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Idita-Diary March 2006 through April 2006

(Including 2006 Iditarod coverage and photos)

April 25, 2006 "Science has not yet mastered prophecy.  We predict too much for the next year and yet far too little for the next ten."   Neil Armstrong

 I picked Jake (our handler extraordinaire) up at the airport last night so he could return with us for the rest of the spring.  He had planned to stay the entire spring but ended up needing knee surgery so he flew home to a specialist in his Minnesota hometown.  I offered to do the knee surgery but he said I could not do it until I washed my hands.  For those of you who don't know, I have a phobia about washing the precious dirt off of my hands so the deal was off.  The surgery sounds like it turned out to be a success even without my help so Jake came back to his Michigan home.  All season long he had been bragging about the fantastic yearlings that Michele, Jim, and him had trained.  So this morning Jake I took all 27 (in two teams) of the now 2 year olds out on training runs.  He is right, they are amazing!!!  I had been running the young-uns on occasion but seeing all of them together was beautiful!  The worst looking dog in the first team was Big Ben (Tasha's main leader that helped win her the UP 200 this year) who I had taken along in case we needed a leader.  The hard part now is decide who to sell.  I want Jake to be down to 22 two year olds when he starts training for his Iditarod 2007  next fall.  The next ten years of racing at NK are looking good!

April 21, 2006 "Socialism is simply Communism for people without the testosterone to man the barricades." Gary North

Boy has my productivity gone down the tubes (double pun intended, albeit lame).  Tasha called me from her parents the night of the 19th after reading my last journal entry.  She gave me a hard time, saying that I was getting a little too emotional and feminine.  Feminine?!  After a sleepless night struggling with the condition of my manhood, I decided that I would give myself a testosterone boost and put the pants back on in this family.  So yesterday I had a busy day.  I set my watch alarm so that it went off every 15 minutes.  When I heard the alarm, I made sure to scratch myself and force a belch from the deepest chasm of my lungs.  Of course, not saying excuse me either.  This technique came natural to me, being a man in all, but I struggled with what else to do with my day.  After asking  myself, "What would Ted Nugent do?" over and over again, I came up with the idea of killing something.  Real men hunt to get their testosterone levels up right?  I like animals too much to kill them so I checked the DNR hunting regulations and found that "law makers and trial lawyers" have the same season as crows and other scavengers which are considered liabilities to society, "They may be taken outside the open season during hunting hours, in compliance with federal regulations, if these scavengers are causing a nuisance or creating a health hazard."  I considered the increasing health care costs that both occupations are responsible for a "health hazard" so I considered them fare game.  I went through my arsenal of rifles (which is only one and is actually owned by my wife not me) and realized that I did not have access to a gun that was powerful enough to penetrate the thick skull of either species.  Out of luck.  So what else could I do?  Just then my watch alarm went off and when I reached to scratch myself I realized that I was sitting on my trail grooming snowmobile.  Aha!  In the winter time I see thousands of real men increase their testosterone by wearing suits that match the color of their snowmobiles and drive fast on public trails endangering everyone they encounter.  I could do that!  After getting a great after season deal, only $600, on a bright yellow snowmobile suit with flames on it (that made my testosterone surge) I was ready to roll.  The snowmobile started first pull due to my increased manly strength from me in my new suit.  It might have been because of the warm 60 degree day too.  I felt like a true sledhead as the machine blew up just as I reached 85 mph on the gravel road.  If someone more feminine would have been around they would have probably told me not to ride on the dirt but huh, what do they know.  Anyhow, I had gotten close enough to my destination to walk the rest of the way.  At least I thought I had.  After wandering around town for about 2 hours looking sporty in my yellow suit, I finally gave in and very unmanly-like asked for directions.  The woman I asked sketched me out a very nice map and I arrived at my point of destination five minutes later.  As I entered the bar, there was only two locals perched on elevated seats at the heavily lacquered bar.  I failed to recognize them but that was not surprising being my only connection locally is the knitting group that I attend every Wednesday evening after I play Bingo at the town hall.  So far so good though, but this is when disaster hit.  As I stood at the bar, I suddenly remembered that I had left my shoulder wallet back under the seat in my snowmobile.  Dang!  Without a word I exited the bar and walked the long road home.  The complete day was not a waste though, I finished the evening strong chugging down a cold wine cooler as I watched my favorite episode of "Friends".  I did not get very much done but I am a MAN!  (I think I even grew another chest hair.)

April 19, 2006 "If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went." Will Rogers

Today is a "Nature Day"!  If Nature was still physically with me she would be outside in the sunniest spot of the kennel, spread out enjoying the beautiful sunrise that is blessing me today.  Do you know that Under Heaven's Skies by Collective Soul was written for Nature?  At least I say it was.

This week it has been "time to celebrate me".  Tasha has been downstate for about a week visiting with friends, relatives, and doing school programs.  She knows that I love her and miss her but man I like being alone!  I have had only four human visitors in 6 days.  The weather has been perfect with mornings in the 20's and sunny days in the 50's.  The week has been filled with dog playing, garden tilling (thanks Dad), spring cleaning, firewood cutting, painting, reading, and dream making.  For those of you who have been e-mailing I apologize that I have taken so long to respond.  I'll admit, I have been selfish and have not wanted to be inside.

My boys have adjusted back to Michigan-non-Iditarod life.  I have spent the past few mornings watching their morning playtime celebration.  Right about sunrise the entire kennel works itself into a frenzy wrestling with their neighbors and going crazy!  I wonder if they are celebrating still being alive after a good nights sleep or cheering on the sunrise to help make it go up.  Oh, a side note, in the Bahamas I usually let Tasha sleep in but one morning I woke her up to enjoy the sunrise with me.  As we leaned against the mast cuddling in her Grand Marais blanket that she won in the UP 200 she said, "I have a new favorite time of day."  Maybe the dogs are just excited because it is their "new favorite time of day" and they are screaming at me to get them a Grand Marais blanket to cuddle in.

