It is late on Thurday night so I am going to make this very fast.  At the Mushers' Banquet tonight Karin drew number 29.  That will be her bib number and her start postion both Saturday at the ceremonial start and Sunday at the restart/real start.  Much more about all of this later.  Must get some sleep as I am working the registration desk at 8 tomorrow morning.  So much to tell you all about, but night-night for now.

Shoot, I forgot to take my camera with me this morning.  I wanted to take a picture of the Millenium Hotel which is the Iditarod Headquarters here in Anchorage.  (I'll add it tomorrow and edit this posting - some will never know.)  It's a great hotel that happily they are finally upgrading as it was looking rather worn last year. 

Ad view

Front view

So, what did I do today? I worked at the registration desk from 9-1 where the volunteers sign in, sign the liablitly/insurance paper, pay $10 if not a member of the Iditarod Trail Committee, get the badge, lanyard, volunteer hat/baseball cap, and a coupon for a free meal at the Golden Corral.  Data entry of all the information is also done.  We answer a wide variety of questions regarding the race, the mushers, the dogs, banquet tickets...well, you know how it goes. We do sell the tickets for the bus ride out to the real start in Willow on Sunday.   After my shift I went with a couple of other volunteers to the Fancy Moose for lunch and had an Alaskan White so that I could get this year's Iditarod beer glass...hey, it only costs $3.00 that way; if I buy the glass alone it costs $5.00. 

For those of you who are new to this, there are three big events over the next four days.  Thursday is the Mushers' Banquet at which the mushers draw their bib/start number.  This number gives the order in how they line up for the Ceremonial Start in Anchorage on Saturday and the real start at Willow on Sunday.  On both days the mushers start exactly two minutes apart.  More later.

Flying into Anchorage

We can see the airport!

Lining up with the runway

The view without the wing.

As planned we left Southern California's Ontario airport on Alaska Airlines at 6:30 this morning, which meant we got up at 4:20 and left my sister's home in Mt. Baldy at 5 sharp.  Slept part of the way and arrived in Seattle (SEA-TAC) in time to get to the next gate in time to board the next plane.  Arrived in Anchorage at 12:40 p.m. local time and were picked up by our hostess, Martha.  Next stop: Enterprise to get our car...upgraded to a Chrysler Town and Country Minivan!  (That will certainly make the trip out to Karin's more comfortable with five of us and our cold weather gear.)  Then we were off to the Millenium hotel that is the Iditarod Headquarters for the race.  We signed in, received our badges, volunteer hat and coupon for a free meal at the Golden Corral.  Having said "hello" to our yearly friends we headed to the Fancy Moose - the bar within the Millenium - and had lunch.  Now we are unpacked; Martha is fixing dinner; I am working on the blog and my sister is making a cold weather jumpsuit for Flat Stanley (she taught elementary school).

Thursday morning scenery along I-10.

The first day of travel was all in Florida - over 500 miles and I was still within the state.  Tuesday was fun as I not only left Florida but entered and left Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and then entered Texas.  Wednesday found me driving endless miles in the open lands of Texas but ending the day in Deming, New Mexico.  When I pulled in for the night I learned that it was snowing in Tuscon.  My view on the first part of the drive Thursday was white on the ground, mostly dry roads and cloudy skies.  Arrived in Tuscon about noon, by then it was clear and warm.  Made it to Mt. Baldy Thursday night to the pleasure of all:  my sister, my dog and me.  I had dodged yet another storm.  (On my way to Florida I had spent a night in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, two days before the tornado hit there.)

My view each morning; I'll miss it.

Greetings from Florida.  This is my last day here and in 12 hours I will be on the road heading to Mt. Baldy, California, from whence I will head to Alaska via Alaska Airlines on the 26th.  My dog, Journey, who hates travel has been my companion.  She does well once we are on the road but it often takes a leash to get her in the car and I will need it tomorrow to get her in the car to start back.  She will be happy at my sister's (Mt. Baldy) where her favorite dogfriend lives...3 weeks of heaven for her before we head back on the road to Idaho.