The sled dogs probably crested at a speed of 16km/h as they crossed Interstate 90 at the South Billings Boulevard overpass. Conditions were suboptimal in the Montana city that night; the wind whipped, the asphalt was cold and wet snow was falling.
But the huskies seemed determined, and they were making good time - due in no small part to the lack of a musher on the back of their sled.
The gold runners glinted in the flashing lights of the Billings police officers' patrol cars as they approached the rogue dogsled from the rear.
"Myself and four-thirty [Officer Adams] are gonna be at the South Billings Boulevard overpass," Officer Dave Firebaugh radioed, "trying to stop a . . . dog sled? With, uh, no rider."