April 11, 2006  What a trip!!!  Each year after the last race and tour of the season Tasha and I take an annual unthawing vacation.  With our very modest musher budget, two years ago we went to Ft. Lauderdale and stayed in a small Mom and Pop motel a block off the ocean.  Last year we went to Indiana, yes, Indiana.  This year due to the generosity of my younger brother Chad, we were on a 57' sailboat for one week in the Bahamas.  The boat came with an awesome three person crew (Bouie, Captain Bruce, and Professor) that were professional, entertaining, safe and will be friends forever! Chad rented the boat and invited my older brother and myself as well as our spouses and his girlfriend.  We had the perfect company, the perfect crew, the perfect boat, and the perfect mix of relaxation and excitement.  Throughout one of the most memorable weeks of my life, we fed iguana's, wild pigs, snorkeled with sharks, barracuda's and rays, jumped 30 feet down into water filled caves, kayaked, caught dolphinfish, made new friends, and strengthened my brotherhood bonds.   It was weird going through a 120 degree(-40 to 80) temperature difference in two weeks but after a few cool refreshing beverages I quickly adjusted.  We even found time to have the annual spring Nature's Kennel board meeting.

March 30th, 2006.  Ed is adjusting well to "real life" again, but I see he hasn't made it to the computer yet so I thought I'd better at least make sure everyone knew that they did finally pull into the driveway.  The dogs are all snug back in their own houses and enjoying the spring sunshine!  We have had unbelievably warm weather the past week so the kennel is all snow-free but there is still about 2 feet in the woods.  It seems funny to hook up the dogs on dry ground and then hop onto the snow.  We are headed to the Bahamas tomorrow for a week of un-thawing, relaxing, and kennel planning for next year.  This is our annual "after the chaos" trip and it's nice to relax, look back on the race season, and set our goals for next winter.  Michele and Jake will be here to care for the kennel, the last of their "handler" duties for the season!  After we return, Michele will be headed back to Alaska for a new adventure on Kodiak Island and Jake will be headed to Minnesota where he will again lead hiking trips this summer.  Ed and I will be left scooping a LOT of poop and feeding our 116 children!  We look forward to seeing all of you at either of the Odyssey programs or at the kennel this summer for our "summer tours".  The dogs will be waiting!!

March 24th, 2006  The crew should be arriving home on Saturday!!!  I'm sure both dogs and musher are ready to be out of the truck!  I belong to an Idita-support group and one of the members was a volunteer "drop dog" handler this year.  I thought you would enjoy reading about her experience:

"Each person working dropped dogs has to attend a training session and get a handlers card. Some dogs are flown into airports.  The day I worked dropped dogs the small planes of the Iditarod Air Force were landing on the lake right next to the hotel where the dropped dogs were brought. Later that day they had a load of dogs on PenAir that they were going to get - I assume these dogs came in at the airport which is also close to the hotel.

Once the small planes land there by the hotel the dropped dog people go out to the plane. The pilot will let one dog out at a time. Each dog already has a cable snapped onto its collar with a snap on the end that is used to snap onto the tie out chain. We would grab each dog tightly by the collar with one hand with the cable in the other hand and walk them off the lake to the chain where they were secured. Or in the case where a musher had scratched, we walked them off the lake to the their dog truck and snapped them in there.

The pilot brings a sheet of paper on each dog that is transferred to the people in charge of the dropped dogs. This sheet has the name of the dog and musher, where dropped, reason for dropping the dog, place to record chip number and then several columns that are used as each dog is examined by a vet noting such things as temperature, heart rate, hydration, etc.

We let each dog have a little time to relieve itself and then scooped poop and noted any blood or irregularities. They were then given straw. Each dog
was then "chipped" - scanned with a hand held scanner around the neck area to read the identification chip. The vets then examined each dog and filled out the column on the sheet of paper that had come from the previous location with the dog. The dogs were then feed.

The dogs all had an Iditarod tag with the Roman numeral of this years race XXXIV if I recall for this year on one side and then a number and letter on the other side - the number corresponding to the musher's bib number and the letter to the dog in the team. Some dogs also had some plastic or paper flags tied to their collars that might indicate medical issue such as sore right shoulder. One indicated that the dog was blind - something I can appreciate after River's. This helped me so I could talk to the dog and approach it slowly as to not startle it. This dog was just the neatest dog - from his tag number, I think be belonged to the Italian team so not sure if he understood what I was saying to him.

On another note, we made good use of several of the dropped dog coats that our Idita-support group donated funds to have made. Even though the dogs had straw, it was still cold out and the wind was really blowing off the lake. At least one dog arrived with it's own coat - Rick Swenson's with
Eukanuba in bright pink. Most dog seemed quite comfortable in their straw. As the drop chain grew crowded we moved the dogs that had been there longer closer together and tried to keep in heat females away from the males. At some point the dogs are either picked up by a handler or moved to the
prison."  --Mary from Oregon

March 21, 2006 From Ed...Well I am out of Nome, in Wasilla for the night, and then out on the Alaskan Highway again. The drive home will be needed as I am fighting the post-Iditarod springtime sensation of seeking a new adventure. Having a conservative sensible wife really helps in times like these or who knows which direction I would be headed. (Probably up, although some of you might argue down). I enjoyed my Nome "family". Each year it seems to grow by a few individuals and definitely magnifies in intensity. They will be missed.
Jennifer, Kathy, Kathleen, Dawn, Clint, Kerri, June, and Bruce and Baptist Church crew, our paths may cross in the next year. If not, see you at the next Iditarod. Seeing the dogs this morning was "weird" for a lack of a better term with my numbed brain activity. The dogs that were dropped early in the race were sooooooo happy to see me! The dogs that finished with me seemed to have the same expression on their faces that I saw when I looked in the mirror this morning. I hope all are well back home and I am looking forward to seeing everyone at the Odyssey programss! The adventure this year was the wildest yet, which is the only way I would want it to be.     "Afoot and light-hearted, I take to the open road." Walt Whitman (as shared by a friend)

P.S.  Is anyone voting with me that Ed still needs to cut his hair???

