/ 2008 Archived Material / Nome or Bust

Target Iditarod Teacher on the Trail^™ Nome or Bust

by Jane Blaile

Right now I'm sitting in Skwentna checkpoint. That seems like such a far stretch from where I started this morning - and it is a stretch in ways of distance, location, culture, etc. The latest update is Lance Mackey was first out of Yentna and we are expecting the first mushers between 8 and 9 o'clock.

 

I woke up very early and got my things organized one more time, leaving a suitcase at the hotel and loading my trail bags into my car. The drive to Willow was beautiful as always and the space on the lake marked off for mushers was much bigger to accommodate the record number this year - 95 started today. G.B. Jones scratched after the ceremonial start yesterday.

 

The weather was mild and the sun came out for awhile to help warm things up. There was a great positive energy on the lake. Mushers were calm; their sleds were loaded and waiting when it was start time. After watching the first 17 mushers, I headed back to the car to get a ride from my niece, Sarah and her husband, Doug, to the Willow airstrip for my flight to Skwentna checkpoint. And off I went on my journey of a lifetime.

 

Flying over remote Alaska is like floating through a dream. Beautiful, smooth mounds of snow. Snow banks perforated by moose hooves. Stands of spruce trees lightly dusted with snow, reminiscent of Christmas trees adorned with tinsel. Over Skwentna, the bales of hay wrapped in blue plastic look like disconnected railroad cars lined up along the river; a train which ends in a pyramid of HEET cases. The buildings which we go into are submerged halfway into the snow.

 

The checkpoint is actually on the Skwentna River, but just up the river bank is where the buildings are, such as the outhouse and the post office. This is a busy checkpoint because many mushers come through very close together.

 

In log cabin, is the checkpoint where the Skwentna Sweeties work tirelessly cooking delicious homemade food for volunteers and mushers. All over there are snacks and drinks, and even fresh baked cookies. There is Tang on the table; Tang is a past sponsor of the Iditarod. And a quote from someone here, "It isn't the Iditarod without Tang."

 

Wood stoves keep the inside very toasty - there are veterinarians and communications workers as well as the Insider crew and other volunteers here. During the night it will transform into a very different place.