Loving every minute of it!

Day 4
March 5, 2002

Hello Everyone!

Well, did you hear the news that Doug Swingley is going to take the trail at a leisurely pace to enjoy his last of ten years running the Iditarod? I couldn’t believe it! I heard his girlfriend is going to run it next year and that he is going to concentrate on the Yukon Quest instead. To me that means that the other mushers will be working even harder to win the title this year. I know Dee Dee and Martin looked absolutely determined today. I’ll tell you more of the news from the trail after I tell you about my morning.

I went to the McGrath School and visited a second/third grade classroom. There were only seven children in the class and two of them had other commitments so they were out of the classroom. I brought a box of books to give to the school as a gift. Today I read one called Sugaring. It is about making maple syrup and maple sugar candy. I read the book and discussed sugaring, and then each of the students tried maple sugar! Everyone seemed to think it was pretty darn good, perhaps a little TOO sweet though. It felt wonderful to be able to teach the students about special things in Vermont. They were absolutely amazed that maple leaves turn such bright shades. Each of the students tried using my digital camera also. Here is a photo of the class.


Here are the second and third graders in McGrath

When I left the school, I headed for the plane. We flew back one checkpoint to Nikolai.

Nikolai from the air


The parking area for the mushers.

This is an Athabaskan village. There were many buildings at this checkpoint too. One of the special parts of this checkpoint is that the mushers eat in the school cafeteria. They were served a steamy stew. The school raises money for school projects.


This man is Athabaskan. He has lived in Nikolai for over 30 years. He was trying to convince me to take up dog mushing. He warned me that I would need to learn how to fish, I’d have to move here and build myself a cabin by cutting down trees, and I’d have to buy the dogs and a sled. He had me laughing pretty hard. He was very friendly and eager to talk to the visitors in his town.


These village children were having fun riding on a dogsled that their dad was pulling.

I spent several hours outside in the windy cold talking to mushers and shooting pictures. I most enjoyed watching Harald Tunheim taking care of his dogs.

Harald Tunheim was gentle with his dogs and very friendly.

He treated them as though they were his best friends. He rubbed them down gently, applied foot cream, and covered them with big blankets. I couldn’t believe that he would carry these big blankets on his sled!


Tunheim’s dogs were treated with loving care.

He said that they not only keep the dogs warm when they are so tired, but they also relax them and blinds them from all of their fans. I was really impressed by how gentle he was even though he is one of the top contenders in the race.

I spoke to Charlie Boulding. He was in a great mood even though some crazy things had happened on his way to Nikolai. He had to haul dogs. They have a virus or food poisoning. He also had several moose run across the trail ten feet in front of his team. That must have made his heart race!


Charlie checks in when he arrives.

When I arrived at his sled he was eating what looked like the pemmican he had told me about at the banquet. Turns out he was eating dried smoked salmon. Because I was curious, he took out all of the food from his sled bag. He had several kinds of dried fish or meat, some candy bars, and ogootuk or Eskimo ice cream. He said a native woman makes it for him each year. It was made out of seal oil, Crisco, blueberries, sugar, and white fish. He had me try it. Can you believe it was actually good!. He wanted me to try the dried smoked salmon too but I decided that I’d leave that for him to munch along the trail. He looked good.


Charlie showing me his ogootuk, or Eskimo ice cream.

Jeff King looked tired, but seemed perfectly calm with all of his chores. DeeDee was the second to leave and both she and the dogs looked great. Linwood Fiedler (from Vermont) was the first to leave Nikolai, although Buser had signed in and went straight on toward McGrath without even stopping.


Martin Buser raced through the checkpoint without stopping for a break.

I just heard that he is taking one of his 8-hour layovers here in McGrath. He won the award for reaching McGrath first.


Linwood Fiedler, our Vermont raised musher, looked quite chipper.

Rick Swenson had every ounce of his concentration on his dogs. He is much taller than I had thought. I heard he also lost a lot of weight in order to be lighter for his dogs. He would sure love to win again. He came into the checkpoint with a dog in his sled.


Rick Swenson hauls a dog.

Vern Halter looked great. Sonny King was looking tired and sunburned, but was chipper enough to share lots of laughter with Vern. Ray Redington, Jr. looked awesome. He is one of the 18 year olds in this year’s race.

I heard that Bill Borden’s gangline separated from his sled and his dogs took off. He supposedly rolled his sled down an embankment and hit his leg on a tree which tore his pants. Someone said that he is okay though and that he is continuing on, however. Go Bill!

I heard that some of the mushers’ food thawed at some checkpoints when it was being stored which is dangerous because it could give the dogs food poisoning. Everyone says John Baker is looking good.


John Baker was full of smiles.

Mitch Seavey had lunch with me. He said he averages one hour of sleep a night throughout the race. He was pretty tired, but happy to have company while eating his stew.

Poor Ramy Brooks looked unbelievably exhausted, but according to the standings, it looks like he is doing quite well. After some hot food he was looking better but he sure looks like a nap would do him wonders! Wish him well.

I heard from Al’s handlers that he’s doing pretty well. I think he was in 25th the last I heard. He is pretty tired though so I hope he finds some peaceful rest soon. Unfortunately the temperatures were much colder last night and probably will be again tonight. I can’t even imagine sleeping outside in this weather! I bet most of the mushers will find a spot on the floor of a cabin to sleep on tonight.

The dogs have changed drastically since I saw them at the start. They were so active before, and now they are so calm and sleepy. I spend some of my time just telling them what a wonderful job they are doing. If only I could go rub them down myself! It’s polite to give the mushers private time with their dogs in order to allow them to get all of the chores done as quickly as possible. The amazing thing is that when the mushers put the booties on and say hike, the dogs get up, start singing a bit, and are ready to run. They sure do love to run! I want to show you a few pictures of the dogs at this point in the race.


Tunheim’s dogs cozy up together.


There’s nothing like a nap in the warm sun.

I think that is all of the news I’ve heard today. I hope you enjoy all of these silly tidbits! I’ll try to see some of the middle runners tomorrow so I can cheer them on too.

Talk to you when I find my next computer connection.

Mrs. Holmes



Nikolai, - Wednesday, March 06, 2002 at 17:47:46 (EST)