March 10,2004 Left Nikolai at 5:30pm after a good, sunny rest for the dogs. The trail between Nikolai and McGrath runs along the Kuskokwim River and Big River. The rivers are so windy that the trail takes many portages across chunks of wooded land. These portages can be pretty tricky. Many caught me by surprise since we were running at night and the dogs were moving pretty fast. There were some pretty tight corners and some really abrupt drops back onto the river. We were moving along really well and passed a few teams along the way. About 5 miles out of McGrath, Koala Bear started limping. I stopped and checked her out and her right shoulder was tender, thus I loaded her in the sled and moved on. I was now beginning to think about what I would do when we got to McGrath. I had planned to take my 24 hour layover in Takotna (the next checkpoint) for a variety of reasons, and not stop in McGrath. The most important of which is that they have the best food on the trail and Tony was there and I knew I’d be really needing to see a friend about then. I had my second sled in McGrath as this is a hub and the cheapest place to send a sled. Everyone sends a second sled to McGrath. If you’ve trashed your sled in the Dalzell, the Buffalo Tunnels, or the Burn you can either limp to McGrath and change or have it shipped back that trail to Nikolai or Rohn. My sled was fine except that the inserts and plastic was a foot too short and I was a little worried that it would get knocked off. Since I had Koala Bear in the bag and I wanted the vets to look at her and now I’m thinking about changing sleds I would have to be in McGrath at least an hour. An hour rest is just enough to tease the dogs into thinking they’ll be getting a rest. To then try to drive them through is psychologically tough on the dogs, especially if they are used to resting 4 hours at each checkpoint. I was worried about the effect it would have on them. As I was wrestling with this the answer became very clear. About 5 miles out of McGrath there was a diversion from the original trail. There was a ledge cut in the side of a steep hill around a big hole with some big rocks in it. I got the leaders to follow the trail along this little ledge, but before the last few dogs could get up it the front of the team got pulled off the ledge so there we went careening through this hole. That wasn’t much fun, but we survived. By the time I got the sled upright we came around a corner and the trail forked. There was a team sitting in one trail so my dogs took the other one. The trail we took was a old trail that now dead ends in about 2 feet of overflow. I stopped as quick as I could and as the other team was moving now, I called my leaders over to the right trail. They were awesome and jumped right over. However, the overflow was so deep that the back end of the team couldn’t get over. I got off the sled and waded through the water and pulled them over. At least it was just my feet getting wet. I could live with that. The team was lined out and I was heading back to my sled proud that this turned out so well, when I tripped over my boots and fell face first into the overflow. I now have my answer to where I’m going to 24 hour. Time to dry out. We pulled into McGrath at 11:22 PM.

McGrath March 10, 2004. As we pulled up into the checkpoint I was surprised to see a ton of people there and some guys pushing a microphone and camera in my face. Turns out it was the Outdoor Channel people. I must be doing pretty well if I’m close enough to the front of the pack for these guys to still be here. I remember telling them that I was declaring my 24 hour layover because I had taken a bath a ways back down the trail and needed to dry out. The volunteers helped park my team and soon the camera and microphone were in my face again as I was trying to feed the team. I was pretty tired by this time and wasn’t thinking very clearly so I’m sure they weren’t too impressed with my answers to their questions. Don’t know if they aired any of that interview or not.

The vet checked the dogs. I fed them and got them comfortable in some deep straw, massaged and wrapped all that needed it and headed into the checkpoint. Upon entering the building you walk into a room with a few long tables set up, a phone and computer and a small heater that in front of which is a ton of wet gear. The next day I noticed the snow on the roof was melting in the 40 degree heat and the roof was leaking like crazy. Next there was a small kitchen full of food then a living room with a bunch of snoring, stinky mushers on the floor. I went into the kitchen and got something to eat. Then I decided to try to call Rich. I hadn’t talked to him since he called on the cell phone a few minutes before we hooked up to head to the start line in Willow. Rich didn’t go to the restart since his foot was still in a cast and he couldn’t walk on it. He’d spent hours Saturday freezing in the truck during the Anchorage start and I couldn’t ask him to do that again. Anyway, I was really missing him and dying to talk to him. I tried to use our MCI phone card only to find that only GCI would work out there. Lucky for me I have my credit card number memorized (I bought everything for Iditarod on the credit card so of course I had it memorized). I had a my ID, credit card and $500 in a wallet that I must have inadvertently sent home in a return bag at a previous checkpoint. I don’t know how I would have called Rich without having memorized that card number. Anyway, I called and we a short, but very sweet chat. I gave him a brief synopsis of the trip thus far and all I remember saying to him about the Finger Lake to Nikolai trail was…”You have no idea.” I explained why I was doing y 24 hour layover in McGrath then said good night. I slept like a baby after having talked with Rich and knowing I could sleep for a good 3 hours before getting up to feed the dogs again. (I made sure the dogs went no longer than 6 hours between feedings on this layover) I got up, fed the dogs, ate like a pig, chatted with a few mushers there (Harmony, Cliff, Matt, Jacob, Jim Warren, and Kelly Williams), slept some more, ate some more, fed the dogs….same cycle for the remainder of the 24 hours. As McGrath was the first place that had problems with the Norwalk virus they had plenty of bleach water to wash your hands in and made sure no one touched any food without washing first. The vet who checked my team in got really sick right after checking my dogs and I never saw her again while I was there. My 24 hours plus the time added for my start order (the time differentials of the start are added to your 24 hour layover) had me scheduled to leave at nine after midnight. About 7:30 that night GB Jones arrived. After he fed and bedded his dogs (he was 24 houring here too) he came in for some food so I sat and chatted with him. I should have been sleeping, but I felt like I’d slept plenty already. I’d had a bout 8 hours sleep total since I’d gotten there and that was more total sleep than I’d had in a 24 hour period the whole race so far. I was lamenting how tough this whole deal was and he assured me that the toughest part is behind me. His words to me were the same as a veteran musher had said to him 3 years before at this same table when he was a rookie…”You’ve earned your belt buckle already; now just walk to Nome and pick it up.” I tried to take some comfort and assurance from that, but I felt then and I still feel that that’s a crock of shit. I would find out that although the beginning is by far the hardest part of the trail to negotiate, challenges await on every section of trail. An hour before I was to leave Perry Solmonson arrived to a bunch of people who were out enjoying the Northern Lights. I chatted with Perry for a minute then went back in for some coffee, bootied my team, hooked up and was off.

The biggest problem with doing my layover in McGrath instead of Takotna (in addition to not having clean underwear and shower stuff) is that I was scheduled to leave at the worst possible time of day. Mushing at the witching hour is really tough on the musher and the dogs, but I really had no choice. I didn’t want to stay there longer, the dogs had certainly had enough rest. So, I planned to hop over to Takotna (a 2and a half hour run) where all my traveling buddies were nearing the end of their 24s. I planned to blow through Ophir and stop half way to Cripple so I had to take at least a couple hour break in Takotna.