March 19th, 2006  Ed reports from Nome: (I know this is quite long...but I'm sure he wanted the whole thing published.  He mentions all the dogs on the team.  There are photos through out this of each individual dog, as well as on the "mutt club" page.  Enjoy!)

Listen to Ed's interview with the students at Unalakleet elementary school!  http://mushing.bssd.org/#mushers  Scroll down just a bit and you'll see Ed's name, click on "interview" and be patient as it loads.  It's pretty cool.  Here is the link for the Cabela's article about this school's project:  http://www.cabelasiditarod.com/coverage_2006/cov06_mar10_03.html 

March 17th, 2005  ED IS IN NOME!!!!  I had planned to watch him come in on the Nome web cam, but I made it back from town about 25 minutes too late.  I guess he just blew right in and out of the chute!  Thanks to a friend from Wisconsin, we have a photo from the finish line!  Ed called already and said the dogs were amazing.  Vinnie and Starman were the leaders for this final run from White Mountain to Nome.  The entire finishing team was:  Vinnie, Mouse, Luke, Sebastian, Bonfire, Starman, Clark, and Goose.  Way to go puppy dogs!!! 

Ed did forget one piece of critical equipment here so I've added a photo of it.  For those of you who don't know...Ed purchased 28 dogs at the finish line last year from Aaron Peck unbeknown to me!  Our friend Tim VanderMeulen made this pin for Ed to wear around town the next few days, but he conveniently  forgot to take it with him! I hope that doesn't mean he'll be on a shopping spree this year.  "Sleep Deprived I am not allowed to make financial decisions without help from my wife.  Do Not Sell Me Dogs!"  

March 17th, 2005 Ed called from White Mountain last evening and is looking forward to getting into Nome this afternoon.  He left White Mountain around 10 pm Alaska Time (2 am EST) and will have about an 11 hour run to Nome.  It is 55 miles to Safety (about 6-7 hours) and then 22 miles to Nome (about 3 hours). There is no required stop in Safety, but mushers do have to put their bibs back on.  He said it was VERY windy again so he was concerned the run could be longer if the trail was drifted in, but I see that the run times of people just ahead of him are pretty good so I'm thinking the trail is ok.  Luke is feeling better and ate well, so he'll make it to the finish line.  Bonfire was pretty tired, so he got a ride in the sled basket for about 3 hours to take an extra rest.  Ed thought it really did him good and he was back to his perky self!  I expect his arrival in Nome to be between noon and 4 pm today!

He should be seeing this sign soon!  It is the highway sign that reads "Nome 20".  Ed took the photo in 2005 heading into town!

There was nice article about Susan Butcher in the Fairbanks paper today.  For those of you who love Momo, that is who raised her. 

March 16th, 2006 (part 2).   I spoke with Ed early this morning, and he was getting ready to leave Elim.  He had set his alarm for 4:30 am but awoke at 6:30 am...oops!  He said it was a good thing he wasn't "in the money."  His run from Shaktoolik to Koyuk was one of the worst ever.  He wanted you all to envision yourselves putting on all the clothing you have, going into a walk-in freezer, turning on the fan to high and pointing it at your face, and then watching a video of the scenery of South Dakota.  Then, you get jolted by a speed bump (frost heave) every 10 feet, and rub some sand paper across your face and toes to get the effect of itchy face and cold tingling feet.  You realize you need you chap stick because your lips feel like they are about to peel off, so you search through all your layers of clothes to find it, only to realize it was in an outside pocket, and is now frozen.  Smile, it's the Iditarod and you are still required to constantly care for your canine companions! 

He spent most of the night in Koyuk and then ran to Elim during the day.  He said the weather was beautiful but he was surprised how long it took him. He thought his team was moving along very nicely, but when he looked at the time sheet in Elim, they didn't look so fast.  Then he realized he took about a roll of photos on that stretch and was fumbling with the camera and posing the dogs!  He was trying to decided if he should leave Bert in Elim as he had some pretty bad diarrhea, but the rest of the dogs were looking good.  He expects to finish tomorrow morning, and I told him to stop over sleeping and get a move on it because we are all tired of sitting by the computer!  I believe he commented something like, "Where did you sleep last night, in a nice warm bed?"

March 16th, 2006 Yep...still moving on.  Ed called from Koyuk last night and talked to Jake.  I was in Marquette for the UP 200 board meeting.  He said that he doesn't think he can catch any of the teams ahead of him, and those behind are a ways back, so he's going to "take it easy and let the dogs rest some more."  To me that means "I'm tired and I won't admit it and since it's not so cold I'll enjoy the scenery."  Dogs are all still doing well.  Bert had some diarrhea, but other than that they seem to be holding up.  Vinnie's limp is better and it appears the weather has calmed. It sure is strange to see so many people already finished and then be waiting days for the rest of the mushers!  It's really too bad the majority of the race coverage is over even though half the mushers haven't even finished.  I'm sure there are still some exciting stories along the trail, and thousands of people still cheering for their favorite mushers.  For those of us who are still waiting, check out the Iditarod Air Force Website!

