Moose on the Loose: Day 8 -- Happy St. Patrick's Day

After our 15-hour lull, the mushers began arriving again. I was headed down to the mini convention center when I heard the PA system going. We had heard two sirens going off, so I knew two mushers were pretty close together. While I did not get any arrival shots, I did get to see a crowded chute.

One was easy to identify. From half a block away I knew it was DeeDee Jonroe. As a cancer survivor she dresses in pink and her dogs are in pink booties, harnesses, collars and coats. (At the start in Fairbanks she even had some of the dogs in pink leggings. If you can imagine knee socks on dogs you get the picture... someone explained that ice can build up on the back of the dogs' legs, so some mushers have begun using the leggings as well as booties.)

Gunnar going through the checklist of official items

with the race judge

The second musher was Gunnar Johnson.

I got to the ramp as he was being interviewed after completing his check-in. He said he completed the race in 1994 in 22 days - his official time in this, his second was 10 days, 22 hours, 4 minutes, 6 seconds -- half the time of his first run. He said at this rate, his next race should only take 5 and a half days.

The two had left Safety together and they came in 30 seconds apart, Gunnar got a big hug as he thanked DeeDee for "pushing" him forward.

As DeeDee checked in, I noticed that in her 30 years of mushing she had figured out a way to keep track of the officially-required items... she ties them to the handlebars of the sled... with pink lanyards, of course! What you see here is her vet book... a record of the observations done on the trail by the official vets. We listened to the teacher on the trail Skype with her class in Chicago yesterday and she explained what the vets look for... using the acronym HAWL (heart, hydration, appetite, attitude, weight, and lungs).

I walked on down to HQ, as DeeDee came down the hill headed for the dog lot.

Across the street from HQ (in the house with the boat) Martin Buser was feeding his dogs.

Martin has igloos for his dogs!

Back at the church, folks were getting ready to head for the St Patrick's Day parade. I braved the 5 degree temps (with wind chill down to -15) to watch them come up front street, led by the mayor. The black top hat he wears at the finish had been replaced by a green one. They came up and posed under the burled arch for us, and the Iditarod teacher on the trail, Annie Kelley, danced an Irish jig for them. She had her dance shoes and Irish sweater mailed to Nome so she could do it.