The trail to Takotna was pretty nice. You start back down on the river, then leave the river and head up to Takotna. We made pretty good time.

March 12, 2004 Arrived in Takotna at 2:07. Tony came out to greet me and it sure was nice to have a hug and a friendly face at that hour of the night.

Shortly after I got there Ellie was getting ready to leave. I went over and gave her a hug before she pulled out and got to meet her parents, who gave me permission to kick her butt if she didn’t pick up the pace. Then I talked to Mark Moderow and he was going to leave at 4:00 am. I told him I’d leave with him, however after enjoying a meal of steak and eggs cooked just for me and a visit with Tony, I was really needing a nap. I know I just came off my 24 but I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I told Mark I had to take an hour nap and I’d try to catch him down the trail between Ophir and Cripple where we knew we’d park to take a break and wait out the heat of the day. I slept for a bit then got up to reboot and go. Tony brought me out a sack lunch to take with me and I was off at 6:03am really sorry that I didn’t get to do my 24 there in such a nice place where I could have visited with Tony and resumed traveling with Mark and Ellie.

The trail out of Takotna was pretty much a road. It was a fairly long climb for awhile, but the day was beautiful as was the scenery and we made great time to Ophir.

March 12: 8:43 am. Arrived in Ophir. I think they really overestimate the distance between Takotna and Ophir. We stayed in Ophir only long enough to go through a food bag and grab some snacks and put some straw on the sled. I knew we’d be camping out on the trail between here and Cripple as it’s a pretty long haul.
The trail was good, but as it was a really sunny and warm day we slowed down as the day wore on. I wanted to get as close to Cripple as I could without overheating the dogs. Finally around 1:00pm I came up on Jim Conner, Scott Smith and Ellie resting in the sun. Ellie and Scott had been there about 4 hours and were planning on leaving at 3:00. Jim left about 4:00. It was nice to enjoy some laughs and relax in the sun while the dogs had a nice rest. I wanted my dogs to have at least a 5 hour rest and I wanted to wait until it cooled down pretty good to carry on. I took off about 6:00pm. The trail was great for awhile, but after a few hours we started crossing some creeks which entailed some really abrupt drops and one creek with overflow. We came around a bend in the trail in some trees and by the time I saw the creek the leaders had stopped and we were all balled up. The creek was about 30 feet wide and looked like open water. The water wasn’t really flowing so I knew it was overflow. There was no way to tell how deep it was and it really didn’t matter since I had to get across it anyway so I grabbed the leaders and began to pull them across. It was about 2 feet deep so I only got wet from the knees down. The dogs did great once I got the leaders in and they hurried across to the other side and the team followed with no problem. I just grabbed the sled on it’s way by. I wasn’t too worried about freezing my feet because it really wasn’t too cold out. As the hours went by the trail got worse. I came up behind Devan Currier and Russ Bybee. I was traveling a little faster than they were so I passed them and traveled just ahead of them for the next few hours. The trails and the stream crossings got pretty bad as we got closer to Cripple. There were some really nasty crossing and some pretty rude drops. Some the sled was just free falling and I was just praying the wheel dogs would keep their footing and get out from under the sled when it hit. These drops would rattle your teeth. As the night wore on it seemed like we would never make it to Cripple. I was remembering that Jeff King said at the mushers’ meeting to be careful not to miss the turn off the trail to the Cripple checkpoint. He said last year some missed the turn and missed the checkpoint. I was really starting to wonder if I’d missed it. I could no longer see Devan’s and Russ’s head lamps so I really got concerned. I wasn’t going to turn around and I had been looking so hard for the turn that I couldn’t believe I’d missed it so I kept going. Every once in awhile I’d catch a glimpse of their head lamps and knowing that Devan had been here before I knew I must be on the right trail. We pulled into the Cripple checkpoint at 0:50 on March 13.

This checkpoint is only a few tents stuck in the middle of nowhere. It had snowed the day before and being warm the snow was really sugary and deep and hard to walk in. Given that so many teams had been through here and since there was only about 8 teams still in the checkpoint I was pissed that they parked me in a new spot where the snow was not packed down. I was exhausted after trapsing through all that snow. Jim Conner and Mark had gotten there about an hour and a half before I did so they were just heading to the musher’s tent for a nap when I arrived. After my chores I joined them in the tent. The tent provided some of the best sleeping quarters of the race. It had wooden bunks and a roaring stove. I managed to snag a nice thick pad from a bunk that Scott had just vacated (he and Ellie were getting ready to leave when I was going to bed). It was a little warm in there, but it felt great to be warm and I slept well. I slept from 3:00am – 5:00 when Mark and Jim were getting up to go feed their dogs. They were planning on leaving at 7:00am. I planned on leaving at 8:00 so I went back to sleep for an hour. I got up at 6:00, got dressed, went out to use the port-a-potty, which was a bucket set up under a tarp, then got food ready for the dogs. Jim and Mark left, Kelly Williams was just feeding her dogs and Russ and Devan were sleeping. Kelly left just ahead of me and I left at 7:55. We had a hard time getting out of the checkpoint. The dogs were lethargic and bloated and I was having a hard time finding a leader combination. I think I had asked way too much of my one veteran leader since losing the other 2 at Finger Lake. I’d been running her with young dogs and they were annoying her. I think she really missed her buddies. She loves to run with Atlas and Bossy and now they’ve been gone for the last couple hundred miles. The young dogs were starting to feel the strain of too much responsibility too. It took us a long time to go the first few miles, but we finally found a rhythm. The first 20 some miles was really soft and punchy and as the day warmed, it got worse. I was planning on going until I caught up with Mark and Jim and I’d spend the day camped with them. Around 1:00 we were heading up this really long hill and passed Bennie Stamm and Toliff Munson taking naps along side the trail. The snow was pretty deep so they were barely off the trail. I went a little ways further and decided to stop. I had no idea where Mark and Jim were, but my dogs were not feeling well and it was really hot. I got some snow melted and fed the dogs, then took a nap on my sled bag. After about 4 hours the dogs were up and acting board (in retrospect I think they felt like crap and were constipated). It was cooling off fast and the wind was picking up so I decided to get moving. Within a half hour we passed Jim and Mark. They were just bootying up to take off. After another hour and a half my leaders started bailing off the trail. I stopped to change leaders and my dream of finishing the race began it’s demise. Yuban would not go at all and she kept turning around and attacking the swing dogs. The other dogs I’d been leading with wouldn’t go either. They just kept bailing. I tried every dog except one and every combination of dogs. I did this for hours and couldn’t go more than a few hundreds yards at a time, when I was lucky enough to move at all. I know that none of the dogs felt good. They were really bloated and their poo stunk terrible. They were all crabby, including me. As Mark and Jim past I tried to get my team going behind them, but to no avail. I pulled the team over melted some snow to give them a good drink and prepared to sit for the night. I grabbed Yuban and crawled into my sled bag. I was so tired at this point and as I sat there staring at Yuban I realized that my race my very well be over. I had no leaders who would lead and I wasn’t even half way through the race. How could I possibly drive this leaderless team all the way to Nome. Yuban was out like a light. She just laid there like dead weight in my lap. I couldn’t sleep because the pressure on the nerves in my neck were causing both my arms and hands to just throb. I was not at all comfortable, but I didn’t want to disturb Yuban. It was quite the bonding experience, spending those few hours in that sled bag with her. I was so angry with all the dogs and especially her when they wouldn’t go. I knew that my tantrum throwing and yelling at the dogs was not going to help, but I couldn’t help myself. I was losing it and the dogs knew… I knew it…Now as I’m sitting in the sled looking at this dog I felt so guilty for yelling at them. I knew that I was the only one at fault. She is such an awesome dog and I have so much love and respect for her. These guys had given me everything they had and I let them down. I was feeling awful about my race being over, but I was strangely enough enjoying the moment with Yuban.