March 15th, 2006 6:55 am, just got off the phone with Ed as he was getting ready to leave Shaktoolik.  He said it was amazingly calm so the dogs got a good night's sleep.  He will be doing a pretty flat, 48 mile run along the sea ice today to Koyuk.  The dogs are still looking pretty good.  Vinnie was a little limpy coming into the checkpoint but he got a good massage by the vets and should be good to leave.  Ed really wants him on this section because he doesn't mind the choppy sea ice and open terrain.  It's about as different as you can get from our trails here at home!  Ed wants to keep making it up the trail as far as possible while the weather is still warm (about 10 degrees) and calm.  I'm sure we'll be hearing from him again this afternoon!  Photo:  View from Andrew's sled along the trail from Shaktoolik to Koyk in 2005

Ed gave an interview on the Iditarod Insider...This is a still shot from that program.  When asked if he could still beat Jeff King, he replied, "Watch out, baby!" with a wide smile.

March 14th, 2006  For those of you who wonder if Ed is lonely from the trail, the answer is yes...hence the reason he calls so much!  Plus, I think it gives him something to look forward to!  He had a great run into Unalakleet and spent 4 hours at Old Woman Cabin on the way.  He said the cabin was cold as no mushers wanted to spend the time starting one, and neither did he!  It was about -10 leaving the cabin, but the trail and scenery was beautiful.  When he arrived in Unalakleet there was no wind...very unusual for that area.  He will be leaving after about a 5-6 hour rest because he wants to head out in daylight.  He's had some trouble the past two years finding the trail just out of Unalakleet so he wants to be sure he can find it this time.  The trail has been fantastic with snow this year, and he said he could have run the entire race on one set of runner plastic.  The race marshal, Mark Nordman, said they'll probably never see that much snow leaving Rhon again.  That is the place that Ed smashed his knee on the rocks and ice two years ago.  His biggest complaint is that his hand warmers keep opening up inside his mittens so all the coal dust is making his hands black. I guess if that is his biggest complaint, he's doing ok.

Mouse is doing fantastic and has a new attitude, but Arlo isn't going to be leaving with the rest of the team. He has a severely sore bicep, and even though he still is running on it, he's been limping for about 90 miles and his back is getting sore as he compensates for the pain.  There's also some big hills ahead and he doesn't want to risk carrying him in the sled bag.  Ed also doesn't want it to become anything permanent because he would make a pretty wild house dog, so he's sending him back to Michele in Anchorage.  Watch out, Michele, he'll be a handful since Ed said he's not too tired out!   Looks like there was a reason Ed ran only 9 dogs in the UP 200 this year, he was just practicing for his final 260 miles with only 9 dogs headed to Nome!                                                                                                      Photo:  Ed leaves Unaklaeet in 2004. 

March 14th, 2006  I talked to Ed from Kaltag yesterday just as he was getting ready to leave.  His plan is to run to Old Woman Cabin, stay there 4-5 hours, and then continue on to Unalakleet.  Mushers often run the Kaltag to Unalakleet leg straight through, but Ed had noticed from the standings that even the top teams seem to be stopping for a rest this year due to the drifting and heavy snow along the river (this is the section where Dee Dee Jonrowe had to get out her snowshoes to find the trail!).  The dogs area all holding together fine.  Mouse is still puking some, but appears to be getting better.  He said the vets have commented on how nice it was to see a dog team so full of energy so I know that lifted his spirits!  I reminded him that we leave March 30th for our cruise in the Bahamas, so now he can think of the warm sunshine, the sailboat, and tropical fish instead of snow, wind, and frozen rivers!  I'm looking forward to the trip as well since winter has returned here to the U.P. with a vengeance!  We have 8  inches of new snow, on top of slush that was the result of five days of meltdown.  YUCK!!

March 13th, 2006  I guess my article idea about Iditarod families got taken...check this out:  http://www.frontiersman.com/articles/2006/03/12/news/news4.txt  Erin Redington who is interviewed is the sister to Andrew Letzring, our handler and yearling Iditarod musher last year. 

What lies ahead? Here's some insight from Ed's 2004 photos.  The first shows Ed leaving Galena.  The second photo Ed took along the Yukon river.  Notice it's a pretty calm day...I don't think the wind is calm this year!! 

March 12th, 2006 (part 2).  The next several checkpoints are all in small villages so Ed has access to a phone...and loves to call home!  So...here is the 8 pm (EST) report from Galena.  Ed should be leaving in about an hour (around 9 pm EST) on his way to Nulato.  He said it was a "wonderful run" into Galena, meaning the dogs ran great even though the trail was really drifted in.  He said it is becoming not only physically but also mentally challenging for the dogs.  "The trail will be really smooth going, and then they'll turn a corner and come to a standstill as they have to break through a drift." Apparently the winds have not settled down!  The vets are taking a good look at Mouse has he has been puking, but they think he is looking ok.  The dogs are all eating a tremendous amount of food, and all have great appetites.  In a 24-hour period, ten dogs are consuming: 32 lbs. of beef, 8 lbs. of mutton, and 64 cups of dry food.  They are getting a full meal 2-4 times per day, plus meat snacks along the trail.  Starman is the "meat eater" of the crew and really only loves beef (see photo), and ironically Vinnie looks the best in terms of weight right now.  He is still concerned about Starman and Clark looking a little thin, but the vets reassured him that they look no worse than many of the other dogs in other teams.  He said the trail is still difficult for the dogs even though they are traveling on the Yukon river.  They still encounter terrible winds and drifts so that an historically easy section of trail has become harder.  He hopes to run to Nulato in about 5-6 hours where he will rest for another 6 hours. 

He's very happy with how the dogs are doing even though I know he had hoped to be a little higher in the standings this year.  He has said several times that he's learned a tremendous amount, one thing being that he really enjoys "running" the race but doesn't feel he'll ever be cut out to "race" it like he had previously thought.  He struggles with seeing the dogs very tired, and feels like he needs to give them adequate rest to keep their spirits up.  So...off they go, only 445 spirited miles to go! 

