Restart – Check

Seven am – Fairbanks – -31 Degrees F Restart day found me where I left off yesterday – checking in volunteer dog handlers! But not for long…. I was due to meet Nathan at is truck at 9:00 and wanted to get a quick walk around the musher parking lot to check in with everyone […]

ANC-FAI

Sunday was left as a travel day. The teams had to load up the trucks and drive everyone and everything to Fairbanks for Monday’s Official Restart. It’s about a six hour drive for the teams. I had it easy, I hopped on a plane at 7am for an hour long flight! Pike’s Landing Lodge and […]

Ceremonial Start – Check

The sky was bright and clear. The temperature rested around zero. Excitement filled the air. It was Ceremonial Start Day! Today the teams headed off for an eleven mile warm-up run through downtown Anchorage. It’s a wonderful way for the fans to see their favorite teams and wish them well before they disappear in to […]

Snow Dump!

Tonight Fourth Avenue goes through a major transformation. It needs to shift from a plowed street traveled on by cars to a snow filled trail for dog teams to use as they head out of town. I headed downtown about 9:30pm and the yearly Iditarod Snow Dump had begun. I discovered that over the course […]

We Have A Start Order

Thursday is always a busy day for the mushers. They begin the morning super early with their Musher Meeting. This is when they are given all the information and details they need to know about the race. The meeting is followed by the official group musher photo and a toast to a safe race. My […]

Vet Checks – Check!

It’s been a few days since I’ve checked in… Monday was filled with meetings and making plans to make sure that the teachers who were arriving in town for the conference would be well cared for! Monday evening kicked off the conference with an opening reception. Tuesday was filled with presentations (I did two!) that […]

2017 Rondy Wraps Up!

Day Three of the Rondy Races was a moment to remember for sure! 66 year old Roxy Wright won the race for the fourth time, and the first time in 24 years. She’s still the only woman to have won the Rondy! What an amazing accomplishment to witness! For me, today was the easiest of […]

Moose, Reindeer and Dogs

Day two got off to a pretty Alaskan Start… a moose in the driveway! Luckily she moved along before we needed to head down town for day two of the Rondy Races! For the second day, our job as painters was a bit different. We went to each musher and asked if they were going […]

Mukluks on the Ground in Anchorage

There is a saying that tells us, “Getting there is half the fun.” I’m not sure that applies to traveling from Baltimore to Alaska. By the time it was all said and done, I think I was awake for 26 hours straight and then had a headache for the entire first day I was here! […]