As we sat in the sled bag I would periodically hear teams go by. Sometimes the musher would give a yell and ask if I was OK, sometimes they just quietly went on by assuming I was just resting the dogs. I finally got up and tried to get the dogs going behind Harmony, but they wouldn’t go. We went back to bed.

By light the next day I got up and fed the dogs. I tried to get them to go, but …nothing.

I had repacked the sled bag and got things ready in case another team came by and I’d try to get them going again. Then I was a plane fly over and I knew they were checking up on me. I gave the thumbs up sign to let them know that we were fine. Shortly after that a snow machine came down the trail. This little native guy stopped to see how I was doing. I told him we were fine, but the dogs weren’t too interested in moving. We talked for a bit, then he got on his machine, turned around and headed back down the trail towards Ruby. The dogs seemed to perk up with the snow machine noise and I pulled the hook. I put Sydney up front with Yuban and the dogs were running just fine.

We finally made it to Ruby at 1:20 in the afternoon on March 14^th. Bill Borden was there to greet me and help me get up through town and into the dog lot. Of course I just pretty much burst into tears when I was finally parked and Bill gave me a hug and asked where the hell I’d been. I proceeded to tell him about all my woes while I did my chores. After the dogs were fed and bedded and while I was working with some sore wrists Bill tried as best he could to lift my spirits. Bill told me to get the vet to look at the dogs since they were obviously sick, and to get some rest. He guaranteed that after a couple hour nap things would look differently. He assured me that at that moment “perception and reality were two completely different things.” Brenda came by and her hug was very welcomed too. I also got to meet Earl, the preacher who was traveling up the trail evangelizing and also acting as Bill and Brenda’s chauffer. He told me that they had prayed for me at Church that morning. I told him someone must have been or I wouldn’t have made it into Ruby. They all left to go get some dinner and I had the vet come look at the team. She told me that all the dogs had some nasty bacteria and gave me some metronidazol to give them. She also told me to walk them as much as I could while I was there to help get things moving. After giving each dog their pill I grabbed my dinner and went into the checkpoint (the community hall). There was a microwave in there, but I didn’t feel much like eating. I grabbed a cup of coffee and asked if I could use the phone. The race judge said “yes, but keep it quick.” I wanted to punch him. My race may well be over, my dream smashed, and everyone I know and a few hundred that I don’t are about to be extremely disappointed. All the checkpoints are set up with a fax/phone. These are conveniently placed on a table where all the checkers, coms people and anyone else in the checkpoint sit. There was no privacy to be had. I called Rich and I started crying as soon as he answered the phone. I tried, between sobs, to explain what was going wrong and he just kept telling me not to worry, to get some sleep and everything would be fine. I thought…he just doesn’t get it…it’s over. After I hung up I went behind this tarp hanging as a curtain pretending to block out noise and light from the sleeping mushers. There were about 5 other mushers in the checkpoint, but none were sleeping, so I had the sleeping area to myself. I didn’t bother to get my sleeping bag out of my sled because I was too tired. I don’t remember even taking my boots or coat off. I just laid on the floor on my back and crashed. I didn’t even think about setting my watch to wake me up. It seemed pointless. I slept about an hour and woke up because my arms and hands were throbbing again. I got up and went around the curtain to get some coffee. No one else was in the building except Deby Trosper, the checker. We sat having coffee together and I started telling her my problems. I started crying again and she was a great ear. She also gave me some pills she said might help with my neck. I don’t remember what they were,but they did help a little and I was really grateful. I went outside to check on the dogs. I painstakingly took each dog off the line and walked them around. They seemed to be feeling a little better and best off all…they were really glad to see me. After walking the dogs I went to work on my sled. I needed to change the runners. I’ve been worried about them since my new rigging in Nikolai. I’m always worried that the new runners won’t go on, even though we tried all of them on before packing them. I know my aluminum runners had taken a beating so I’m never quite sure the new plastic will fit. Watching me change my runners, Jacob decided to change his. I noticed that he was one of the few mushers using the older style Tim White runners like I was. They require a special plastic insert that the plastic runner must slide onto. If you mess up the insert…you’re screwed. I heard him cussing and went over to see what the problem was. His new plastic wouldn’t go on. I asked him how he took the old plastic off and instead of sliding it off of the insert he ripped it off. That’s an easier way to get the runner off, but you risk ruining the insert. That’s just what he did. Now he couldn’t get his new plastic on. I had used my second set of inserts and had no more spares. After quite awhile of wrestling with the runners he managed to get the new plastic on and breathed a sigh of relief. Poor Jacob has been dealing with piecing his sled together since nearly destroying it in the Gorge. While we were in Rohn he was pretty much rebuilding his sled. Matt Weik, Harmony, Cliff Wang, and Rick Casillo were all still in Ruby. Harmony left and Cliff was hooking up his tugs to go. Before he could get all the tugs connected one of his males managed to get a hold of his running partner who happened to be a female in heat. Needless to say, Cliff was delayed another 20:00. Cliff didn’t see the humor that the rest of us did. One of the dog lot helpers told a story of another musher who had to wait out a mating only to switch dogs afterward and wait as another dog found true love. It was nice to have a laugh. Bill and Brenda showed up again and I told them I felt a little better, but was still worried about my leader problems. Bill suggested lengthening my leader section. I told him I was planning on leaving at 6:00am. The dogs needed some time to recover and I really needed some rest. They left after receiving my heart felt thank you and said they’d try to be back to help me get out of the checkpoint at 6. After Cliff left I went back inside to try to take another nap. It was dark now and Jim Warren, Perry, and Steve Madsen showed up. We were all trying to get some sleep and I was almost out when Jim started screaming. He was lying right next to me so I about jumped out of my skin. I thought he was dreaming, but he was suffering severe leg cramps. This was not the first time I’d been woken up in a checkpoint by some guy screaming about leg cramps. I felt really bad for him, but there was nothing I could do to help him. As I laid there awake I finally let myself think that maybe my rae wasn’t over after all. I had taken the pills Deby gave me so I slept pretty good for about 3 hours. I felt much better when I got up around 3:00am. I went out to walk the dogs and feed them. Then I came back inside to eat a little and drink some coffee and wait for my 6:00am departure. Deby was sleeping on the bench and the other guys were sleeping behind the curtain. She had told me to wake her up when it was time for me to leave and she’d help. I feel so bad for these checkers. They probably get less sleep then the mushers do. Anyway, at 5:30 I woke Deby up and we headed out to hook up the tugs and get ready to leave. It’s a bit tricky getting out of the checkpoint. You have to go down a steep, icy bank and make a sharp left turn onto a road at the same time. I knew that with only Deby to help I was bound to crash. I wasn’t really looking forward to it. Deby woke up Billy, a local guy who was more than willing to help. They weren’t much help, but my leaders did great and I managed to keep the sled upright (although I don’t know how since we went sideways down the steep hill). We got onto the Yukon and did our usual everybody has to poo thing. The dogs seemed so much better and the extra section of gangline between the swing and lead dogs seemed to do the trick. Yuban was just fine. She and Sydney looked great. I feel so much better!! My dream is not dead. We are going to make it to Nome. The sun came up and I was so awed by the hugeness of the Yukon. Wow!! We went great for a few hours then Sydney started limping. Her shoulder was really sore so I put her in the sled bag. Now what do I do? Just when I thought things were looking up.

