senator.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. So he's got a class clown and a lovable wrecking ball along with an up-and-comer. But, of course, I ask if Senator, being the lead dog, is he the one who gets all these personalities pulling in the same direction?

SPEAKER_02:

No, you know, it's a misunderstanding that lead dog is the most important role. Okay. it's not what makes the strength of this being that one dog it's the team coming together as one in understanding their strengths and weaknesses because everyone's strength is actually a weaknesses in throughout the whole team if you over balance it because that you can't lean into one dog it's like he's my main man i'd be lying if i said it wasn't senator he's one of my top dogs for sure but we noticed there's this unbelievable dynamic when they're together in pairs and they have the right energy with each other and they work combo so you need A whole group of dogs. And apparently...

SPEAKER_00:

They are very perceptive.

SPEAKER_02:

Keeping a good positive attitude because dogs read that energy. I know it always sounds hippy-dippy that we read energy. It's like, but the dogs, they feed off how you're feeling. You walk in, you're sad, your dog's going to snuggle up to you and love on you. They're going to give you a little extra love that

SPEAKER_00:

day. Aw, who wouldn't want a little extra love? So anyway, we moved along to the race itself. And I asked Bailey about the checkpoints. What are they like? So what happens at a checkpoint? You just feed the dogs, you sleep, you get checked out. Then what? Not

SPEAKER_02:

always. So like this year, I'll be avoiding checkpoints. Actually, I won't stay in checkpoint. I'll grab my bag and I'll go camp on the trail because I have my coach says I have this problem with being very social. And I like talking about the dogs. And he says, that's a problem. You can't be so social and talking instead of sleeping or eating or resting. I always take care of the dogs first. That's one thing my signature is. I can take care of my dogs in 15 to 20 minutes. Have them straw, booty stripped, bedded down and fed in 25 minutes if I have to boil snow. And I pride myself in that. And then, you know, it's then it's me sitting there and eating my meal. And then I like bringing back Senator with me and sitting with me while meeting my meal. We eat together and I usually share my chili with them. And we usually just share some food. And then, you know, if I can fall asleep, I'll usually if it's anything above minus 10, I don't pull my sleeping bag out. I'll actually just lay in the straw that Senator's in and we'll share the bed together. But majority of the time, if it's real cold, I like to have a sleeping bag and we snuggle together or I'll pull Yo-Ya, one of our small little dogs, and actually put her in the sleeping bag with me. And she warms it up real nice and she loves it. So I usually take at least one dog and throw her in the sleeping bag. It's like an extra warmer.

SPEAKER_00:

So let's go back there. You said when it's not very cold, like minus 10, you sleep outside?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, you know, I say minus 10, but I like 10 above as... Now there's a lot to

SPEAKER_00:

unpack right there. He can't stay at checkpoints because he's too social and that distracts him from his priorities. And he shares his chili with Senator, which is cute, right? If you're a true dog lover, you've shared your food with your pup, right? But then it gets really crazy when he's talking about sleeping out in the snow, in the straw, with the dogs at negative 10 degrees. My goodness. Remember that soundbite about mushers needing to be a little crazy? Well, hmm. Okay, so this year is Bailey's third time with this ultimate race. Let's hear what it was like a couple years ago. when he was a rookie.

SPEAKER_02:

You know, we weren't competitive the first year just because I wanted to see what it was like just being on the trail for that long, 10 days, 11 days on the trail with the dogs and just me and them and an awesome vet crew and just unbelievable support and fan base and have an adventure. And it truly was an adventure, but it was an addicting adventure. Nice. I lost 45 pounds my first year. What? And that was 11 days. I shed 45 pounds. And I was, I was not in like, I was hurting. I also only slept, I believe like eight hours for 11 days. So that was pretty bad. I was in, I didn't take care of myself because I was so obsessed with it. I was in love with it. I was, I wanted to be with the dogs and see every part they were going through when they were sleeping. I was sitting there watching them and just seeing who moved and if they needed to be stretched out and they wanted to go for a walk before we left. And I got obsessed and I just, I didn't take care of myself and it did show. And I felt it. And then last year, I took better care of myself, but not the skill I was taught and starting to learn. But this year, I'm very dialed in and connected with my body. And I understand things, stretching, hydration, eating properly. And when you don't want to eat, which 90% of the time, you randomly just aren't hungry anymore. Your brain's going 1,000 miles a minute. And you're thinking about so much. Sometimes you have to stop and say, I'm here. Let's take this one step at a time, one mile at a time. Focus on what's in front of you and don't worry about the rest. It will all make sense when you get to the end.

