Ok, guys, this is the boring part you might want to skip. However, for me, looking back over how I got this far, to want to take my bones to a frozen tundra for fun, is an important part of my story.
My excitement has been building since the end of the 2007 race. Actually, I guess it's been building for years! I remember, years ago, seeing a TV special that documented one of the Iditarod's that Susan Butcher won. It amazed me, that people would choose to go over a thousand miles through the wilderness of the Alaskan Interior by sled in this day and age. Later, another documentary, the year Dee Jonrowe's dogs stopped on the Yukon, and she could not get them to go no matter what she tried, a little trigger happened in my head. It was the realization that the musher wasn't just "driving dogs", but the dogs and musher were a team, and that all parts of the team had to work in perfect synchronicity. Hook #1!!!
In 1993, while planning our first trip to Montana, I heard the name Doug Swingley, looked up where he lived, and wondered about a Montanan running the Iditarod. Following that story, and his win as the 1st 'outsider' got me into exploring more about the race on the Internet. I'm not sure which came first, but I think an 'accidental' hit on Cabela's looking for camping equipment at the same time the Iditarod was running, lured me onto the Cabela's Iditarod website. I lurked for a while, but from that minute, Hook #2!, I was hooked for good.
Alaska has been reeling me in ever since. The first year I followed the Iditarod from the start was Jessica Royer's rookie year. I had just been to Big Sky, so knew where she was from, and her training with Doug Swingly, so I was into the Montana connection. I think that year I probably checked the site once a day during the race, and finally registered and posted once or twice, and enjoyed the responses. Each year has intensified since then. After trying to keep up with posts and accessing web cams with dial up in 2005 and 2006, when I was posting throughout the race, and getting to know all the mushers, their families, and the Talk Forum family, and at times getting up in the middle of the night to check stats, and having to wait exassperatingly long for responses. It was painfully inadequate trying to catch a musher coming into Nome on the web came on dial-up; "They're coming! (refresh) They're gone." During the 2006 race, I would run to the library between clients or at lunch to watch videos, check web cams, and post to my growing Iditarod friends, feeling by then very much a part of the Iditarod family. I was determined to go to Alaska! I was determined to touch the dogs, to feel their energy, to hear them howl to run, to be there for the excitement on Front Street!
In 2005, Carolyn, a.k.a. Carrottop, blogged her entire Iditarod visit, and posted regularly from points along the trail on her Cabela's led tour. It was almost like being there, to follow her. After her return, I e-mailed her how much I enjoyed her personal story, and asked advice for planning my own trip, I thought in 2007. She hooked me up with Idita-support, and I immediately began interacting with June, Maureen, Diane N., Carolyn, and Barbara L. In February 2006, Barbara arranged ot stop in along the interstate near my home on her way to the airport to fly to Alaska. We had a wonderful couple of hours together, the first time I was face to face with someone who was as into the race as I am (or more so!). Barbara told me about the Bootie Brigade, game me samples, one of them Martin Buser's bootie that still had 'dog foot smell' on it. Hook #3! I volunteered and made 120 booties for the 2007 race.
The 'downer' about the meeting with Barbara was that I received a call from my Sister while we were together, telling that Daddy was gravely ill, and Daddy died the next day. That was my first experience of how awesome my Idita-buddies are! So many messages and outpourings of kindness and love, and shared experiences. I have seen it over and over with the Iditarod family. Barbara's husband, who had never met me, contacted me to see if I was ok while Barbara was still in Alaska!
The 2006 race saw me more actively involved on both talk forums, and exploring all the web sites, educating myself about every musher, and every checkpoint along the trail. I drank in info from the 'experts' on the forums and participated in hilarious banter as we couldn't go to sleep at night and wer punch-drunk with excitement and waiting during the early days of the race. Thjat year the Cabela's folks rallied round Mith, when suddenly, on line, her service dog, Spirit, collapsed and became gravely ill. She was gone so long getting him help, and the rest of us became even closer in our concerns, thoughts, and prayers. It restored my faith in humanity to watch us stick our necks out to trust each other enough to donate funds to pay for Spirit's treatment. Frank, the wonderful (recently retired) Cabela's moderator, assisted us in staying as annonymous as we could, while sharing info and connections to collect funds for Mith and Spirit. It was amazing, all the human interest stories running through the groups, as well as those being shared from the trail. Jeff King's win, and gorgeous Salem, with yellow flowers, are the still shot that captures the 2006 finish for me.
I finally hooked up to DSL at work for the 2007 race. Wooooohoooo, what a relief. Now I could follow the race for real!
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