Looking back on that moment. It would become the defining moment in the race for us. I had tried everyone else up front with Yuban except Gopher. He was my only hope. Gopher is 7 years old and I have never run him in lead. He’s not very bright, he’s really lazy, and he always runs way out to the side. The only reason he’s on the team is that I only had 16 healthy dogs by the start and he is one of the three dogs I have that have been to Nome once before. I had moved him back in the team and he was, it appeared, trying to hide. I thought it was useless to try, but I had to exhaust all possibilities before giving up. I put him up front with Yuban. She was glad to have him there. I told him to stay fully expecting that he wouldn’t keep the team lined out and that he’d turn and follow me back to the sled. To my amazement as I looked over my shoulder he was standing there looking down the trail appearing anxious to go. I got to the sled, picked up the hook, held Sydney down into the bag. She did not want to be in that bag. When I called the dogs up we took off like a shot. Gopher was pulling for all he was worth and so was Yuban. I thought “great, but I wonder how long this will last.?

March 15 12:51 pulled into Galena. Harmony, Cliff, Jacob and Matt were all still here. I couldn’t believe it. Harmony is leading this group since she is the only veteran in the group. She’s running a group of 18 month olds so she’s wanting them to have a good time so she’s resting long. Her team is amazing. She is flying between checkpoints. Bennie Stamm is also still here. He has tried to leave a few times and keeps coming back. His dogs don’t want to run. He’s pretty demoralized. I asked him what the problem seemed to be and after talking with him I realized his dogs were having the same problems mine did between Cripple and Ruby. I suggested he get the vet to give him some metronidazol right away. Anyway, I take care of the dogs and have a vet check Sydney’s shoulder and a few miles before Galena Sandy started limping. I try heating, massaging and wrapping both of their shoulders. I’ll have the vet check them both again before I leave and make the decision then whether to drop them or not. Shortly after I arrived Jim Warren came in. He’s complaining that the warm temps and soft snow took a lot out of his dogs. He’s down to 10 dogs and worried he doesn’t have enough dog power left. I went into the checkpoint to eat my dinner and called Rich. I’m in a much better mood and it’s really good to talk to him again. I also called my parents. It was good to talk to them too. This is really the first time since the race started that I had the energy to call anyone. I told them that my plan was to leave at 9:00pm to get back on the river and head to Nulato. After I hung up the phone I sat and talked with Jim. He said he was waiting till 4:00am to leave. He thought his dogs needed the rest. I knew that leaving at 9:00 was putting me into that witching hour that all mushers talk about. I knew I’d have trouble staying awake, but I also wanted to make up some time. I decided to wait and leave with Jim at 4:00 so I went to bed. I couldn’t sleep at all so I thought instead of wasting the time I should just get ready and go at 9:00. I got the vet to go out and look at Sydney and Sandy. He thought Sydney was doing better and I should try to take her, but Sandy was really sore so I dropped him. That was hard. He is such a hard worker and had earned that run into Nome. I felt really bad leaving him.

Marc 15 9:00pm. We left Galena. It was dark, but not too cold. The dogs always run best at night and this night they looked great and we had no problem leaving the checkpoint. Gopher and Yuban led the way. It was a long and boring trip down the river. It was really dark so my world was only in my headlamp. It makes you feel like you are in a tunnel instead of on the mile wide Yukon River. Sydney started limping again about and hour after we left, so she got to ride in the sled again. This time she got in the bag with no problem. She’s figured out that’s it’s quite nice to get to ride and get pets. We were nearing the witching hour and I was really tired. I put my seat down and after fighting the sleep for a few hours, I lost the battle and fell asleep sitting there on my sled. I woke up when I felt the sled going up a hill. We were heading into a village and I thought “wow, we’re here already.” Then I looked at my watch and it was 1:20. I knew this was not Nulato because it should have taken nearly 7 hours to get there. I didn’t know what village it was , but I knew it wasn’t Nulato. Actually I was even sure that I wasn’t hallucinating the whole thing. Assuming that this was real I turned the dogs around and headed back towards the river. Once we got back onto the river we were at an intersection in the trail. A trail went up, down and across. I turned around and looked at the lights of the village and thought for sure that since the lights were on my left on the way down that I should turn to the left and keep heading down the river. After 2 hours of traveling we passed a pullout with some straw laid out that I recognized. I stopped the team and let out a few nasty words. I was much more awake now and realized what I had done. We had gone 2 hours back up the river towards Galena. I said outloud …”If you guys ever forgive me and take me to Nome it will be a miracle.” I kind of panicked at my stupidity and took a bit to decide what was best to do. It was now 3:30 and we’d been traveling for 6 and a half hours. I had to give the dogs a break even though all of my being wanted to turn around and run to Nulato as fast as we could. I fed the dogs and let them sleep in the straw that was there. Then I crawled into my sled bag for a nap. I slept for about an hour (kind of, my hands were still throbbing) At about 6:30 I got up gave the dogs a snack, turned them around and was getting ready to pull the hook when here came a team down the river. It was Jim, the guy I was going to leave with at 4:00am. He’d had a good night’s rest, his dogs were well rested and they were cooking. I felt so stupid. Luckily for me he didn’t stop to ask what the heck I was doing there. We pulled out behind him and actually made good time into Nulato. Actually we passed Jim and pulled into the checkpoint first. As we were running down the river I promised those puppies that we would never do the midnight run thing again and that I would not make anymore stupid mistakes. The dogs seemed to understand my frustration and we running so well they seemed to say…”Don’t worry mom, we forgive you.”