SPEAKER_00:

That's right.

SPEAKER_02:

But it takes experience. And I think that's what's growing.

SPEAKER_00:

He lost 45 pounds over 11 days and got so little sleep. I can't imagine what that would be like. And I asked him what happens to his mind out there all alone. with that little

SPEAKER_02:

sleep of some of the things i see out there and be like is that real did that really just happen did we just see that you know you have those moments out there where we're listening to a concert on the yukon river somehow every musher out there has heard some kind of crazy music out there mine was a maroon 5 concert and i listened to them i would have my headphones on listening to audiobook and i had one half off like listen to the dogs and i I heard Maroon 5, clear as day. I put my audio book on pause and I look around looking for lights. I'm like, oh, maybe one of the villagers had Maroon 5 come out here. Now I haven't slept properly in five days now. And it's usually right around when you're going a little crazy. And I'm looking around. And then I just, you know, I close my eyes for a minute. I'm just humming with it. And I'm like, this is pretty good, actually. I'll just listen to it. Yeah, that was wild. It was pitch black and I was looking for concert lights.

SPEAKER_00:

That's a little scary. So who knew that Adam Levine enjoys performing in the world's coldest concert venue? At least in Bailey's Hallucination, that is. But you can probably imagine that sometimes your mind might play tricks on you out there. So it's a good thing that dogs are so aware of their surroundings that they instinctively avoid danger.

SPEAKER_02:

I like to brag and say that I make the best decisions for my dogs because I'm always thinking about their best interests. But the truth is... I'll never forget it was like we were out training on the flats and Senator almost had to look to him like his back stood up a little he looked more cautious light foot stepping and his body language he was basically showing me that he didn't want to go there but he looked back he was giving me all the signs like something's wrong dad and I'll never forget that he made that decision to go right instead of left and the next day that left channel was completely open and there was a slew flowing water and I was like we would have been all swimming that day. You know, being wet in minus 20 or 45, that's horrible when you have to go another 100 miles.

SPEAKER_00:

I can't imagine getting wet and then freezing for 100 more miles until you can get warm and dry. And then, of course, I had to ask, what happens if the dogs do fall in the water and get wet? So pay attention here. This is really cool.

SPEAKER_02:

I get the dogs out and the first thing when your dogs fall through the water, you got to roll them in the snow. The snow actually absorbs this water and will dry it out. Trust me, you wouldn't believe it until you watch it happen. But dogs come soaking wet out. You roll in the snow for five seconds and rub snow on them and they're almost spotless dry because they have such nice oil in their coats. How about that? That does not work for human clothes. I am not encouraging this. Please do not do

SPEAKER_00:

this. I know. I told you that was pretty neat, right? Okay, so Bailey is challenging himself off the race course as well. And his fiance, Brianna, is helping him shake his caffeine addiction. That's

SPEAKER_02:

hard, you know. I was just talking to Bri about this, and I just recently quit coffee about three months ago.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, boy.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, that's an experience of itself. I found a point where I wasn't challenging myself enough, and I was challenging my dogs, and I said, I need to find a new way to challenge myself physically, mentally, and emotionally. And coffee seemed to be that one thing I'd reach for first. Every morning, I went from drinking six cups to zero for the past three months.

SPEAKER_00:

Impressive.

SPEAKER_02:

My first race without coffee or any caffeine. So it's a big step.

SPEAKER_00:

A big step with no coffee. But you can easily tell that our hero is so into the experience and he's in tune with the dogs and their emotions and his emotions. Here's Bailey's take on emotion.

SPEAKER_02:

You know, only real men cry. I always say that. I'm like, only real men can cry because they realize that they're leaving yourself vulnerable enough. But I am definitely a little too emotional sometimes. But it's worked on it and we've recognized it and how to move forward. Not a bad thing to be emotional. It's just when you bring emotions and dog mushing, it's hard because it makes you a very soft person.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. And in a sport where temps drop to minus 70 and one wrong turn could be fatal. Maybe being soft and caring deeply for your team is just what's needed. Of course, the old-timers of the sport probably believe today's mushers are too soft.

