Restart is always such an exciting day. Mushers and dog trucks
circle up like wagons in the parking lot of the Willow Community
Center. There was lots of bantering back and forth between
teams parked next to each other. One particular twist of fate put
Martin Buser and Doug Swingley side by side. Doug took this opportunity
to try out the new sled design being used by Martin and Jeff this
year. I spotted Hans Gatt in the crowd snapping photos of this new
design, possibly to be a Gatt design in the future? Libby Riddles
was in the saddle of Jeff’s sled trying it out nearby. It
was interesting to be down near the chute where Vern Halter took
off on time, but the next few teams were not quite ready and the
countdown happened without them. When Rick Swenson arrived to the
start line, the announcer said, “Rick can leave any time!!”
There were a few teams for which this announcement was made before
the rhythm was picked up by the handlers and ITC volunteers who
were directing teams to the line with hand signals, traffic signs
and such. Over the din of thousands of yelping, excited dogs, you
cannot hear the person beside you much less the shouts of the person
leading the team to the chute. It is always quite a massive production
to get all the mushers launched.
Once the last musher left, Bill and I along with our friends, Missionaries
Les Zerbe and Earl Malpass, grabbed cheese burgers being sold in
the Community Center then drove our snowmachines
over to Bill’s Mom’s house (who lives right there in
Willow). Les and his son-in-law, Todd, headed back to Fairbanks.
Earl, Bill and I packed our gear, strapped everything down and headed
out, up the trail. Somewhere we took a wrong turn and toured a very
picturesque section of trail before joining back up with the Iditarod
Trail. We passed only one team on our way to Yentna and that was
Rick Mackey. He was having some trouble and was not happy that his
main leader had become ill with the same stomach symptoms that had
already made the rounds through his kennel prior to the race.
At Yentna
Station, we caught up with quite a few of the back-of-the-pack
gang. Doug Grilliot, Sue Allen, Burt Bomhoff, Cindy Gallea, Perry
Solmonson, Kelly Williams, Lynda Plettner, Mark Moderow, Ellie Claus
and more were parked on the river when we arrived. Judy Merritt
and G.B Jones had already left. Judy dropped Smoke at this checkpoint
but he was up, wagging and doing fine when we saw him. Bill and
Earl both were asked to help hold snowhooks and brakes while mushers
readied their teams to take off. The snow was soft and hooks were
not holding the teams. As mushers hook up and the dogs get excited
and start pounding their harnesses, in these conditions, they can
easily pop the hook. The mushers were happy to have Bill, as a veteran
musher, there to hold their sled. While Bill was holding Perry’s
team, Cindy Gallea’s team popped the hook. After Cindy yelling,
“Whoa!!” several times, the team did stop but not in
the order they started. She had a huge tangle. This is just one
of the many adventures of being a dog musher. It took several minutes
of moving dogs over and under the gangline, capturing a dog that
got loose and Cindy
stopping a few snarling matches to get them back in order. As soon
as she had them lined out, they powered up and all I saw was snow
flying, Bill on the runners with full brake and snowhook applied
and Cindy running after them. She jumped on the runners with Bill
and even then they still steamed ahead. Those dogs were headed for
Nome!! Once they got them stopped again, Cindy finished bootying
her team, Bill stepped off the runners, Cindy stepped on and then
BAM off she went into the sunset.
The Yentna Station Roadhouse was full. Dan and Jean were serving
spaghetti, salad and rolls
to the crew and us paying guests. Dan brought out his entire band
and played for everyone. They were fabulous!! Gradually Bill, Earl
and then I went to bed. Just couldn’t hold our eyes open any
longer and slept through some really good music. Getting TO the
bed was interesting as there were folks sleeping in every nook and
cranny of the lodge. The walkway along the loft, where many of the
bedrooms are, was head to toe sleeping bags all lined out. There
were folks under tables, on chairs, in every position. As sleep
overcame consciousness, during the musical interlude, I heard lots
of laughter downstairs as Iditarod memories were being made.
etween
teams parked next to each other. One particular twist of fate put
Martin Buser and Doug Swingley side by side. Doug took this opportunity
to try out the new sled design being used by Martin and Jeff this
year. I spotted Hans Gatt in the crowd snapping photos of this new
design, possibly to be a Gatt design in the future? Libby Riddles
was in the saddle of Jeff’s sled trying it out nearby. It
was interesting to be down near the chute where Vern Halter took
off on time, but the next few teams were not quite ready and the
countdown happened without them. When Rick Swenson arrived to the
start line, the announcer said, “Rick can leave any time!!”
There were a few teams for which this announcement was made before
the rhythm was picked up by the handlers and ITC volunteers who
were directing teams to the line with hand signals, traffic signs
and such. Over the din of thousands of yelping, excited dogs, you
cannot hear the person beside you much less the shouts of the person
leading the team to the chute. It is always quite a massive production
to get all the mushers launched. 
nowmachines
over to Bill’s Mom’s house (who lives right there in
Willow). Les and his son-in-law, Todd, headed back to Fairbanks.
Earl, Bill and I packed our gear, strapped everything down and headed
out, up the trail. Somewhere we took a wrong turn and toured a very
picturesque section of trail before joining back up with the Iditarod
Trail. We passed only one team on our way to Yentna and that was
Rick Mackey. He was having some trouble and was not happy that his
main leader had become ill with the same stomach symptoms that had
already made the rounds through his kennel prior to the race. 
Cindy
stopping a few snarling matches to get them back in order. As soon
as she had them lined out, they powered up and all I saw was snow
flying, Bill on the runners with full brake and snowhook applied
and Cindy running after them. She jumped on the runners with Bill
and even then they still steamed ahead. Those dogs were headed for
Nome!! Once they got them stopped again, Cindy finished bootying
her team, Bill stepped off the runners, Cindy stepped on and then
BAM off she went into the sunset. 
olls
to the crew and us paying guests. Dan brought out his entire band
and played for everyone. They were fabulous!! Gradually Bill, Earl
and then I went to bed. Just couldn’t hold our eyes open any
longer and slept through some really good music. Getting TO the
bed was interesting as there were folks sleeping in every nook and
cranny of the lodge. The walkway along the loft, where many of the
bedrooms are, was head to toe sleeping bags all lined out. There
were folks under tables, on chairs, in every position. As sleep
overcame consciousness, during the musical interlude, I heard lots
of laughter downstairs as Iditarod memories were being made.