The Official Start

These are my pictures of Sunday and Nancy's team as it takes off on the Idotarod trail.
As you know, Nancy ended up scratching on Tuesday as she had endured a crash, losing a dog, and being on the ridge for hours. We marvel at Nancy's perseverance throughout her preparation, pre-races like the Klondike, and time in this race. Regret comes from not trying to reach your dreams. Nancy, you pursued your goal and we are proud of you!

The real beginning of Idotarod

And she's off!!!

Idette and I are sitting in the airport waiting to board our flight, while Stacy and Diane are planning to fly in a small airplane to one of the first checkpoints at Finger Lake tomorrow, and Nancy is somewhere under the stars with her dogs! She was calm and ready to go today and the dogs were so excited! Little did they know that their run is going to be over 1000 miles!
I packed my camera cord into my checked luggage so I will not be able to put pictures from today onto this blog until tomorrow when I'm back in North Dakota. I hope that you have enjoyed keeping up with our adventure as much as we've had fun telling you about it!
I keep thinking of all the challenges that Nancy will be facing. Nancy (and all mushers) have packed and dropped food/supplies at all the checkpoints along the trail. Today she heard that ravens had eaten the food at one of the checkpoints, so that is being sent up tomorrow.
I look forward to having Nancy safely run this race and hearing her stories. I am looking forward to seeing my family, friends, and South Middle School staff and students.

This is NOT Tina Fey!

Yes, you are looking at pictures of Sarah and Piper Palin, a moose, and our ceremonial start. Nancy was very calm and had a great Ceremonial Start. When she was interviewed by the media, she talked about how finishing the Iditorod was her goal and how emotional it was to have her son Michael riding behind her today as the Iditarod had been their goal and dream. We are so proud of Nancy!
After the start, we took a beautiful drive along Cook Inlet and saw Portage Glacier. It is a "hanging glacier" so we saw the torquise blue showing through the snow. It was awesome. We are now in Wasilla for tomorrow's real start.

Ceremonial Start & a Glacier!

Friday in Alaska

Today we drove to Wasilla to see Dream a Dream Dog Kennels where Nancy and her dogs have been training. It was a beautiful day - sunny, bright and everything had a thick cover of white snow. It was truly a winter wonderland! We had a tour of the facilities and the highlight was the dogsled ride. The dogs were so excited as they were hooked up to the sled! They definately love to run. It was a joy to watch them.
Tomorrow we will be in downtown Anchorage for the Ceremonial Start of the 37th Iditarod. Nancy will have an Iditorider with her. (That is someone who pays for the right to ride with Nancy for the 11 mile run.) Stacy and Idette will be dog handlers, while Diane and I are still trying to decide if we want to help with that or be photographers. The race begins at 10:00 and dog teams leave every 2 minutes. Nancy will leave at 10:04 since she drew #3. After everyone finishes the 11 mile run, they pack up and head to Willow for the "real start" of the 1140 mile race on Sunday. We will be packing up and heading to Willow also.
I hope that you are enjoying reading about our adventure in Alaska. We are having a once in a lifetime experience! Thanks for your support.

Friday in Alaska

A beautiful day for a Dog Sled Ride!

We meet author Dee Dee Jonrowe!

Here you can see my friends and myself with author Dee Dee JonRowe. These Grand Forks friends and I meet every month to discuss a book that we have all read (book club). One of the books that we read to learn more about the Iditorod was Dee Dee's book "Iditorod Dreams". It was very exciting to get to meet this author. Dee Dee is mushing in this Iditorod after recovering from breast cancer. Dee Dee says "The Iditorod is a chance to celebrate Alaska's history and the partnership that dogs have had in it."

Thursday in Alaska

What a day! Idette and I slept well after our late night of travel, and awoke to the sound of dogs! Yes, racing dogs were being kenneled behind our hotel. It was great to meet up with Nancy and her husband, Glenn and son, Michael. My friends, Stacy & Diane, and the Antonenkos also arrived from Grand Forks later in the day.
A little background information on Nancy: Nancy and some of her dogs left Grand Forks in October and have been up here training. Nancy is 58 years old and it has always been her dream to race in the Iditorod. She decided 2009 was the year as her son went out east to college and Nancy had more time to devote to this goal. Nancy has kept a blog since she left in October with her journal of training and some fabulous pictures (as she loves photography) at her website: reachfortheskykennels.com. I urge you to check it out.
Our travel itinerary changed today as we had planned to go to Portage Glacier, but it was snowing so hard that visibility would not have allowed us to see it. Instead we went to Earthquake Park and a museum.
This evening we attended the Musher's Banquet. It was very large with over 2000 people attending, including mushers, sponsors, family, and friends. The mushers draw numbers to see what order they leave on their start. Nancy drew number #3! That is supposed to be a good position, as she won't have to keep her dogs settled down when they want to run as the race starts. The racers leave every 2 minutes.

We are in Alaska!

It is 1:45 in the morning as I am writing this entry. (That's 4:45 AM North Dakota time.) It's been a long day of travel as Idette and I left Fargo at noon, and we've flown Fargo to Denver, Denver to Seattle, and Seattle to Anchorage. All we could see when we got here was lots of snow. That should be great for the races! Nancy is staying at our hotel so we are anxious to see her in the morning. Our other 2 friends will be flying here tomorrow morning. Tomorrow's agenda includes a musher's meeting in the morning, a tour of the glacier, and the Musher's Banquet tomorrow evening.

Alaska Here We Come!

It's only 2 days until my friends and I are off to Alaska! It's getting exciting - and I'm also a bit worried. I've never been to Alaska before. What will the weather be like? What do I need to pack? Will the volcano stay quiet? Is Nancy getting nervous?
I am going to watch my friend, Nancy Yoshida race in her first Iditorod. I am so proud of her! She has been in Alaska (with her dogs) since October training. I am proud that she is pursuing her dream and actually making it happen.
I have a picture of my traveling buddies (from left to right, Idette Graham, me, Diane Johnke, and Stacy Jensen). We are going to attend the Musher's Banquet, and see both the Ceremonial Start in Anchorage, and the "real" start in Wasilla (home of Sarah Palin). I will try to keep you posted on some of our adventures.