March 12th, 2006 Ed called about 1:30 am this morning from Ruby, which means that I hear the phone ring downstairs, I kick all the dogs off who are sleeping on top of me, stumble down the stairs and wait for him to call back because I can't make it fast enough the first time.  I always have to have my note pad and paper as well because I can never remember in the morning what he had to say!  So, here are my scribbles... The talk of the race seems to be about the weather.  Ed reported it was -28 when he arrived in Ophir, he stayed for about 7 1/2 hours, and then left in the evening when it was -39!  His rest in Ophir was not the most enjoyable as the musher tent was full with vets and volunteers (see photo Ed took last year of the same tent at Eagle Island ) where he tried laying on the wet carpet, but had to stand up when they all had a "shift change" and moved bunks for the next group.  He decided to head next door the the "cook-shack" tent where it was noisy and bustling.  He had just fallen asleep in there and got harassed for "sleeping" in the eating area. He rolled over mumbled, "The other tent was full", and immediately fell back asleep!  He had planned to leave Ophir after a shorter rest, but instead of resting on the trail in the severe temperatures, he did a long run (11 hours) to Cripple.  On the way into the Cripple checkpoint, he hit the stump that several other mushers talked about in the recent article on the Cabela's Iditarod website (see article:  http://www.cabelasiditarod.com/coverage_2006/cov06_mar11_03.html) where he flew over the handlebar of the sled, landed flat on his back, and watched as Boom and Mouse slid into edge of the river bank.  He was very impressed that the sled and brake held up after hearing the reports of several seriously smashed sleds from the same location (thanks Black River Sleds!).  He stayed about 12 hours in Cripple as he had just come off a long run, was facing another and likes to try to give the dogs equal rest time to equal run time.  Boom and Mouse looked ok after the stump incident and leaving Cripple after the rest, but during the long run to Ruby, Boom looked pretty sore and so had to be bagged.  Ed knew he took the brunt of the accident on the stump, but thought he'd pull through it.  Unfortunately, he had to be dropped due to his shoulder. He called me from Ruby once he got inside and got the dogs fed.  He commented that even the locals are talking about the severe cold and winds...not a good sign for a Michigander!  All the dogs were eating very well and moving nice, even though fining the trail was proving very difficult in places.  There were "thigh high" drifts along the road into Ruby and he had to help Vinnie break through several of them. He's been putting booties on all the dogs at every checkpoint as the severe cold can really crack the skin in their paws.  For the first year, he is trying "vel-stretch" (stretchy velcro) on the booties to hold them on tighter and said that it's working really well. The dogs have no swollen feet this year (thanks dogbooties.com!).  His dog report is that Vinnie is still running lead, but doesn't like to pass teams anymore, Clark has run some lead and did really well, Arlo is just as good as Uncle Badger (that's quite the compliment!!), and Sebastian and Bonfire are "absolutely tough".  Arlo loves running with Luke, and when they bed down, he circles and circles and circles and then plops down right next to him.  If Luke gets up to move around, Arlo moves as well so he can always be touching him! 

Photos: Fall training with Bonfire and Sebastian

March 11th, 2006  Yes...Ed's times are finally updated and he's moving along!  It looks like he took a long rest in Ophir (my guess is due to cold weather), then ran straight through to Cripple (nearly a 12 hour run) and then rested the dogs for a good 12 hours in Cripple before leaving at 6:00 am (Alaska Time).  The next run, from Cripple to Ruby will also be a 10+ hour run, and I'm unsure if he'll do that straight through or not.  He has it in his plans to run it without camping, so time will tell.  I did see he dropped one more dog, and I'm guessing that it is Yooper.  He's been nursing some sore wrists, and may have just said enough is enough.  We should get a call from him as well within the next couple of checkpoints. 

March 10th, 2006  For those of you religiously checking the Iditarod website...it appears that they may have missed Ed's departure time from Ophir.  He certainly didn't plan to rest THAT long after a short run. Be patient, they should have an arrival time in Cripple as that is where he will appear next!! 

March 10th, 2006  I spoke with Ed just before he was getting ready to leave Takotna yesterday evening.  He said the dogs looked better than previous years' teams coming off their 24 hour rest.  He was still quite concerned about the severe cold that lies ahead, and was going to take it one run at a time.  Yooper's back was a little sore and Clark is a little skinny, but other than that the dogs are fairing quite well.  He said he was well rested, over fed (the food in Takotna is amazing) and had talked too much (with other mushers sitting around eating!).  I see he made it to Ophir late last night, and it appears that he is resting there.  He had a pretty fast run compared to the other teams he is traveling with, and it's amazing how close they all are.  Only about 5 hours separates about 25 teams!  Be sure to check out the KTUU Channel 2 website, there some great video.  Here's a nice article as well about students volunteering in Takona  http://www.adn.com/iditarod/race_2006/news/story/7518264p-7430179c.html.  Above the photo in that article click on "more" for more photos of what it looks like in Takotna.  The next two checkpoints, Cripple and Ophir, are quite remote with just a small tent for volunteers. 

March 9th, 2006  Just talked to Ed this afternoon.  He is well rested, the dogs are eating well, and he seems optimistic.  He expressed concern that the weather up the trail is reported to be VERY cold.  It was reported that Ophir and Cripple had -45 degree temperatures last night and are expecting the same tonight.  So...he had planned to leave Takotna around 8 pm tonight (Alaska time) and then run the 25 mile to Ophir, but go through the checkpoint and rest along the trail.  He is re-thinking that plan now and will run to Ophir, see how the weather is, and may rest there.  The race seems to be somewhat at a standstill as many mushers are taking their mandatory 24-hour rests.  Mushers generally take this in Takotna as there is a community center and buildings for sleeping.  During that 24-hour rest, they also make up their start differential time so that everyone is on an equal playing field in regards to timing.  For example, Ed needs to rest 24 hours and 6 minutes (I believe there were three mushers who started after him) and the musher who is bib #1 would need to rest 24 hours plus 166 minutes. 

