Iditarod - Nome part 2

In between our volunteer time we did find time to take a few side trips.  Our first adventure came up at the spur of the moment. We heard that a local gentleman was taking groups snowmaching up Anvil Mountain to view the Musk Oxen.  The Musk Ox died out in the Seward Peninsula in the early 1800's.  About 30 Musk Oxen were transplanted to the area in the 1900's and now there are about 2000 in the Nome area.  The average weight of a Musk Ox is 800 pounds.  They get their name from the odoriferous smell (musk) the male gives off during mating season.  The Musk Ox live anywhere from 12 - 20 years.  There is a hunting season specifically for Musk Ox. I told several people this is silly since Musk Ox don't run - they circle.  You just have to aim and shoot.  There is no HUNT to this animal.  The underside fur of a Musk Ox is the coveted wool and made into yarn called quiviut and it costs about $80 per ounce.  If you remember my last blog I showed my headband I knitted with my quiviut yarn.  Our guide, Tom, shot this Musk Ox and has a buyer for the fur and skull.

 The first herd was about 20 and the second heard was just 50 feet away and they had about 20 Musk Ox.  Below is a pile of scat (poop) from an Oxen.  For these very large animals, the scat is very small. It looked like Peanut M&M's.  So Beth told us about a tradition that she did while she lived in Africa - scat spitting.  Musk Oxen are vegetarians and the scat was frozen so the four of us gave it a try.  I lost every time - Niki was the winner about 4 feet.  Tom told us in his 15 years of this tour he has never had people spit scat.  We told him it should be a tradition.  Later that day our friends went on the tour and met up with us at dinner and told us they proudly participated in the "New Musk Oxen Tradition".  No wonder we are called the Midwest Vixens. 

 Another first for our guide, Tom, was a frisky male Musk Oxen during Iditarod.  Beth and I wonder if it isn't our pheromones that are bringing out this friskiness in all the Alaskan animals.  Remember we were able to see the bear mate during our Bear Adventure on Admiralty Island.

 Sheryl (bottom right), Kara (middle), Beth (left) and Niki in back.

 We had such beautiful weather we could not pass up so many photo opportunities.

This is a retired Military Communication (not radar) system that was retired from use after the end of the Cold War.

 We snow machined over some beautiful snow and then some big crunchy chopped snow.

 We stopped quickly because Tom pointed out the flock of ptarmigan (below).  Ptarmigan are white and blend well with snow.  You can see several pretty well (left side, middle by the sprig of grass, and about 4 on the right side).  These are shot all the time. Someone said it was like shooting a "buffalo chicken wing" - not much meat just a bite or two. 

 Those of you who snow machine on trails in Wisconsin and Illinois this is the type of snowmaching that is done in Alaska. Wide open space and lots of it.

The second herd of Musk Oxen.

Sheryl, Beth, Niki, and Kara. It was really really cold up on Anvil Mountain.

 
We had to skip the gold mine tour to get back to our volunteer work stations.  I was at the front desk (an inside job) and the girls headed outside.  This is what the dog log looks like from up the hill. Rows and rows of dog kennels and sleds.

Brrrrrr It is cold out here.  Everyone wears head lights almost like wearing a hat.  A necessity when you live in the part of the world where it is dark almost 4 months of the year.

On our way home we noticed the Northern Lights.  They were spectacular.  The lights were like a curtain spreading over the city of Nome.  By the time I got my camera out they were not as bright.  The lights were so bright and just like florescent green and shining brightly.

The Winner!!! Dallas Seavey

#3 place finisher, Ramey Smyth

#2 Finisher - Aly Zirkle.  Congratulations Aly.

The next day we took a tour to Safety - the last checkpoint of the Iditarod.  We got up at the crack of dawn.  Isn't that just a beautiful way to wake up?

We got in the Arctic Cat and rode out to Safety.  It is 21 miles from Nome and  it takes about 2 1/2 hours to get there.  We had plenty of stops on the way as you will see below. This Arctic Cat only gets 2 mpg as it moves.  It is really a people mover for the Military and the Native Corporation purchased it from them so they can give tours.

We stopped to greet several mushers on as they were making their way towards Nome.

It is not easy to see a musher approaching but the reflectors do help as they keep bouncing on the horizon.  We were able to get close but the Arctic Cat had to to be turned off so not to scare the dogs.  The mushers wave and keep on moving.

The sun kept rising and the sky got more beautiful as we moved towards the sunrise.

The sun kept rising and the day became more beautiful as we road into the sun rise.

