Jessie Royer and DeeDee Jonrowe in Nikolai.
Jeff King leaving Ruby (and the last time he'll do it racing a dog team).
Tor, the checker in Ruby (came to AK from Norway).
I had to get photos on the flight heading down my favorite valley in the world. Thank you Mike Stewart from Redline Charter Service!
I love the Iditarod. I always have. I'm pretty dang sure I always will.
While I acquired some new Iditarod memories and experiences the past few weeks, some of my favorites are still from Jr. High and early High School. My best friends and I wandered around town at home in Unalakleet wondering where the heck all the exotic people in puffy jackets came from. We'd wear our own fur parkies, feeling quite exotic ourselves, especially as photographers asked to snap a few photos. We loved it. And back when the Swenson/Butcher rivalry was in full swing and the national media was all over the Iditarod, we were on national television! In our little town that no one could pronounce. It was magical! Yes. My Iditarod love has deep roots and those roots reached further into cracks I didn't think they could ever reach.
The roots were just digging in permanently in 1992--the year the Iditarod race became real to me. The puffy jackets and planes landing on the river were the norm in March. In 1992 Martin Buser was the first to Unalakleet and everyone was talking about his tiny dogs. "How could tiny dogs like THAT be first to the coast?" Like the dogs would just freeze and die in 40 below. They didn't freeze and die. They pulled Buser under the burled arch in first place that year. How did they do it? Those dogs. Those little dogs. They really traveled from Anchorage to Nome and won? And I still kick myself to this day. I'll never forget it. My aunt told my cousin to stand by Martin for a photo. My cousin didn't want to and walked away. "He might win!" my aunt said. I wanted a photo with Martin so badly I felt it in my bones. "He might win!" It would've been so easy. "Take one of me!" But I was a shy village girl. I didn't bother people with questions or requests. Pretty funny.
Bothering people with questions is now my job. OK. Maybe not bothering them, but it feels like that sometimes. Thanks to KNOM Radio, my family and a great pilot I traveled the trail this year getting interviews with mushers, vets, volunteers and cooks. I loved it. And what I loved was that my favorite folks to talk and hang out with on the trail loved the race just like I did. And I could tell it was difficult for volunteer checkers and vets to explain what keeps them coming back year after year. You can't quantify or explain the awe that exists for the dogs, the mushers, the trail and the miles. You can't explain the friendliness of folks helping out. You can't explain the wonder that exists when you see a team leave a checkpoint in the middle of the night to travel for hours and hours in the darkness. And you can't explain why the guy in Nikolai stays out in the cold, stoking the fire so mushers could have hot water for the dogs. He didn't need to do that. He wanted to. He wanted to be a part of it. Just like I did when my bones asked for a photo with Martin.
I never did get a photo with Martin and I'm OK with that. I did get this crooked photo of this guy making hot water in Nikolai and I am very grateful. So very grateful. It sort of makes up for my Martin flub.
*if you'd like to check out our coverage of the 2010 Iditarod, check out our trail blog.
I've been feeling neglective (my made up word) regarding our blog. I actually feel bad for it. Like it's my friend I don't write an email to or a pet I forgot to feed. But BaNNeR RooTS, guess what? We have our puter (Katie's made up word when she was four) back from the puter shop and it's wonderful. They replaced the DVD drive and the keyboard and I forgive them for not fixing the capital p situation. The shift p to make a capital p still does not work, but Fen found out we can make a capital p if we use the caps lock. P. See. He's so smart.
So, what do I share in our ceremonial post? Hmm...
So Fen and I went on a ten-year anniversary trip, a few months early. Actually, some good friends of ours asked if we'd go on a cruise with them and we said yes. Talk about a fantastic way to celebrate 10 years of togetherness. Our boat was called the ms Eurodam and is Holland America's newest ship. Needless to say, it was gorgeous.
San Juan was my favorite port. It's a place I'd love to return to, to visit and learn more of its history and culture. And it made me kind of wish I could paint my house turquoise blue with wide white trim, but somehow it would not look the same out here at Banner Creek.
Day One.
Day Six.
So that doesn't look as impressive as I imagined it would. I tell myself the lighting must've been different on day 6. Anyway...
That's all. I tried uploading more photos, but typepad decided enough was enough. I don't think it's enough though, so I'll try again tomorrow. It's getting late and as much as I missed blogging, the thought, "you better go to sleep or you'll pay for it tomorrow" keeps visiting my brain.
