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Day 12
March 13, 2002
Martin becoming a United States citizen!
I had the most unbelievable experience today. Martin Buser became a United States citizen. The ceremony took place under the burl arch. The crowd was donned in red, white, and blue.
The excited fans supported Martin by wearing red, white, and blue
There were flags being waved by all of his friends, fans, and family. He said his oath, tears in his eyes, and then an amazing singer sang a song about being proud to be an American. When she sang her closing song, One Moment in Time, a musher appeared up Front Street heading for the arch. The crowd peeled about down the center making a human chute for the musher, and from the bottom of the chute comes Al Hardman! He mushed straight through the crowd and under the arch. Talk about a moving moment all around. Here I am under the burl arch beaming, tears in my own eyes because Martin is obviously so proud to be sworn in, and then Al, my Idita-Rider musher arrives heading right for me. I couldn't have asked for a more moving moment.
Al comes under the burl arch
Al expressing his delight in how well he had done
Al was in ecstacy when arrived so I did not ask him about Nikki, but guess what? His handlers assured me that Nikki the beanie husky, and the photo of all of you, had made it all the way to Nome! I hope to have the photo stamped at the post office with a special Nome stamp to show that you made it to Nome!
There were two interesting races to the finish line this morning. DeeDee Jonrowe and Jerry Riley were battling it out for sixteenth and seventeenth place. DeeDee had one more dog than Jerry, which gave her the edge. She passed Jerry a mile or two out of town. DeeDee had been sick and had fallen from fourth to fifteenth, but was in disbelief over how well her dogs had run without her full strength to help. She turned to her mom and said, "Momma, you can see why I love these dogs so much." DeeDee was given a huge hug by Martin, as well as by her mom and husband. It is just amazing to see all of the other mushers at the finish line waiting to greet each of the mushers as they come under the arch.
DeeDee and Ramy Brooks greet mushers as they come over the finish line
Martin explained to me the night before that the other mushers are like family, and DeeDee exclaimed the same thing under the arch this morning. "We love each other when we are in competition with them or not." She had also been in Ruby when Linwood made the difficult decision to scratch, and had given him a huge hug in support.
The other battle that had taken place was between the Norwegian mushers, Kjetil Backen and Robert Sorlie. I learned from one of their dog trainers that it wasn't as simple as it seemed. Backen, a very organized person, had a detailed plan of how he was going to get to Nome. This included where he was going to stay, and how long he would stay in each location. Sorlie, on the other hand, dod not come with as detailed a plan. Sorlie and Backen had stuck together, but perhaps unintentionally. Backen's plan was working well and Sorlie went along with it because his dogs ran at a similar pace. When the two mushers came under the arch they were sweating and out of breath. This, I learned, was because the two of them had been running along with the sled and pushing it hard to help the dogs for miles. Each of them wanted that ninth place finish. It was only because one of Backen's dogs had slowed down to go to the bathroom that Sorlie got an edge that Backen could not beat all the way to the finish line.
Ken Anderson followed Jerry Riley in eighteenth place. He pulled his lead dog just before the re-start. His mom had said she challenged him to finish in the top positions, and he was close! When he crossed the finish line his words were, "Oh boy. I'm glad to finally be here." Anderson had suffered severe frost bit on his feet. Doctors had been checking it along the trail. They allowed him to continue on explaining that he would not lose his toes, but they would create incredible pain for him. He trudged ahead despite it. His words were jumbled at the finish line as he explained, "I thought I'd be so excited and awake when I got into Nome, but I was falling asleep." I'm sure he will be thrilled when he's had a nap.
Rick Swenson receiving a congratulations from Martin Buser
We had an unexpected guest in Nome today. Colonel Vaughn, a hero in the dogsledding world, was honored in the serum run today. Some of the Serum Run mushers finished under the burl arch today also. Here you can see Colonel Vaughn as he rides over the finish line with one of the mushers.
Colonel Vaughn takes an honorary ride
I finally ran into Dan Govoni. He is Lynda Plettner's husband and an Iditarod musher that I met when we visited his kennel. He was at the finish line when Lynda arrived. He was so proud of her for finishing in the top twenty positions, her best finish ever, that they gave each other an exuberant hug in disbelief of how well she had done. I wish I had a picture to show you there excitement.
Lynda Plettner talking to reporters
Dan congratulating each of the dogs
Dan and Lynda riding out of the chute to the dog lot
These dogs finished the race and are kept in this well-guarded dog lot until they are flown home. While I was there with Al, about twenty of the dogs broke into a siren-like howl, that I read as a howl of jubilation!
Kim and I got a tour of the town with two native women. They drove us around in a truck and showed us the school, the jetties, the hills outside of town, and other interesting places.
Asta and Joanie had strikingly beautiful parkas, and were wonderful tour guides.
I think that is all of the news for today.
Mrs. Holmes
Nome, - Thursday, March 14, 2002 at 20:26:56 (EST)
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Mrs. Holmes
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Webspace for Mrs. Holmes Iditarod 2002 project was provided courtesy of
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