Nome, Day 6, Mushers Keep coming

I walked down to the convention center this morning shortly after dawn (10 am) and got a couple shots of the dog yard.  You remember it earlier when it was empty, and now it is filling up. 

From there it was back to the finishing chute for the arrival of two favorites... Aily Zirkle and Pete Kaiser.  Aily was one of the two mushers whose teams were attacked by a drunk snow machine rider last year outside of Nulato.  She is a fan favorite.  This year she is doing a youth program throughout Alaska to encourage leadership.  Kids at the finish were wearing tee-shirts with her program name on it.

Aily Zirkle

Pete to the finish

Following close behind her was a "local" boy -- Pete Kaiser from Kotzebue (on the coast north of Nome).  He has won the Kotzebue 300 three times so his nickname is three-pete.  He too drew a good crowd.  For me, the best thing about Pete was when he left the chute he ran ahead of his dogs, leading them down the hill to the dog lot. 

Pete - lead "dog"

After lunch Jeff King arrived.  He has designed a new coat -- he said he got tired of being cold when his sleeping bag was in the sled so he now has a full-length hooded, down-lined outfit that covers everything. 

Jeff King in his sleeping bag coat

Each of the mushers go down the line to talk to their dogs after they finish.  Jeff King got an icy kiss from one of his dogs as he was posing with the dogs for the local media. 


















We made beef stew for dinner... it was nearly done when the office called to tell us not to cook dinner -- that sponsor Exxon-Mobil was buying 15 pizzas for the volunteers. 

We finished up the evening with a run down to the chute to catch the arrival of Norwegian Lars Monson and Alaskan Hugh Neff from Tok.  Long day, but fun.  I'll post the night shots tomorrow.  Good night.