Another site with great information, and video!  KTUU Channel 2 in Alaska! Check it out!

March 9th, 2006  I spoke with Ed about 3:30 this morning from Takotna.  He is is good spirits and glad to be in a checkpoint.  He spent the previous night on the trail between McGrath and Takotna and the temperature was 30 below.  He said he woke up pretty cold (which means I would have FROZEN to death), and had to run behind the sled for quite a while to warm up!  He will be spending his 24 hour rest in Takotna, where he loves the hospitality and food!  He did have to drop Razzle (my favorite for the MVP this year), due to sore wrist that turned into a very sore shoulder.  Razzle had to ride in the doggie bag into Takotna and I guess he thought that was pretty cool!  (See photo of Maple in the doggie bag in Iditarod 2005.) Otherwise, the dogs are all healthy but tired (I think the same can be said for the musher).  He said the first two legs of the race were very hard on the dogs as the trail would be very fast and then turn really soft.  The dogs would get into a fast rhythm and then have to pull really hard. Many of the teams ended up resting longer than planned at those first checkpoints.  He said Vinnie is still doing outstanding and was even hunting birds when running through the gorge, Bonfire and Sebastian are just incredible, and Starman is doing great too.  Arlo and Vinnie ran the last bit in lead and were fantastic.  Since it was so cold he had the dogs wear their dog jackets (see Iditarod 2004 photo of the dogs wearing jackets along the Bearing Sea), so he was in the laundry mat washing and drying those so they wouldn't smell so much like dog pee. I guess he's doing well since he's concerned about laundry!! He should call again this afternoon, so I'll try to post another report.

March 8th, 2006  As I look at Ed's running/resting times now and compare them with his schedule in front of me, it looks like he's back on track.  Hopefully we'll have a phone call from him in the next day or so as he should reach Takotna soon.  Michele said that she has Quill back, and he's very sore so she's keeping him right at Uncle Chuck's house with her.  She also has Big Ben and Shad, and said they are both just fine, and can't tell what they were dropped for.  Shad is a little sore when she rubs his shoulder really hard.  Ben appears to be fine, so I'm guessing he had a mild strain somewhere and is just healing from that.  It's pretty typical that when the dogs return from the race and have a few days off, that they are fine.  It's just hard to heal from any injuries along the trail because there isn't a lot of rest time.  Mushers will soon all be taking their mandatory 24 hour rests, so the updates and movement along the trail will slow down.  Ed plans to take his in Takotna. 

I think there should be a news story entitled "Musher's Wives, Families, and Friends Who are Glued to the Internet, With Basically No First-Hand Information, Trying to Piece Together What is Going on Along the Trail When We Really Don't Have a Clue!"

March 7th, 2006 (part 2) Someone sent me a fun article found on the Anchorage Daily News about Iditarod volunteering...thought I'd pass it along while we are waiting more news from Ed.   http://www.anchoragepress.com/archives-2006/coverstoryvol15ed9.shtml  Quill has been dropped leaving Rohn, I think due to some neck and shoulder pain, and Michele will pick him up today.  I am going to try to get a hold of Michele in Anchorage tonight, and hopefully have some news in the morning.  Ed left Rohn around 7 pm (EST) and according to the schedule I have, plans to run for about 6 hours, rest along the trail for 5, and then run another 3 hours to Nikolai.  It's a 75 mile run. 

March 7th, 2006  Looks like the dogs and musher are moving along.  It's always hard to watch the race from home!!  It looks like Ed is getting back on his run/rest schedule that he created before he left.  Mushers generally make up a running schedule for the dogs prior to the race since they are often sleep deprived and have a hard time deciding what to do "on the fly".  Ed had not planned to rest in the Finger Lake checkpoint (he was going to rest along the trail) but I see he rested there for about 5 hours. He had also planned to rest on the trail between Rainy Pass and Rohn, but since he took an 8 hour rest in Rainy Pass, I think he'll run that section straight through.  He should be arriving in Rhon at any time.  It seems like I'm thinking of the race all the time and thinking "get going, Ed!", but, I have to remember there are still 888 miles to go to Nome...and LOT can still happen!!! 

  March 6th, 2006 (10 pm EST)  I just spoke with Michele who is in Wasilla doing our "dropped dog" duty and she said she got a call this evening to pick up Shad.  She returned the call to ask for pick up time and directions, and they said Big Ben was coming in as well. On the website I see that Shad was probably dropped in Skwetna (Ed dropped to 15 dogs there), and it doesn't show his second dropped dog yet, but I'm sure he's getting ready to leave Rainy Pass and is leaving Big Ben.  Shad was my weakest dog in the UP 200. He had a mild triceps injury but appeared to recover just fine when we took him on a couple of training runs.  I'm unsure why Ben was dropped. He has been one of the strongest dogs both in France and during the UP 200.  It's a big bummer because both of those guys are really steady strong leaders.  Michele may be able to let us know about their injuries when she gets them tomorrow.  I see on the Iditarod timing sheet tonight that Ed's times appear to be miscalculated, there is a negative number by his run time...hopefully that gets caught soon so we can figure out what is going on!!  

March 5th, 2006  After talking to Ed at the starting line in Willow, he announced a final dog change.  Quill is on the team, and Mickey is off.  Mickey can be quite a pickey eater and is somewhat thin and Ed got worried that he'd be uncomfortable if the weather turned cold.  Quill may suffer a little with the speed, but he figured he'd rather risk a slower dog on the team than one that is too skinny.  The word from the handlers is that everything went off at the official start just fine. 