March 16 @ 10:25 am. Reached Nulato. After leaving the river we weaved through town following the trail markers up through the village. Finally reaching the checkpoint at the community center. There were no other mushers there so things were pretty quite. Jim pulled in a few minutes after me. I told the vet that I was dropping Sydney. Typically I didn’t drop the dogs till I was ready to leave. Sometimes they heal up with rest and even if I’m sure I’m dropping them I like to feed them and keep them with the team until we leave. He suggested we do the paper work soon as there was a plane coming in soon to pick up dropped dogs. So, with that, Sydney was my 6^th dog to go home. We did our chores, went into the building to eat something and take a nap. It was really warm out so before we went to sleep Jim and I discussed when we should leave. We kind of mutually decided, really without saying as much, that we would travel together. We figured both of our teams could use a morale boost by traveling with each other. The trail on the river into Nulato was getting really soft and slushy. We knew we wanted to wait for the temps to drop and the trail to set up before leaving, without waiting so long that we got farther behind. We decided to leave around 5:00pm. Leaving before that would just be a waste of time and energy and really tough on the dogs.

March 16 @ 5:05 PM Left Nulato. As soon as we hit the river there was Perry Solmonson sleeping under a tarp. He had pulled into the checkpoint while we were there, but didn’t want to stay there so he camped on the river. It was snowing at the time and still too warm so the trail was slow. The trail to Kaltag was all on the Yukon and pretty boring. I felt pretty well rested and we made OK time to Kaltag and arrived there on March 16 at 9:27 PM. Bill and Brenda were there again to greet me. This time they found a much different musher and dog team. The dogs were happy and playing with each other and I was on cloud nine. We were moving well, not in last place and having the time of out lives. They talked with me for awhile while I worked, then Bill said he was going to go catch Mitch Seavy finishing on TV. Here I am still nearly 400 miles from Nome and the winner is crossing the finish line. The feeling I had when Bill told me that was something I never expected. I actually had a tinge of feeling sorry for Mitch. I was beginning to have so much fun that I didn’t want the race to be over and was glad I was not yet in Nome. I wondered if Mitch felt any regret at it being over amongst the excitement of winning. Got a couple hours rest in this wam empty room and woke up at 4:30 to feed and get ready to go. Neither Jim nor I ever slept until our alarms went off. We were always up and getting ready early. Guess we were both afraid of oversleeping and getting farther behind.

We left Kaltag on March 17 at 6:27am. It was nice to be off the river, but we were once again faced with the unknown. The trail kept changing…hills, trees, creek crossings. There was one nasty turn across a creek and around some tight trees that both Jim and I crashed on. We passed the trail to Tripod Flats cabin. You can’t see the cabin from the trail and we didn’t go looking for it. We wanted to get to Old Woman Cabin 60 miles from Kaltag and 30 miles from Unalakleet. It was getting pretty windy when we pulled into Old Woman. No one else was there, but there was plenty of sign that at one point there were lots of teams there. It’s a great little BLM cabin with a stove and lots of firewood. It’s an unspoken rule that you leave the stove full of fresh wood for the next musher. If you know there’s a musher within a few hours of arriving you leave the fire burning. The stove was out but still a little warm when we got there so we knew it had been 5 or more hours since the last team left. Perry pulled in about an hour behind Jim and I. Also we met 2 older guys who were snow machining the trail. This was their third time doing the trail by snow machine during the race. One of the guys was quite the photographer. I’m still trying to find out his name so I can get some photos from him. As we were enjoying the warm cabin and the company, Bennie Stamm came in. This was the first I had met him. What a hoot! The guys on the snow machine said that Bennie had spent the night at Tripod Flats cabin trying to repair his sled. He had broken both sled runners on the trail from Kaltag and was trying to piece something together so he could make it to Unalakleet. Bennie parked his team, turned his sled on its side and walked into the cabin. He stood there looking around the cabin and just said “there’s got to be something in here I can use to make a runner.” We all burst out laughing. He had hosed clamped some trail markers to his runners and that wasn’t working so good. I couldn’t believe how good of a mood he was in given how hard it must be to drive that sled. He said it’s all part of the challenge and he’s having a ball. He finished his first Iditarod last year. He then turned around, went outside and worked on his sled for awhile, then left. The snow machiners left and Perry laid down to take a nap. We told Perry that we were leaving around 6:00pm. We went back out at 5:30 to boot up and were ready to leave by 6:00. Perry pulled out right behind us. He must not have bootied because he was just coming out of the cabin as we were pulling out and I saw his headlamp with a couple miles of me once it got dark. The scenery from here to Unalakleet was unbelievable. The sunset was beautiful and I had never in my life seen such an awesome, desolate place. I felt like I was on another planet. This run alone was worth all the effort, sacrifice and money. WOW!! It was dark as we hit the Unalakleet river and remember people talking about getting lost trying to get into this checkpoint so I was very diligent about following the markers. Jim was leading so I was just making sure he was on the right track. I’ve also heard how icy it can be here so I was pleasantly surprised that there was snow and a pretty well marked trail.

March 17. 10:41 arrived in Unalakleet. On the coast at last. I know it’s been said that “if you can make it to Unalakleet, you can make it to Nome.” I don’t necessarily believbe that. There are a whole lot of things the coast can throw at you that can put a kink in your race. I have new fears as I think about leaving Unalakleet, but right now…it’s time for chores and some food and rest. I’m starving. Once again I arrived at a checkpoint and no one else was still there. Jim and I arrived, then Bennie, and shortly thereafter, Perry. We are all getting quicker at getting our chores done so Jim, Bennie and I were in the checkpoint by 12:15. We heard that we could call this delivery guy and he would get out of bed, make us a pizza and deliver it. So, Jim and I ordered some pizzas, enough for everyone in the checkpoint. It was the best pizza I ever ate. I don’t know if the pizza was that good or I was that hungry. We visited with Mark Lindstrom (race judge), the checkers, and a few locals hanging out. Jim’s son Chris was there so he was really happy to spend some time with family. After we ate and visited it was time for an hour or two nap. I slept well and we got up at 5:00 to feed and pack. The three of us headed out at 7:30 on a beautiful, sunny, crisp day. Bennie went first, then Jim. I saw Jim head across the ice and I knew he was not on the trail. As I passed by I tried to get his attention and he finally saw me and turned his team around. I knew within the first mile there was going to be a real sharp left turn. It’s one of those nasty turns that no one warns you about except a past rookie (Bill had warned me about this and so had Bennie). You kind of sling shotted around this barrel on a hair pin turn. I had to hang on for dear life, but we made it. Shortly thereafter the trail heads up into the blue berry hills. I was having a ball. It was beautiful, cold, and the dogs were climbing these hills like they were nothing. I kept leaving Jim and Bennie in the dust. The view was something I’ll never forget. There’s a 360 degree view from up there and it was phenomenal. Finally you crest this ridge and then start heading down in to Shaktoolik. It was absolutely gorgeous. It was getting a bit windy as we headed into the checkpoint. Shaktoolik is a tiny village located at the end of this long spit out into Norton Sound. Can’t imagine why there is a village there. I arrived first and was greeted by Palmer Sagoonik. He’s an old time musher, pretty famous, the mayor of Shaktoolik, and one heck of a nice guy. Matt Weik was still there and getting ready to leave. We had an enjoyable visit here and were fed like Kings and Queens. The most exciting thing in this checkpoint was the Big Red Toilet. The checkpoint was in this trailer kind of building and one room in it was all toilet. It’s a compost toilet that is huge and red and had two steps to get up to sit on it. I was warned to make sure I wasn’t doing my business when the composting began because it can be very scary. I was lucky and had no problems.

