/ 2008 Archived Material / Planes, Trains, and Snowmobiles

Target Iditarod Teacher on the Trail^™ Planes, Trains, and Snowmobiles

by Jane Blaile

Monday night at Skwentna, I worked on the ice until 3:30 a.m. I knew I'd have a long day ahead of me the next day, so I decided to get some sleep. When I went into the checkpoint cabin, I saw a musher sleeping with his head on my bag; I had to have my sleeping bag, so I gently slid it out from under his head and he kept on sleeping. I took my bag upstairs to the middle room between volunteer sleeping rooms and there were 2 spots left. One was between two sleeping mushers who had drifted close together. The other was next to a sleeper and a wall, so I decided to lay my bag out there. It was an interesting night, but all just part of the experience. For instance, I didn't grab my sleeping pad because there was something already on the floor, and I was sorry because sleeping on a hardwood floor isn't very comfortable at all. Also, I think we all were snoring, myself included. J And mushers' alarms were going off at all hours of the night because they wanted to get up and get going. And of course, each time dogs were harnessed to leave, they sang their awesome songs. I slept most of 3 hours and got up.

 

No same person was in the room as when I left except me. I got my shoes back on and my sleeping bag rolled up tightly to leave space for someone else. After a big bowl of hot oatmeal, I went down to the river to see what had transpired. It was an entirely different place, seemingly empty after the chaos of the previous night. There were about 8 teams still resting or having just arrived. I had helped get many of them in or through, but missed some of the excitement of teams being harnessed and taking off. After hanging out at the checkpoint cabin, hearing mushers telling of losing the trail or sticking to their schedules or one of many other popular checkpoint discussions, I heard a pilot show up to take the 9 dropped dogs. The vet said she needed help holding dogs in sleds to get them to the airplane, so I eagerly volunteered, geared up again and headed down to the river. I sat in a flat sled attached to the back of a snow machine and the vet put a dog in my lap. He really didn't want to be there, and remember how strong these dogs are, so I had to firmly grasp his collar with my full grip and hang on to the cable he was staked out with. About halfway through he gave up and just lay with his head in my lap. Then a ride back for another round. The sweet little girl I got the second time completely curled up and lay heavily in my lap. She was warm and completely relaxed the entire time.

 

As soon as I got back to the bank, I heard the sound I'd been waiting for...my pilot, Danny Davidson, calling ‘Teacher, teacher, this is Sherpa 1". That means I'm landing and you need to meet me at the airstrip. So, I run inside, grab my gear and throw it onto the back of the snow machine a driver was taking me on. And I said, "Ok, let's make it a fun one." , to which he said, "Are you serious?" So, I had a thrilling ride to the airstrip, nearly being tossed or tipped off the side several times due to speed. It was quite a rush!

 

Danny told me Jeff Schultz was in Finger Lake, so he'd drop me off at Rainy Pass and then go back to get Jeff. As it turns out, that didn't happen for several reasons. One was that I asked to see Finger Lake checkpoint even though I wouldn't stay there. Mainly, a front rolled in and people weren't flying to the pass today. But that didn't stop Danny - he took us to McGrath by circumventing the weather.

The trip there was amazing. The clouds and mountains, glaciers and a glimpse of Denali, trains the size of commas across a page of paper, and brilliant sunlight. I was still very tired, so I finally dozed off and woke up only just before we touched down in McGrath where it was snowing and cold. McGrath is usually the first colder spot on the trail. We got our stuff to Iditarod logistics and unloaded. I was sent to find a bunk upstairs - a real mattress. The first thing I did was to get my posting updated. I'm lucky to have had a comfortable place to stay and a hot shower, an unexpected luxury. Great food, camaraderie, and time to work - things I am thankful for.

 

Next up - Nikolai, Takotna, and McGrath!