Ed heads through one of  the tunnels traveling through Anchorage.  Vinnie and Luke are in Lead, with Arlo and Mickey behind.  (Photo Credit: Jeff Schultz )

March 4th, 2006  "It was a blast...the best day of my life!"--Michele Seng...driver of Ed's 2nd sled for the Ceremonial Start!  Michele, who has been guiding with us this past winter, was the lucky driver of the dogs.  Each musher carries an Idita-rider in his or her sled basket and has a second sled hooked to the team for extra control.  Ed's rider was our good friend Claudia Nowak from Traverse City who has ridden with him the past two years.  Mushers can choose the 2nd sled driver, and Ed gave the honor to our good friend Michele who has been one of our guides this winter.  Michele said she had a pretty wild ride as she was tossed around the corners and even lost her sled when going over the overpass as she was trying to take a picture!  The dogs ran about 11 miles through the city streets amidst thousands of screening fans.  Ed used Vinnie and Luke as leaders.  Only 12 dogs are needed for the ceremonial start, so Big Ben and Starman sat out (it was pretty warm for them), as well as Yooper and Boom (they really don't like crowds too much), and Tops and Quill.  Tops and Quill will be sitting out for the rest of the race as well.  Tops' bite wound (from Arlo) is still really sensitive, and Ed thought that the fast trail could cause some injury issues for Quill.  He is the slowest dog on the team and since the trail is supposed to be hard-packed and fast, Ed opted to take Mickey, who loves speed.  I talked to Ed last night and won't hear from him again until he gets to Takotna, about 420 miles up the trail where he plans to take his 24-hour lay-over.  He has a pretty strict run-rest schedule that he will try to stick to, and in doing that, he doesn't necessarily stay at the checkpoints.  Mushers are allowed to "check-in", grab their bags of supplies and a bale of straw, and head back out on the trail to keep running or find a place to rest the dogs. 

We're having some problems getting photos sent from Alaska, but as soon as I get some, I'll be sure to get them posted.  For those of you looking for more coverage, the Alaska Daily News has some great stories and updates at www.adn.com as well as www.cabelasiditarod.com. 

March 3rd...Part 2.  I got a hold of the star musher and his support crew this morning.  They survived the 4 hour long banquet last night, and each had a few comments to share:

Dave:  "Mushers are sure long winded."

Pa Stielstra: "Mushers as usual talk too long when they are on stage and not enough in person.  Phyllis (Ed's mom) has had a great time shopping."

Bruce:  "I pulled out Dee Dee Jonrowe's chair for her...and she patted me on the shoulder and said, 'Thanks'". 

Uncle Darc:  "It was a busy, hectic, crowded place.  Hobo Jim performed, there were tributes to Norman Vaughn (who recently died at age 100) and Susan Butcher (who is undergoing cancer treatments), and it was a very festive family atmosphere.  Oh, and very 'macho' too."  (Does that mean there are not enough women mushers in the mix??!!)

Michele: "I got all the musher's signatures on my t-shirt, except for Gary Paulsen...he walked right on by everyone!"

Lynne: "We stood outside in a very cold, very long line again this year."

Ed: "I'm bib # 81 out of 84 teams."

Some of you have asked about trail notes from the musher's meeting.  Here is what Ed had to report:  The race will start out of Willow this year due to a lack of snow in Wasilla (the same happened last year).  The trail overall is in good condition.  Remember, this trail is over 1,000 miles long, so imagine the variation in topography and weather conditions you could encounter when traveling from Michigan to Florida!  Local mushers are reporting a very fast, very hard (hard meaning hard packed snow or ice), and very rough trail on the river leaving Willow.  There is a lot of snow on the East side of the mountain range.  The gorge has been checked over by "snow and trail" experts and is deemed by the race judge as very safe to run.  There was a tragic accident in this section a couple of weeks ago when a volunteer marking the Iditarod trail by snow machine was killed by an avalanche.  Rhon is reporting more snow than usual.  The Interior has had some very warm weather this season, but the past week the cold weather has returned and temperatures have been -20 to -30.  The Iron Dog Snowmobile race ran into some problems with the sea ice along the coast, but the cold weather has helped that as well.  There is some sparse snow near Unalakleet and Old Woman Cabin, along with some very nasty windstorms in Unalakleet and Shaktoolik, but those areas always have little snow and lots of wind!  The trail committee has done a tremendous amount of brush clearing this summer so there should be some really good improvements in tricky areas. 

March 3rd, 2006 Ed called while waiting in the lobby for the banquet to start last night.  I was hoping to have his bib # posted this morning, but I can't find it posted anywhere on the Iditarod website.  The mushers got to choose their starting number this year, based upon the order they signed up.  So, if you were musher #1 to sign up, you got to choose which position/bib # you wanted for the start (for example position #5).  Ed signed up toward the end, so I'm guessing he will be one of the last to leave (no one wants to be too far back!). He did say the dogs are all holding up well.  Clark has seemed pretty nervous (Ed said he's hyperventilating) and isn't eating too well. I found that funny because he did so well in France and it was really stressful every day for the dogs over there.  We moved locations everyday and were around crowds of people.  Tops has a small bite on the top of his head (probably from riding in close quarters too long with grouchy Arlo), so he is on some antibiotics from the vets and should be fine.  All the dogs checked out ok with their blood work results and vet checks...but the final 16 has not yet been decided.  Ed will run all his questionable dogs on Saturday for the ceremonial start and then try to make the last minute cut.  His most questionable dogs are:  Quill (he's slower), Yooper (he had a poor training run in Denali and possibly a sore neck when the vets looked at him), Tops (his head should get better but just in case...), Clark (hopefully he doesn't get too nervous), and Mickey (he's always such a picky eater!).  Really none of those dogs couldn't run with the team, but he needs to try to choose somehow so he looks for the smallest details.  Oh--and several people at the banquet asked Ed if he dyed his hair blonde...no, he's just let it grow out!!! 