Poor Bennie and more sled problems. When we were in Unalakleet he called up the trail to the race marshall to see if he could borrow someone’s sled. Mark Nordman declared his old sled undriveable (understatement with no functioning runners) and he got Tim Osmar from somewhere up the trail to lend him the sled he left in Unalakleet. The condition was; you break it, you buy it. Well, poor Bennie broke a runner on that very first turn leaving Unalakleet.. Thus he road one runner all the way to Shaktoolik. This is not easy nor comfortable to do. I asked him why he didn’t just go back to the checkpoint and get another sled. He said “Bennie doesn’t go back to checkpoints.” Lucky for him Palmer is a great sled builder and he fixed the runner for him. Palmer said he helped fix a bunch of runners. Bennie was pretty grateful. True to Bennie form he wouldn’t complain about his bad luck, he just kept saying that he’s enjoying every challenge he’s facing along the trail. His pleasant attitude was so contagious. What a great guy to travel with. After we were fed a delicious meal of frozen fried chicken thawed in a microwave and some powdered potatoes and veggies, I grabbed a cot that was one of the checkers who didn’t mind my using it, and tried to sleep. Unforturnately for me the vet was napping too and he snored so loudly that it rattled the whole building. I have never in my life heard any snoring that loud. My nap was not to be so I got up and chatted. Then those 2 snowmachiners we’d met at Old Woman Cabin came and so we had a good time hearing their stories of the trail. We left Shaktoolik at 7:30pm for long and eerie run across Norton Sound to Koyuk.

As always, it took our teams a bit to get going. My dogs wanted to go, but Yuban and Gopher set the pace and they like to slowly work into the trotting thing. The first half hour after leaving each checkpoint is filled with pee and poo stops. I don’t mind it at all. I know when I’ve exercised hard and then rest for a few hours I’m pretty stiff when I get up. I’m more than happy to give them a good, slow warm up to work the kinks out and get their bladder and bowels emptied. It was getting dark and pretty cold as we worked our way across the ice. I’m glad it’s dark. This is a really eerie trip across this ice and with only my headlamp to illuminate anything it’s almost like running through a tunnel. It actually feels like you are running through a forest. I had the same feeling running the Yukon at night. Gopher was having terrible problem staying on the trail. He just kept weaving left, then right, then left again. The actual trail changes a little bit and doesn’t always run along the trail markers. With scent everywhere Gopher continued to weave all the way to Koyuk. That certainly didn’t help our time and worse, it was driving me crazy. I sure wish I had another leader to put up there with Yuban, but I didn’t want to mess up Yuban with anyone else.

We’d been traveling a couple hours when I stopped to snack and Jim pulled up behind me to do the same. He walked up to me and told me “not to make you paranoid, but there have been polar bears on this ice before. Are you armed?” I said “no, are you?” He said yes,, and I begged him not to shoot me in the back. Since it was cold and windy I had on my white wind suit. This suit is huge and when it is worn over my big parka, I can see where someone might mistake me for a polar bear. This wasn’t the first sign of paranoia I’d seen in Jim.

Within an hour of leaving Shaktoolik we could see the lights of Koyuk. We spent the next 6 hours watching these lights grow absolutely no closer. As a matter of fact, most of the time it seemed we were not even heading towards them. It was a pretty cold night (-30) but the stars were out and the northern lights were dancing all night. It was an interesting evening on the trail. My emotions would go from…”it’s so cool to be on the sea ice with a dog team and the northern lights” to I’m freezing, sick of this dog weaving all over the place, and those damned lights not getting any closer.”

March 19, 2:09 am we arrived in Koyuk. It was damn cold and my hands were freezing while trying to do chores. I was exhausted and just wanted to get into a warm building. Chores took me forever. I couldn’t seem to think right and I was not the least bit efficient. I didn’t spend nearly the time on the dogs that I should have. My massages were short and the wraps not so great. I was really worried about Happy as he had pulled a tricep on the way over and it was very swollen. Costello was a little tight too. I got all their blankets on and since they already were wearing their coats on the way over I was comfortable that they’d be warm tonight. I went into the checkpoint and found out that Harmony, Cliff, Jacob and Matt were all still there. That’s always comforting to know that we aren’t that far behind. We got a little sleep and got up at 7:00am to go feed the dogs. It was still pretty cold out, but was warming up. Bennie woke up feeling like crap. He was really sick. He told us that he got really scared coming in last night because he got so cold. Jim and I were going to leave around 10:00 and Bennie said he was going to wait awhile and get a little more sleep. I spent a lot of time working on massaging Happy’s left tricep. After about 20:00 I could finally feel it give and the swelling went down. Costello, on the other hand, wasn’t so lucky. He was limping badly and I couldn’t seem to work it out. I decided to drop him. This was the hardest one yet. Not only did I really want this big, powerful dog pulling over little McKinley, I was now fully awarm that we were going to make it to Nome and I wanted all these dogs there for the celebration. I was able to hold the tears until we pulled out, then I enjoyed a good cry for the heart of that 2 year old dog. I was really going to miss him. We are now done to a 9 dog team with one tired musher.We left Koyuk at 10:00am.

The trip to Elim was spectacular. It was a beautiful, sunny day and cold enough for the dogs. Jim and I both stopped to snack our dogs and ourselves and just sit and enjoy the scenery for awhile. Unfortunately, late in the race you can’t do that very well because the dogs have learned how to take their boots off with great efficiency. If you sit more than a few minutes, you’d be rebooting everyone. A couple hours out of Elim a plane started flying right over us. He kept going back and forth. It must have been a photographer, but I haven’t seen any pics of us on the ice yet. After leaving the ice we climbed quite a bit before reaching Elim. The dogs were looking great and flying up these hills.

