LET THE BIDDING BEGIN!!

Okay, the site is ready for the silent auction!  You may get there by clicking here or clicking on Karin's "dreamy" picture to the right. (Perhaps she is dreaming of the new sled she has to buy!  Let's help her.)

Here's the reminder of the repair Karin had to do on her sled 

The auction is open until 10:00 p.m. MDT on April 19th, 2013.

Flat Stanley keeping us company
at breakfast.

Justin "AJ" Savidis, Angie Taggart and
Karin Hendrickson 3 mushers with
Idaho connections

So here is my last block about the Iditarod for this year. The banquet last Sunday lived up to expectations for great food, a few good stories - though more would have been good - and recognition for all those who finished the race. The last musher, winner of the red lantern, arrived Sunday afternoon at 1:36 in time to take a shower before the banquet. The doors open at 3 and the dinner doesn't start until about 5. Hobo Jim kept us entertained with his songs and there was just a lot of chatter amongst the mushers and their fans. 

Nome really has no trees but each winter at the time of the Iditarod the Nome Forest appears.  I don't know if they just let them sink in the bay or ???

Karin and Varan had a couple of in Nome to have some fun after their dogs had flown home (their dog handler, Miriam, picked the dogs up and took care of them).  We all flew back from Nome late Sunday night to Anchorage and they drove on home.  That gave Karin the remainder of Monday to get ready for work on Tuesday.  The dogs have a 300 mile race with Miriam this week-end and thus ends the racing season for Blue on Black Kennels.

The work now begins for finding sponsors - big and small - to help be part of this adventure.  My sister will be having the annual salmon dinner (chicken and vegetarian dishes available) on April 20th.  $40 for the dinner and a free Tales of the Trail 2013 power point presentation.

NEXT EVENT:  A SILENT AUCTION FROM APRIL 2ND THRU 19TH 2013

CHECK BACK RIGHT HERE. =)

 

and hopefully a cookbook by autumn.

 

Thanks everyone for reading my blog and for your welcomed comments.  Hope you find the silent auction goodies of interest.  There are items that will start at 50 cents on up to $40.



Backside of the burl arch.  Finish sign down because the wind
had been so strong.  Waiting for Karin to get up on Front St.

Just one more gee and then a haw and up the shute to the arch.

In the shute: snacks from Karin while Varan takes off booties.

Karin: bib, white wind breaker, fur from hood of her blue parka.
Shortly after this she did a strip of several layers.

This morning, Friday, Gwen and I were going to have breakfast with Karin and Varan.  They arrived first and ordered their breakfasts and got a few bites in  before they got a call saying the dogs needed to be ready NOW for their flight.  What happened to the "we'll call you and give you a heads up"?  So they ran out the door as we arrived, went to the dog yard and got the dogs ready in time.  By the time they got back we were through with our breakfasts and the dogs were in the air.  They called Miriam, their great dog handler, and told her the dogs were arriving at 1:30 in Anchorage.  It was 12:15 when they called her and it is a 2 hour drive in.  Oh well.  So, now for the first time Karin and Varan can enjoy Nome with no dogs to feed or exercise or worry about.  Lots of good entertainment in the bars.

 

Did I tell you she dropped Alis in Shaktoolik?  Anyway she did and I don't know the reason.

 

The banquet here in Nome is on Sunday.  It is a much less formal affair than the beginning banquet in Anchorage.  Not a sitdown dinner but a buffet with prime rib and a sled on each of the 2 serving tables filled with strawberries and 2 tables full of desserts.  The mushers go across the stage one at a time to get their patch and recognition.  Often there are wonderful 'tales from the trail.'

Working, even volunteer work, is taking too much of my time.  As many of you already know Karin came in under the burl arch - the finish of the Iditarod - today (well, it was Thursday when I started this) at 4:44 p.m. with 10 dogs.  She was in 40th place.  This is her slowest race at 11 days, 1 hour, 44 minutes and 48 seconds.  (Don't ask, I don't know how they figure it down to the second.)  She was in very good spirits and extremely proud of her youngest dog, Elway, whom she had put in lead position along with Cutter.

Okay, I got off duty a little over an hour ago having started 15 minutes after Karin came in.  Now they are wanting to close this building down as the last musher until tomorrow afternoon is coming in and nobody will have to stay here tonight.  Ah, the poor town kiddos what are they going to do?  They usually hang out here for much of the night.  Where are the parents?! 