The mushers were in musher meetings all day yesterday.  Ed thought you'd like a few facts about the race that he learned:

• 16,000 bottles of Heet (fuel for the cookers) is sent to the checkpoints
• $7,000 worth of $5 stamps was sent to the checkpoints for the mushers to put on their return bags to send extra gear home (this is a GREAT gift from the the Iditarod because we had to pay our own shipping in the past)
• 15,300 lathe are used to mark the trail

Friday is a "rest" day for everyone as there are no required musher events.  Saturday is the big day...and Ed is keeping it a secret as to who will be riding the second sled out of the starting chute...any guesses???

Meanwhile back at the ranch...we haven't had to snow blow the driveway now for three days...yippeee!!! Jake has been running the yearlings to try to weed out the best from the not so best for his Iditarod team next year!  We put 15 puppies in harness yesterday that have never run before, and they did FANTASTIC. (I'd send photos by I've lost my camera so I've ordered a new one.)  Momo, Tasha Canine, and Hop are all in the bed, so there's no room for Ed to sleep here anyway...he might as well be sleeping on the trail!!! 

March 1st, 2006 The dogs all had their EKG's and blood work done yesterday (all passed the tests!), and were heading off for a vet check this morning.  Monday they took a training run in Denali National Park.  Ed said they saw a few moose, but no encounters to note.  Starman thought that Big Ben made a nice cushion, so he sat on his big brother for a rest!  The dog truck photo was taken "somewhere in Canada" while feeding the dogs and letting them stretch their legs. 

February 27th, 2006  Message from Ed....The dogs are staked out at Kwik Card (the back parking lot of a gas company, see photo from last year) and they all look great.  The new stakeouts you got are perfect and I am so glad that you got the 10 dog instead of the 8 dog. (Hopefully there are photos to come...but the dogs are on long "lines" so that they can sleep out in the sunshine during the day).  Arlo did get a bite on his wrist from Razzle.  Razzle did not eat his food immediately and Arlo tried to reach out and grab Razzle’s bowl.  Bad idea.  I should have taken Raz’s bowl away sooner but I was not paying attention.  There was no fight, just a small puncture and he appears to be all right.  We are headed up to Denali tomorrow morning at 4 am to get a run on the team and I will know soon how bad Arlo’s puncture really is.  As I type this, Cliff is upstairs making us all Manicotti, Dave has died on the basement floor, Bruce is trying to fix the other computer, Uncle Chuck is picking up after us all, Michele is assisting where needed, and the dogs are sunbathing in the 20 degree weather.  I could not ask for a better crew and better behaved dog team. 

Rumblestrip (My new name because I kept driving off the edge of the road)

February 26th, 2006  Message from Ed....We made it to Wasilla about 7 am on Sunday 02-26-06. We celebrated by eating "real" food at a ma and pa restaurant in Wasilla and Uncle Chuck came and joined in. The dog truck some bad moments but no bad dog or people moments. What a crew!!! By the end of the trip we were just like the Mountain Dew Pit Crew. It is sunny here and a temp at 5 below but it is warming up fast. We are all showered now and are going to go set up the dogs so they can do some sun bathing and stretch out some rested muscles. Tomorrow we are headed up to Denali for a fun run in the mountains. I will write tonight and tell you more details. A HUGE thank you to Tim VM for suggesting Dave as a driving partner. Also, thanks to Mrs. Dave. A HUGE thank you to Debbie for letting Bruce come and play in Alaska. (It is not very often you see a grown man almost cry when fulfilling a life long dream as we crossed the Alaskan border.) Also, also, a HUGE thank you to Jake (hander at home with Tasha) for covering for Michele so she could experience this great adventure that will wet your pants next year. Also, also, also, Diane and Darlene thanks for allowing your sweet little boy to save our butts with his mechanical knowledge. I never realized such a small guy could drink so much beer. Just kidding. I will type more later.

February 24th, 2006  Ed is out of town, headed to Alaska, so I guess that means I'm in charge of the updates now!  Listed below are all the entries from this past season as we have prepared for, planned for, and trained for the Last Great Race.  The dogs on Ed's team started this fall pulling four-wheelers in the 50 degree fall sunshine, trudged through the deep snowfalls of December, traveled with me to France in January, and most were on the winning UP 200 team this February.  They are dogs of adventure, and are headed north for yet another journey. 

The dog truck pulled out of McMillan around noon on Wednesday, February 22nd.  In it, was Ed, along with our friends and drivers:  Michele Seng, Bruce Pearson, Cliff Henning, and Dave Monstrey.  The dogs headed north are:  Vinnie, Big Ben, Starman, Mouse, Mickey, Quill, Shad, Goose, Tops, Yooper, Boom, Luke, Bert, Razzle, Clark, Arlo, Sebastian, and Bonfire.  Yes...you did correctly count 18 dogs, and yes, the Iditarod still starts with 16 dogs.  So...Ed still has to decide the final 16...it will give him something to think about as he drives.  I got a call last night that they had some truck problems (with a bearing I guess) and were at a Ford dealership somewhere in Canada.  Ed said the maintenance crew was great and was working late to get them back on the road.  As I get more updates I will post as soon as possible on this site.  Keep watching...it WILL be an exciting race.

Oh...almost forgot...the departing conversation between Ed and Tasha: 

Ed:  "If I win more money than you this year, I'll keep my hair. If I don't win more, I'll cut it".

Tasha: "You really think you can win more than me?"

Ed:  "Yep."

Tasha: "Well, you'll be cutting it regardless."  (Ok, maybe that line was said AFTER the truck pulled out the drive!)

Please support these fabulous Nature's Kennel Partners!   If you are interested in joining the Nature's Kennel Corporate team, please email Ed or Tasha.