March 19 4:34 pm we arrived in Elim. It was a beautiful day and fairly warm. As I did my chores and 4 vets checked my team (yes, 4… I felt pretty special) I thought about how long I would stay. The dogs were looking great and I knew they didn’t need much rest. I figured we’d stay 5 hours and be off. Jim said he was staying till daylight since his dogs were really tired and he was worried about his 10 dog team pulling him over Little McKinley. Bennie arrived a few hours later. I told him my plan and he suggested I wait till closer to morning and go with him and Jim. The temperature was supposed to drop drastically that night and Bennie said that last year the locals told him that the few hours it would take to cross the top of Little McKinley, especially if it was windy, would be extremely cold. It didn’t take me long to realize that at this point, what did I have to lose by spending a few more hours here. It wasn’t like I was going to catch anyone and even if I could, what is the difference between 72^nd and 71^st place. Besides, a good long sleep sounded great and Mark was there. He had been a checker at McGrath (where he lives) at Shaktoolik and now here at Elim. He was a lot of laughs.

Matt was still there and when I went into the checkpoint after chores I told Matt that for some stupid reason I had packed no personal food for Elim. Lucky for me Jasper (a checker) overheard me and offered some spaghetti. He made sure to tell us that he does not cook for mushers. The spaghetti was delicious and as I did at every checkpoint, I downed about 20 glasses of Tang. I was stilled bound and determined to stay hydrated. Matt left about 7:30 and the rest of us sat around and chatted with the checkers and vets. I called home and Erin answered the phone. She and the boys were Kodak sitting while Rich and Kim were spending the night at Kim’s because they were leaving early in the morning for Nome. I had a nice chat with Erin. Outside of Rich and my parents I hadn’t called anyone else and it was a welcomed chat. Then I called Rich and told him when I planned on leaving Elim. I told him that everyone at the checkpoint has told me that I would be in Nome 24 hours after leaving Elim.

We woke up about 3:00am to go feed and to our surprise it had really warmed up overnight. Now I was kind of wishing I’d left last night. On the other hand I remembered how I screwed things up the last time I did a “witching hour run.”

We left Elim at 5:00am and headed back out onto the sea ice. We traveled along some pretty rough sea ice for awhile and then turned up off the ice towards Little McKinley. I gave the dogs a short break at the base of the mountain and when I called them to go they took off like little jets. They never hesitated once pulling me up that mountain. Once on top there’s a few miles of like rolling hills. It was a bit overcast, but beautiful up there. I passed Bennie on top and after that every time I would stop to do something or change dogs, he would stop. I kept telling him he could go by, but he said he was fine. Jim was somewhere behind us. I’d seen his headlamp a little while ago so I knew he was alright. He was really worried about his dogs getting over the mountain. As we began to descend the other side it kept getting steeper and steeper. That was quite a run down that mountain. Bennie was right behind me most of the way down, but I didn’t see Jim after that.

We then drop quickly onto Golovin Bay and in another hour or so we arrived at Golovin. This is a little village and I didn’t see any signs of life as I followed the trail markers through town and our the other side. Once through Golovin I stopped to snack the dogs. I was really proud that the dogs had no problem skipping through the village. It’s the first village we’ve gone through that we haven’t stopped at so I was afraid they would mutiny and want a rest. As I snacked the dogs, a couple of snowmachiners stopped by to chat. I talked with them while I snacked the dogs and they warned me that another team was coming behind me. I said…”that’s alright. It’s Bennie and his team won’t pass so he’ll just wait for me to go.” They laughed. Sure enough when I was ready to go I looked back and there was in the posture to which I’d grown accustomed to seeing, resting on top of his sled bag.

The next 10 miles took us across Golovin Lagoon and then onto the Fish River into White Mountain. It started to snow as we approached White Mountain.

March 20 at 10:48 am arrived in White Mountain. For the first time we arrived at a checkpoint and no one else was there. Bennie arrived a few minutes after me, but no sign of Jim. I was concerned about Jim. He was afraid to leave Elim and had originally said he wasn’t going to leave when we did. Either he changed his mind or the checkers changed it for him because he was right behind us. He was really afraid to be the last musher in the line of 3 of us since he figured if he got into trouble the mushers in front can’t leave their teams to come back and help. We kept assuring him that if he didn’t show up in a reasonable amount of time we’d send someone to look for him. I relayed my concerns to the Andy, the race judge and he said he had heard that from the checkers at Elim. Jim finally showed up about an hour later, much to my relief. I did my chores and didn’t spend much time working on the dogs as they were all running well. Once again I failed to pack food to this checkpoint so I went inside and found plenty to eat. I realized that almost at the end of the pack, but not at the end is the best place to be to get service in checkpoints. Checkpoints don’t usually cook for the mushers (except a few choice ones), but when you’re near the end the people in the checkpoints are trying to get rid of as much food as possible so they don’t have to pack it up and ship it out. If you’re at the very end they tend to be rolling up the welcome mat while you’re there and don’t want you to get too comfortable. Anyway, they fed me well and since I beat Bennie into the sleeping room I got a mattress to sleep on. Wow!! Did that feel good! The vets and checkers here were a hoot! I had a lot of fun with them. Since we had to stay eight hours for our mandatory layover it was quite relaxing…at least for me. I was feeling great. Bennie, on the other hand was still pretty sick and Jim was still really paranoid.

The race judge asked me if I would please stay until Jim’s mandatory was over so we could all leave together. He was worried that Jim wouldn’t leave if we left without him. I had no problem with that except that I was a little worried about this snow storm and getting slowed down by soft snow. As it turned out, the longer we stayed the more clear it became.

After the checkpoint people fed us a nice dinner we all left together at about 7:30pm for our final leg.

It was pretty emotional leaving as we wouldn’t be going through our now comfortable checkpoint routine again. Just before we left Jim came over to me and said, “if I’m not in Nome 20 minutes after you finish have them come look for me, I’ll scratch.” Jim’s paranoia was rearing it’s ugly head again. He seemed scared to death.

The trail leaves White Mountain on the Fish River, then travels overland and across another river. It hadn’t snowed very much and the trail was fine. I lead us out of the chekpoint, followed by Jim and then Bennie.Poor Bennie was still pretty sick and I was trying to put enough distance between him and us because all I could hear was his cheap speakers blaring some horrible music and him cussing up a storm. He was freaking my dogs out. I wondered what his dogs were thinking.

We moved right along for awhile and when I stopped for a minute Jim decided he would try to pass me. His team hadn’t lead our group since we left Koyuk. I guess he was feeling a little cocky. Anyway, as soon as he passed me his team dove off into the snow bank. I stopped and waited to see if he could get them moving. After awhile I just drove on by and he says to me “We have a severe motivational problem here.” I said, “Jim, just stay behind me and we’ll get to Nome.”