SPEAKER_02:

our neighbor bill cotter it was a good example of this um i've heard so many stories from this guy and he's kind of another one of those mentors like the guy he comes over and sits down has coffee and tells you stories about the good old days and like you really don't need that seat anymore you know you need you need to lighten your sled up more and you shouldn't have this you know You know, racing's going downhill. You've got to change this. You want to do this? I'm like, Bill, it's evolution of dog mushing. But, you know, I'm going to listen to you, and I love hearing your stories.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. And I asked Bailey if he could have hung with those old-timers back in the 70s when the Iditarod first got started.

SPEAKER_02:

Honestly, I wouldn't be very competitive, probably, because I wouldn't be willing to do what they do. Just because I'm so used to our rules and regulations now, I'd be like, why is your sled 200 pounds? I'm like, required gear? Things evolved and needed to change, so this race got better. Right, right. And it evolved all for the good, you know. And there's some things everyone argues about things, but they all changed because of one thing. It's because they wanted better care for the dogs, and they didn't want mushers getting hurt as much. And it was always the thought that comes first that it's always about the dogs.

SPEAKER_00:

And it should be, right? Always about the dogs. So how many teams of dogs are going to be out there this year?

SPEAKER_02:

I don't know, truly, how many we're at right now. Last time I checked, we were at 32, I think. All right. So it's gone down drastically. Every year I've ran, it's been in the 30s. It's never been over 40. Our numbers are down because mushing is becoming very hard to do, distance mushing especially. It's very unaffordable and expensive. there's not a lot of interest in wanting to go suffer for a thousand miles. I can relate to those people. You say that, but you know, I mean, I get you on a 200 mile camera and be like, that's it. We're not going to keep going.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. I suppose I would love to keep going, especially if it's as much fun as Bailey makes it seem. By the way, hearing about him and Senator and Wyoming, maybe you'd like to be a sponsor. It's easy to do. Just a few clicks would go a long way.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, so we have dog sponsorship. People can join in the family by sponsoring the dogs. Okay. And we have individual personalities and basically bios about that dogs and the up-and-coming puppies, whether they're making Iditarod or not. We do all kinds of fun little intros of the dogs, and you get little packages about that dog and how they work, and that's teambaileyusa.com. And it's really a way to connect with us, but our best way to follow along on our adventure is Facebook and Instagram. Team Bailey, USA.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I'll get those links and make sure that we get them posted in the show notes. Awesome. Yeah, I really appreciate it. Yeah. And then people can adopt or sponsor, I guess, a dog. That's pretty neat.

SPEAKER_02:

Yep. And you can be part of that. And we're going to be introducing drop bags next year. So you can be part of helping us pack our drop bags and all that gear that goes out there and basically checkpoints that we're going through. You can help us fill those up and kind of push us on and give us those little extra kicks we need sometimes. Like, are we going to buy those? really nice snakes for the dogs this time? Or are they going to be the more generic stuff? And how much is in these bags? You would be amazed when you see them. Each bag weighs around 50 pounds. So it gets a lot of gear gets sent out. It is a thousand miles. So that's a long way. It's a skip across the pond.

SPEAKER_00:

For anyone inspired by Bailey's journey. And honestly, how could you not be? We'll have links to Team Bailey USA in the show notes. where you can meet these amazing dogs and maybe even help fuel their next adventure. Now, of course, I have the same question that you probably have right now. Can Team Bailey finish first

SPEAKER_02:

this year? You know, I never go into a race without thinking that we could possibly win it. I'll never go to the starting lines without a team I think. I won't go there with the mindset, we're going to get dead last. There's a lot of beautiful dog teams out there. There's a lot of mushers that have unbelievable strategy. There's a field of mushers that have beautiful dogs, gorgeous teams, and probably, truthfully, probably a little faster than mine. But the truth is, if I stay to my schedule and I push the way I will push and my team is capable of and run them to their training capability,

SPEAKER_00:

I think we have a real chance. A real chance. That's awesome. And he's clearly doing this for all the right reasons.

SPEAKER_02:

But the truth is, if we wanted to make money doing this, it would turn into a job. And this isn't just a job. This isn't something you want to make money with. This is something I'm just so passionate about that I want to share with the world.

SPEAKER_00:

And there you have it. A musher and his dogs chasing dreams across the Alaskan wilderness one mile at a time. Good luck, Team Bailey. Good luck.