/ 2008 Archived Material / Talk to Strangers

Target Iditarod Teacher on the Trail^™ Talk to Strangers

by Jane Blaile

 

Usually, you should never talk to strangers, but during the Iditarod, everyone who is part of the race is definitely someone you should talk to.  And then they aren't strangers anymore!

 

In Takotna, I asked a woman to take a picture of me.  We got to talking and I found out that she and her husband are friends of Dick and Jan Newton, who run the Takotna checkpoint.  They were traveling the Iditarod Trail on snow machine all the way to Nome AND BACK!  I ran into them in the checkpoint and they were always friendly and struck up a conversation with me, which is so appreciated when you are alone somewhere very different and far from home.  Again, in Unalakleet, we met at the Unk Bunkhouse.  Then they weren't strangers anymore, but Iditarod friends.  They had ridden that far and Dick Newton was with them, too. So, when I arrived in Nome late Monday night, it was nice to see their familiar faces again.  I sat with them at a table in the mini-convention center.  Jennifer, the wife, was playing cribbage with Dick, and 2 other men I didn't know.  After I introduced myself, one of the men said, "My son was the Teacher on the Trail one year."  Well, Jeff Peterson has been the only male teacher yet, so I knew exactly who he was talking about.  His name is Randy Peterson.  We had a little conversation about the program, etc., and he even said he had been at Jeff's house when he called me to tell me I'd been selected.

 

The next day I came across Randy again playing cribbage with someone who was going to leave, so he invited me to play.  I had time, so I did.  The Peterson family is related the Jeff and Donna King; Randy was waiting for Donna to come and pick him up.  Ellen King and a friend came over to our table and sat.  Randy introduced us.  Then a young man sat beside me and Randy announced we would teach them how to play cribbage.  I introduced myself to the boy, and he introduced himself to me as Nikolai.  When I asked if he was Nikolai Buser, he said he was.  So, here I am in Nome, Alaska playing cards with a fellow Teacher on the Trail's father, Ellen King, and Nikolia Buser, like we have been friends all our lives.

 

I find it's that way all over Alaska.  People are warm, welcoming, and hardly anyone is a stranger.  So, if you attend an Iditarod - talk to strangers!  You never know who you'll meet.