Will try to get pictures in tomorrow.  Maybe, maybe I can find a connection at the hotel.

One more comment, Newton's dog Mae made her way home.  Once she was back into territory she knew well she willingly got into someone's car and was taken home.  Happy ending!!

One more comment, there are now 12 mushers who have scratched - actually one was withdrawn.

Okay, now that I have internet let me fill in a few details.  Mitch left White Mountain after his mandatory 8 hour rest at 13:11 the afternoon of 3/12.  Aliy left 13 minutes later after her 8 hours.  They finished 34 minutes apart with Mitch's dogs having made the 77 mile run into Nome in 9 hours and 28 minutes.

Karin left White Mountain this morning at 7:20, has passed through Safety and is now only 22 miles out from Nome.  It is 1:36 p.m. local time.  The dogs are 'cookin'': speed listed as 9.6!  Maybe they are going downhill, but they are on a little spit of land that goes between the Bering Sea and Safety Sound.  They do have a hill to climb up ahead of them.  It would appear that she wll come in 39th; she won't be real happy with that.  She has realized that her dogs are faster than she thought and that it is the lenght of the rest stops that is delaying her.  The heat has not helped. 

One gets a bit warped up here as to what is warm.  It is a very pleasant 10 degrees above today here in Nome.  I have yet to put on my padded coveralls but have been wearing my lined jeans with thin long johns and I only have on an undershirt and long sleeve tee-shirt (Blue on Black Kennels, of course) under my parka when I'm outside.  My boots are good, but I'm doing fine without a hat though I have put up my parka hood when the wind is blowing.

I know what I wanted to tell you and should have days ago, when you are looking at the GPS Tracker on iditarod.com the positions on the left hand side are not accurate.  They are fine for those on the trail but when people are in a checkpoint going 0.0 mph they seem to put them in numerical bib order.  Oh well, it will be a finish for Karin soon.

Shoot, Beals #22 just passed her!  They are 18 miles out.  This too may be a race!  will keep an eye on it.  I don't have to be to work until 5 and she should be in before then.  Oh dang, I need to go back to the hotel and get my camera.  Later.

I sent a text to my cousin who has access to this blog to let you know I was having computer problems but I see she must not have gotten my text.  Dang.  Well I am now at the Mini Convention Center in Nome where they have Internet connection that I can use. =)  Here's what I wrote this morning.

Writing off line so I can copy this into the blog later. I’m in my room at the Nugget Inn, Nome, Alaska. Frustration is beginning to really get to me. The finish for first and second place was exciting. Tuesday we were in the air flying from Unalakleet to Nome. We flew over one of the mushers…a cute little, tiny chain of dogs and sled with musher. Not certain whom we saw, but I think it had to be Mitch. Interesting to see the trail from the air. Mitch came in first and Aliy once again lost to a Seavey: Mitch this year and his son Dallas last year. More after I get on the web. *grrr*

Last evening, Wednesday, we had a bit of a scare for we saw on the GPS tracker that Karin had stopped 12 miles out of Elim after having taken a 6 hour rest there. As many of you may remember it was outside of Elim a couple of years ago that Karin had trouble and was rescued by musher Allen Moore (husband of Aliy Zirkle). We thought “Oh no, not again.” but after what seemed like forever she got underway again. *whew*

This morning, Thursday, Karin left White Mountain shortly after 7. Since at this juncture I still can’t get on the internet with my computer and I have yet to get to a computer where I can get information I am not sure of the exact time. It does tell me, however, that she got into White Mountain without further problems and shortly after 11 last night as I had anticipated. Expected her in around 5 this evening. Her husband is now here in Nome. Varan was taking care of the dog boxes this morning getting them to the dog lot in preparation. He told us that the dogs just didn’t want to run in the heat of the day, hence the out-of-Elim stop. Guess she talked to him during her mandatory 8 hour rest there in White Mountain.

On the lighter side, when Gwen and I got through with our volunteer duties last night we went down to one of the bars, of which there are MANY, to hear Hobo Jim. He has been writing songs about Alaska including the Iditarod for many years. He always plays before the banquest gets underway in Anchorage and then plays up here at the end of the race. Another late night, but when it doesn’t get dark until 10 it doesn’t seem so bad.