About 2 miles from the Safety Roadhouse we came across the Mushing Mortician (#37) Scott Janssen.

You might have heard on the National news about Scott's humanitarian effort.  He is really a mortician and about 1/2 way through the race one of his dogs stopped breathing.  Scott gave his dog mouth to mouth resuscitation and saved its life.  The dog was life flighted back to Anchorage and is doing well. These mushers treat these dogs like their very own babies.

This is Safety Roadhouse.  It is the last check point.  Each musher and team stop here to be checked by the vet and a bit of a rest. Some teams just get checked (about 2 minutes) and then they head to Nome. Other teams snack and the musher snacks as well before heading into Nome.  It takes about 3 hours for a dog team to get from Safety from Nome.  Michael Williams (#51) was the awarded the fastest time from Safety to Nome (2 hours 29 minutes). 

This is the official check point sheet kept inside the Roadhouse.  The officials, the Vet and Joe are hold up in the Road house from the beginning to end of the race.

I am always fascinated to see what the mushers keep in their food bag.  This is Mike Williams and Aly Zirkle's bags that were left in Safety.

This is what Hugh Neff has in his food bag.Notice his drinks are frozen. He has potato chips, candy bars and gum.  I wonder what chips taste like frozen.

I placed a dollar bill inside the Road House for keepsake.  The entire place is scattered with dollar bills.

This is the working team (officials) and those of us who took a tour to the Road House.  The Vet and Officials said they won't ask for this position (Roadhouse) next year.  They found the visitors disturbed their sleep and privacy.  Tours are given every day and we can stay up to 3 hours. While we tourist find it exciting because a musher and team usually come in while we are there  our visit disturbs the sleep patterns of the workers. 

This is Tom. He has been  managing the Roadhouse for the last 50 years.  The Roadhouse is used in the summer as the grocery store for all the fishing villages near by.  Tom has accomplished so much and been so many places and his experiences were fantastic.  Tom is 75 and acts and moves like a 50 year old. 

This is a very famous picture in the Road House.  One day during he spring a Reindeer (Velvet) came into the Roadhouse and settled on the couch.  The Roadhouse dog and Velvet became good friends.  We were fortunate enough to see Velvet and dog in the back of the owners pick up truck in Nome. 

This sign found in the restrooms.  Both in the female and male rest rooms. It reads, "Go make yellow snow."  There is only an outhouse inside the Road House. 

While we were in the Road House Art Church (#64) came into Safety for his check point.  Once he was approved to go his team decided they wanted to go inside the Roadhouse and have a bite to eat and drink.  Art was not too happy. He had to place sled hook and marched to get his dog team back on track.

These are some of the sights we saw on our way back to Nome.  This is a very nice fish camp for one of the Nomeites.  Do you see the paddle wheel on the side of the house?

This is the Alaskan Flag flying in the middle of nowhere.

This is Art Church and his team as we were heading back to Nome in the Arctic Cat.

This is how much snow Alaska has had this year.  The snow use to cover the top of this fish camp house.  The three posts are for tying up boats and or dog teams in training.

When we arrived back at our Volunteer station I had to deliver a message to the vet first aid station.  Today we had two dogs needing a little assistance getting hydrated.  After a while the dogs were back to fluid acceptable and the vet said let's feed these boys.  You should have seen these dogs chow down reindeer jerky and turkey jerky.  Two or three bites then swallow.  No time to chew.

This is the original Burled Arch which was damaged because of water damage.  It now hangs in the Rec Center and can be seen all the time.

The Native culture puts a lot of emphasis on values.  Inside the Rec Center on one of the walls is the beautiful drawing.

To prepare for the banquet to celebrate the closing of the 2012 Iditarod Race my job was to take three dog sleds and create them into strawberry holders.  Strawberries is the number one food choice requested by the mushers.  I am sure this tradition started years ago.  I think a cold beer is now the number one request from the mushers.

A few hours later and three sleds were transformed into serving pieces.

Herbie Nayokpuk Memorial Award exemplified the sportsmanship and love of their dog team voted on by checkers.  This year's award went to Michelle Phillips.

Leonard Seppala Humanitarian Award went to Dee Dee Jonrowe.  Dee Dee has repeatedly shown how well Dee Dee takes care of her dogs.  Seppala was a famous musher for participating in the 1925 Serum Run and helped save Nome from diphtheria epidemic.

The Stethoscope Award goes to the two Vets you saw in my blog.  These young ladies worked almost every day 20 hours a day throughout the race.

Most Improved Musher went to Rohn Buser.  Rohn was one of the 5 teams with other family members running the race.  His father, Martin, has won the race 4 times and Martin gives back to the community in so many ways.

