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Location: McGrath

Time: 7 PM

Hello to you all!  This is our third night at the Takusko House.  This place is wonderful!  The lodge is like a ski house, with beds all over.  I am in the women’s dorm area -  just like being at overnight camp, or college. There are about 65 people here.  Some are sleeping in the garage on cots.  There are common areas to eat and all the food is buffet style. 

The town is large for a bush town.  Remember – that means there are no roads to get here.  You get here by flying in, or by snow machine in the winter, boat in the summer.  There are about 450 people, and 115 in the school.  Since the school is closed for the Iditarod, I haven’t gotten to see it inside.  I’m hoping to have someone show it to me tomorrow morning.  It looks really nice from the outside!

McGrath has gravel roads, so some people have cars to get around here.  Most still travel by snow machine.  They are all over the place!  I found out that they cost about $5000 new, but you can get one used for $2000.  That’s a lot cheaper than a car!

Talking about prices, today I went into the grocery store.  I checked out the prices of a few items.  Things are so expensive!  Look at my photos of fruit and bread prices.  Compare those to prices in Belmont next time when you go shopping.  See if you can make up some number stories comparing the prices in McGrath and Belmont.

This morning we found out that David Straub had to scratch.  He fell and dislocated his shoulder.  He was brought here to McGrath to be checked by a Physician’s Assistant, and the injury was worse than he thought.  He couldn’t go on.  So, he and his team of dogs have gone home by air.

Another musher, Art Church, also scratched here in McGrath.  He got pneumonia!  I was watching him this afternoon as he was getting his dogs ready to fly home.  He was sneezing and coughing and looked miserable! So, as of now, there are 64 teams. 

Anyway, today I watched the school children playing along side the Iditarod Trail.  They were having a wonderful time!  I included a couple of pictures.

After lunch since nothing much was happening at this checkpoint, we got on the plane and flew up the trail to see what was happening up ahead.  Check out the picture of our group getting ready to fly.  We have a super pilot!  I feel so safe with Bill.  He is very cautious, checks the weather continuously, and always reminds us that plans can change if necessary.

When we get in the plane he calls in his flight plan, tells them where we are going, how many people are in the plane, how much fuel he has and how many hours we will be flying.  It feels so comfortable knowing that all this is known by someone.  He repeats all of this on the way back.  When we fly we are about 1500 feet up, so we can see the ground fairly well.  You can tell by my aerial shots of the teams we saw this afternoon running and resting. 

We flew over the Ophir checkpoint, but I didn’t get a photo.  We couldn’t land there because you have to have skis on the plane for that one and it turns out we don’t.  I think I told you we would have skis, but I was wrong.  Bill doesn’t like skis – he likes wheels.  He feels they are safer and more dependable.  That’s fine with me!  

There’s one photo of the trail that we were following today that I thought you might like.  It shows the trail going east/west.  It’s almost camouflaged!  Can you find it?  I was surprised to see that the trail is not really well marked.  I don’t know how the mushers know where it is! 

When we are flying, we typically fly 140 miles an hour.  Compare that to the speed of your car in Belmont, and on the highway, too.  Although we go a lot faster than your car, it feels quite slow!

We flew up as far as Iditarod today, the halfway point of the race.   Several of the mushers had arrived here and were resting, and some had also left for the next checkpoint.  Again, we couldn’t stop here.  We just looked down.  I included a photo. You can see several planes.  They all have skis.

I included a photo of the alpenglow on the mountains as  we returned to McGrath.  It’s just gorgeous!

When we returned to McGrath, we went to see what was happening at the checkpoint.  Aliy Zirkle was just leaving.  She looked so happy!  I hope she does well.  She is a rookie, and is very concerned about her dogs.  She has dropped many, and is down to 9.  She almost didn’t go on, but after giving her dogs and herself a long rest, she decided to push ahead.

I’ve had a few questions from you about Mike Nosko’s dogs.  This is the team that was run into by a snow machine.  They will all be fine, but Mike’s dreams of running the Iditarod are shot for this year.  He was so concerned about his dogs when they got hit, that he never got the person’s name and driver’s license.  There is a reward for information about the person. 

Well, it’s time for bed now!  Tomorrow we move all the way up the trail to Unalakleet.  This village will probably be colder, because it’s on the Bering Sea, and gets windy.  Maybe I’ll finally use my heavy clothes!  I actually had to buy a t-shirt today, because I was so warm! 

So, good-night, and follow my journey again tomorrow.

Love from Mrs. McClintock