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Day 13
March 14, 2002
Hello Everyone!
Today was a quiet day. There were only a few mushers who came over the finish line after daybreak. The two teams were Stan Passananti and Keith Aili, who are both from Minnesota. I was told that they battled it out just prior to the finish line, but Keith arrived before Stan. Stan escorted two native children over the finish line on his sled. They were beaming ear to ear. Can you imagine getting a ride over the finish line with one of the mushers?
Keith Aili finishes
Stan Passananti gives some local children a ride through the burl arch
I went to the post office this morning and when I came out I found myself standing face to face with a pet reindeer. It was standing in the back of truck staring at me! I wanted to rub my eyes to be sure I was seeing things correctly! I reached out and gave it a scratch. Boy was it happy with me. You never know what you are going to see in Alaska. A woman passing by said that it's name is Velvet Eyes and that it belongs to the plumber in town. She said that the man had raised it from a baby and used to take it for rides on the front seat of it's truck. Now it is too big.
Velvet Eyes going for a ride
I stood nose to nose with it scratching between it's ears
Have you ever wondered where the mushers and their dogs stay after the race while they await the final musher's banquet? The mushers stay in town with host families.
The Busers are staying in this family's house
Martin's dogs stay in these igloos to keep warm! No, he didn't build them himself, they are made out of plastic.
The dogs stay in a dog lot until they have a plane ticket home. The mushers and handlers take care of the dogs until then, then the handlers ride home with the dogs. Al's team was shipped out today. Each dog was put into it's own kennel and brought to the plane in a truck. I'm sure the mushers must miss them after being with them for around the clock for so many days straight. Al's team will fly to Anchorage and then get loaded back into Al's truck to be driven back to Michigan.
Kennels are used to transport the dogs. These dogs are ready to go, and the tags tell the airline who they belong to.
When Al was getting ready for the airline truck that was coming to pick the dogs up, he brought Nikki to me. She was in excellent shape. Oh how Al laughed wondering how she had remained in such good condition after being on his sled through so many obstacles. He told me that he thinks Nikki and the photo of you were like his good luck charms, I'm assuming because he did so well in the race this year.
Al posing with his hardest working dogs in this year's Iditarod
Al posing with Nikki and Mrs. Holmes' class after their long journey to Nome
He signed Nikki's tag and belly and also the photograph of all of you. I'm so glad you each made it over the whole trail unharmed! Good job! The other dogs were proud of Nikki too for making it along the whole trail without getting lost.
Thank you Al for taking us on this exciting journey!
I'll talk to you all soon,
Mrs. Holmes
Nome, - Friday, March 15, 2002 at 14:25:02 (EST)
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Mrs. Holmes
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Webspace for Mrs. Holmes Iditarod 2002 project was provided courtesy of
ValleyNet of Norwich, Vermont.
