Time: 10 PM
Location: Anchorage Hotel
Hello Again!
Today was an absolutely beautiful day here in Anchorage. The temperature
was in the 30’s and the sun was shining. Only problem was I couldn’t go out
and enjoy it because we had “school” from 8 to 4! Actually, our speakers today
were wonderful, and I learned a lot.
Mark Nordman was first on the agenda. See if you can figure out
what that word means. He was an Iditarod musher for five years but he is now
the Race Marshal for this and several other sled dog races. That means he makes
sure all the rules are followed. He said that the Iditarod is the World Cup
and the Super Bowl of dog mushing. Wow! I am so excited to be here to see
this wonderful race!
Jan Bullock, a vet technician, was the next speaker. She explained the
pre-race heart and blood work on the dogs. She used Zuma,
the official Iditarod dog, as an example of a healthy Alaskan sled dog.
She showed us many slides of what goes on to make sure all of the dogs are in
excellent health. I can explain this in much more detail, but it will have
to wait for another day. I’m just too tired now!
Stuart Nelson, the chief vet, spoke to us again. This time he showed many
slides and gave us much more detail about the care of the dogs and the research
being done to detect problems with the dogs before they occur.
After lunch Dick Mackey gave
a fabulous talk about the beginning of the Iditarod race, in the 1970’s. He
was one of the original mushers, and he was the Iditarod champion in 1978.
He compared the first race in 1973 to an earthbound space trip. What do you
think he meant by that?
The final speaker was Libby Riddles.
She is the author of “Danger, the Dog Yard Cat.” She had her dog Iceworm
with her. What a beautiful dog! She was the first woman to win the Iditarod,
in 1985. An important thing to think about is her comment that an “ordinary
person can do extraordinary things if you put your mind to it.” Can you make
any connections to that?
In the evening we went downtown to an art gallery to meet Iditarod
champion Jeff King and his wife Donna. She is an award winning artist.
Her work is fabulous! I almost bought one of her prints, but the line was so
long! I will have to go back to the gallery another time to try and choose
one. I did get Jeff’s picture though. I love his t-shirt! On the way out
I briefly spoke with his daughters
and got their picture with the dogtruck. The older daughter came in second last
week in the Junior Iditarod. She was 30 seconds behind the first place winner!
Next I went to the Anchorage Museum for a special showing of the movie “Iditarod
– A Far Distant Place.” It was produced by a woman named Alice Bouvre, and
she lives in Arlington! It is about three mushers – Mike Williams, Lynda Plettner
and Mike Nosko. She and Mike Williams
were both at the theater to speak about the film.
I have so much more to tell you about what all of these people said, but
I must go to bed. I need to be up early tomorrow to get to the start of the
29th Iditarod!
Good night and happy dreams from Mrs. McClintock |