The Dorothy Page Halfway Award is presented because Dorothy is considered the Mother of Iditarod Dog Sled race.  This award is presented to the first musher to reach the half-way point. This year it was presented to Brent Sass.  This was his Rookie Year racing and lives in Eagle River.

The Golden Harness Award goes to the Best Dog of the Race. This year it went to Guinness, Dallas's lead dog.

This beautiful Spirit Mask is awarded to the first musher into McGrath.  Aly Zirkle was awarded this mask and two round trip air fares.

The Sportsmanship Award was given to Lance Mackey.  You might remember Lance from last year.  I handled dogs for him in Anchorage.  This year was a bit disappointing for Lance because he was having a great race and at one of the check points (the one that required an  hour stay) he went out to get his dog team ready to go and one of his dogs was participating in some frisky business. He was delayed about 2 hours until things were finished. 

This is Susan Butcher's family.  Susan is an icon in the Dog Sled World.  She was from Cambridge, Mass and was studying to be a veterinarian.  She went to Alaska to follow her passion for dog sled racing.  She was the forced to quit her first race in 1985 because two of her dogs were killed and six were injured in an accident with a moose.  In 1986, 1987, 1988, 1990 she was the first women to win 4 of 5 consecutive races.  Nice job Susan.  Susan died in 2006 at age 52  from cancer and left behind her husband David, also a musher, and two young daughters, Tekla and Chisana.  Chisana was told she would run 500 miles of the Iditarod when she was 11 in her mom's memory.  We were so surprised when we heard the siren go off and on the trail came Chisana, Tekla and David on their way to the Burled Arch.  Chisana was the youngest person to cross the finish line.  I spent a lot of time with the girls talking about their lives and their mother's legend.  They are both pursuing their own passions, Tekla is in acting and horseback riding, and Chisana's passions are art, music and outdoor sports.  They are so confident and articulate.  I was honored to spend some time with them.

This is a three generation picture I treasure.  Dan Seavey, 75,completed this year's race in 13 days, 18 hours and 10 minutes.  He didn't want to the be Red Lantern winner and he wasn't.   The Red Lantern award is given to the last musher to cross the finish line.  This year the last two mushers (Bob Chlupach and Jan Stevens)  to cross the finish line were on their honeymoon.  They took their time but they finished the race.  Mitch Seavey (right) finished in 7th place.  His son, Dallas, won the race.  The adorable young man in the middle is Conway Seavey.  Conway won the Junior Iditarod this year.  What an iconic family and they are so nice, articulate and very humble.  Below is a picture from three years ago when my family went to visit the Seavey Kennel. 

On our walk home after the banquet, we saw this buried truck.  I looked in and look the keys are in the truck.

Kara climbed in and said, "let's roll" but even with the keys I don't think she was going anywhere very soon.
Alaska was really hit with a lot of snow this year.

This is the sunset from our last night in Nome.  It is so beautiful looking out over the Arctic Ocean.  The people and sights are wonderful memories. 

Here is a picture of Eagle River, AK at 9 pm.  We have sunlight just under 14 hours a day. It is truly amazing how quickly the sun returns.  The sun rises about 7:15 am and sets around 9 pm. This is wonderful but the kids forget they still have 7 weeks of school and they need to go to bed at regular time. 

This is our big news. 

Please met my new Grand Puppy, Pilot.  Cara and Tyler has taken to puppy parenting.  She is such a cutie.  I can't wait to meet her in a few more weeks.

As you all know I have about 7 weeks left in Alaska for my WORKCATION.  It is definitely bittersweet. I am going to miss all the sights and people and experiences but i can't wait to return to my husband.

Last year I told everyone I want the coldest and most snow ever on my last year in Alaska.  I Got IT!! We had more subzero days this year than my last two years put together.  We had over 9 feet of snow this year.  This broke the record that was set in 1957.  I love the snow but this past week we have had 40 degrees and some of it is melting.  Not melting like you think.  It is slush melt.  Have you ever driven a car in about 4 feet of slush ?  You get stuck a lot.  Then there is the melting and lots of water on the streets. The snow plows are still plowing and putting snow in dump trucks to be dumped in the sea by the Port.  Cleaver.  Putting snow in the water. 

I wish all of you a happy spring.  I know you have had wonderful weather as well. 

I will look forward to being closer and more visits when I return to Memphis in June.

Take care.

Understand and Adapt to what life brings - you can not control many things.

Wise words from the Inupit

Nanuq of the North

Sheryl