Soon enough we were facing the infamous Topkok hills. They are a series of hills; some very long and pretty steep. They seemed to never end. My dogs did great on all these hills and we started to put a little distance between us and Jim and Bennie. Since I had promised the race judge in White Mountain that I would stay with those two until we got through the “blow hole” I would stop and wait whenever I could no longer see their headlamps. The Solomon Blow Hole is at the base of the Topkok Mountains and can be the worst part of the trail if the wind is blowing bad enough. Many mushers’ Iditarod dream have been dashed in the blow hole. This is a very scary place to be if it’s blowing bad and every musher will tell you …”the wind is always bad in the blow hole.” When we hit the blow hole it was so foggy that we couldn’t see very much and only knew we were in the blow hole because we passed the shelter cabin that has saved many lives. We drove the dogs past the shelter cabin and stopped to snack. We were in awe that we were smack in the middle of the blow hole snacking our dogs and it was as calm as could be. All I could say was “God’s grace is a wonderful thing.”

We were now through the blow hole and all our teams looked great we made good time after that getting to Safety.

March 21 @2:05 am we arrived in Safety. All three of us arrived within a few minutes of each other. The checkers gave us our bibs and helped us each put them on. What an emotional moment that was. It seemed so long ago that we were at the start in Willow getting help putting our bibs on. At that moment I was so anxious about this adventure my dogs and I were about to partake in. Now, that anxiety was replaced with immense pride and excitement. I think I was more struck with our accomplishment at that moment than at any other time. We all decided we wouldn’t spend any time at Safety although a couple hour break there would put us into Nome around 7:00 am instead of 5:00am. We were all too excited to sit around a checkpoint. We took off for our final 22 miles at 2:15. Jim was so excited. He’s dogs were leaping and pounding the line. It was the first time in about 600 miles that his dogs were fired up. Some of his team has been to Nome before and new they were very close. Jim giggled like a little kid. He yells to me … “look at these guys…they’re maniacs.” I still lead us out of there and at this point there was no need to wait for the guys.

The run into Nome was really eerie. The fog was pretty dense and I couldn’t see much. The dogs just kept picking up the pace. I wasn’t really feeling much of anything during these last 20 miles. I wasn’t overjoyed, relieved, sad,…just kind of numb. As the lights of Nome closed in we were suddenly on some nasty ice and overflow. I was really nervous about breaking through, but the markers went right through it and once in the middle of it I thought better to ride it out than to try to turn the dogs off it now. Besides… I couldn’t see well enough in the fog to see what else I’d be getting into. We made it through and I found myself laughing and thinking…the challenges never end on this race. The dogs just kept picking up speed…Gopher and Yuban knew we were just about there. Finally, I could see Front Street and a couple cars driving down the road. The trail still zigzagged around the jagged ice before making it’s way off the sea ice and on to Front Street. Then, there we were heading up the hill off the ice and onto Front Street. I had dreamed about this moment for so long. It’s finally here and it’s so odd. I don’t feel any thing. We head up the bank and onto the street. As with each and every musher arriving in Nome there is a police escort. The police car goes ahead of the musher down the road in the right lane. I try to drive the dogs down the left side of the road on the snow. They’re doing fine until the drunks staggered out of the Board of Trade bar and right into my dog team. They were all hollering and it was scaring the dogs so they tried to exit up each side street. Finally a nice sober person grabbed my leaders and headed them into the shoot. There was a handful of people there waiting, which surprised me given the early hour of 5:00am. Kim and Rich were in the shoot so once there the dogs headed right for them. There we were parked under the burled arch. IT WAS FINISHED. It was awesome to see Rich and Kim. Then I gave each dog a quick hug. Business was not yet over. The checker had to check my sled for all required gears. It was all there and Leo Rasmussen, the Mayor of Nome, announced over the PA system. “Sue Allen has finished Iditarod in 13 days 18 hours and 59 minutes in 72^nd place with all mandatory gear. Sue, welcome to Nome.”

I wanted to stay in the finish shoot for awhile and properly thank all the dogs and relish the finish. I knew, though, that Jim and Bennie would be coming shortly and wanted to let them have their moment in the limelight so after Kim got their boots off we moved the dogs to the dog lot. I was still a little wound up and the three of us took the dogs’ coats and harnesses off and gave the dogs lots of love. We fed the dogs as much as they’d eat and headed off to the Bed & Breakfast for a MUCH NEEDED SHOWER.” That shower felt great!! I could not believe how bad I stunk!! I also could not believe the number of bruises I had all over my body, especially since it had been 12 days since being drug down the Happy River steps, the Gorge and through the buffalo tunnels. How bad must these have been a week ago. The scariest part was my right leg. I had hurt that knee on the first Happy Step and knew it was bad. It hurt like crazy and I couldn’t bend it for about 3 days and then it seemed to feel really tight, but I don’t remember it really hurting. However, the knee was huge and I had large lumps all up and down my leg. I had never seen anything like it. I was also amazed by how much weight I’d lost. I had plenty of pounds to spare, but I felt pretty skinny as I put my clothes on that were now hanging on me. I lost 16 pounds in the two weeks on the trail. I thought I was eating plenty. I guess that’s just a clue as to how hard this race is on the human as well as the dogs. The dogs need at least 10,000 calories a day during the race. I wonder what the musher needs to maintain weight.

After the shower, Kim, Rich and I headed back to town for breakfast at Fat Freddies. Breakfast was great, but I found I couldn’t each much of it. Then we went to the mini-convention center to see what was going on and to chat with other mushers. This was one of the things I was envious about when I was at the finish in Nome last year. I was jealous of the mushers who were now walking on air and sharing their trail stories with each other. Now, it was my turn. It was great. This was when I learned that this a true fraternity. I was welcomed to Nome by all the other mushers. It mattered none that I took almost 14 days to finish the race and came in 72^nd. Only other Iditarod finishers know truly difficult this feat is and there is a respect there from even the 20 time finishers like Martin and Rick that I didn’t expect.

At the mushers’ banquet I saw Linda and Harry Galles. I have not seen them since the 2003 Iditarod start banquet. It was their offer of sponsorship that is in large part responsible for my decision to run the 2004 Iditarod. It was really special to share this finish with them.

It is now May 25th. I am just finishing this journal. I am still answering the hundreds of children’s letters and working on sponsor thank yous. It’s all so overwhelming still and every day that goes by it sinks in a little more. I am grateful beyond words to all who helped the No Snow Kennels Team to reach Nome.

I am forever in debt to the best buddies in the world for allowing me to accompany them on their 1150 mile adventure through Alaska. Yuban, Gopher, Maguru, Bat Baby, Argentia, Chippewa, Happy, Pancake, Costello, Atlas, Bossy, Io, Sandy, Koala Bear, Sydney, and Red Skelton. Thank you all for your forgiveness each time I screwed up. Someone once told me…”take care of the dogs and they will take care of you.” I did my best to take care of these guys, but they unfailingly took care of me. I know I will never be the same. I have a confidence that I never had before, but mostly I have a respect and a deep love for these dogs that goes well beyond what I could ever put into words or even try to convey. 1150 miles in less than 14 days…what more needs to be said.

I hope through this journal you can get a small sense of the awesomeness of this adventure and the incredible heart and ability of these dogs.

HAPPY TRAILS AND FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS.

Sue and the No Snow Kennel Team