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Today is when the 1000 mile race
really starts. We woke up excited and
ready to get up to cheer them on. The race will start on Willow Lake, over an hour north of Anchorage. As we ate breakfast, we heard that there was a moose behind the hotel. Our hotel was in downtown Anchorage but there was a wooded slope that must have been inviting to moose. We found him laying quietly, chewing his cud.
On our
way out of town, we decided that we had to take a look at how the snow
sculptures were faring. Actually, better
than we had feared, with some hanging in there well, while others drooping more and more into puddles.
We then headed North towards Willow
Alaska where the restart happens. We
were quickly pulled into the Anchorage version of a traffic jam. Made worse by soon moving to a 2 lane
highway. It was slog getting the 75 miles of driving done,
but we arrived around 12:30. After
parking in an impressively massive lot that was a meadow that had been scraped of its snow. We loved the view of Denali. We
crossed with the crowds over to the lake where the mushers, dogs and fans had
gathered.
It looked quite different from
the quiet lake we had seen on Thursday. The crowd was building on the lake. Chutes for the mushers were formed with orange plastic snow fencing held by stakes driven into the lake's ice. We quickly found that the musher area
was cordoned off with entry being an official badge. Luckily, one of the badges that would get you
in included our volunteer badge.
So we
got the spend the hour or so right before the race talking with the mushers,
handlers and family members that we had met during the precious meet’s
activities. This was so much fun. They were excited and ready to go. We greeted and sent wishes for luck and safe
trails to so many of these wonderful folks.
We were even invited to help ourselves to some of the food that Matt
Failor’s cousin had brought. So
nice! We connected again with Matt's sister and mother.
It was great to see the sleds up
close, and to notice the different strategies that were being employed from shiny
new ones with trailers, to old tried and true, to some with built in dog
kennels where they could carry some dogs
that are resting while the others pulled them.
Only time will tell which strategies will be successful.
Patti talked Matt Failor into letting her take a
photo of his finisher’s belt buckle, something you can’t buy, but must complete
this race to earn. Only about 200 people have this buckle, a very elite group.
The mushers trucks and dogs were arranged in a big circle on the ice. They were in the order they would be leaving for Nome. The tug lines for the various teams were stretched out towards the middle of the circle. Everything was very orderly. We stayed and watched the first few
teams line up and be lead into the gate for the start.
We were exited to be at the real start of this race that we had been following so closely for a number of years. It was a happy day for us!
And, clearly in view beyond the lake was Denali. We were nearly 200 miles away from it but it had a very noticeable presence. We talked about how we were so drawn to the mountain.
Then we shifted over to the fan
area, where we watched all of the remaining teams be called into the start
line, be announced and then a countdown and truly off to Nome now. (Nome is a town about 1000 miles away on the coast of the Bering Sea.) The dogs were so eager to get on their way that it took many people to hold them and the sleds. When the countdown (5, 4, 3, 2, 1, GO) reached "go," everyone let go and the team rocketed forward. The team will spend the next 8-15days on the
trail, depending upon how fast they went.
Some are racing to win, others have the goal to just finish.
We found a good place along the snow fence to watch the mushers and dogs race by on their way to Nome. One after another, the teams were counted down and launched forward. We loved having them come by so close to us. Then, each one was gone, headed up the trail.
We chatted with those around us
between starts. There were people from all
over the world including Australia right next to us, and a woman form Irvine
California just down the road. The kids
had made signs which I loved. There were
also other signs and flags that people displayed. Everyone was encouraging as each one took
off.
As it finished, they put out the
call for volunteers to stay and help dismantle the snow fences for the clean
up. We could tell the traffic would
again be bad, this time going the other direction, so we did pitch in. Many hands making light work and all.
As we looked back at the lake, we had yet another perspective on this event.
A quick dinner at Denny’s and then
we fell asleep at about 9:30 trying to watch a bit of the video of the
day. Sleep tight and ride well mushers.
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