Matt Failor rolled into the first Gold Coast Check point with a fast moving highly spirited dog team. They trotted in like nobody’s business and be it not for the mandatory stop, vet check and sign in, Matt and his Alaskan Huskies would have trotted right on through.
Failor called whoa to the dogs and they reluctantly obeyed but not without looking back at their coach questioning his command. Failor said they were all warmed up so he didn’t want to park. He only intended to water and then move on to the spit community of Shaktoolik.
As soon as he had the snow hook in the snow/ice a couple of vet with stethoscopes descended on the team. Failor took a bucket and a stack of bowls out of the sled and hustled over to the boiler to get warm water. He scooped water from the bucket with each bowl and placed it down in front of each dog. The dogs drank, the vets checked and then Matt picked up the bowls and everything went back into the sled. The vets handed Matt his vet book, which he attached to the driving bow with a cable then tucked it into what might be called the glove compartment of the sled bag.
Just like that, Failor pulled the hook and his team was on the way. They’d rested on the run between Kaltag and Unalakleet at Old Woman Cabin so they were full of energy to continue on up the coast.
Last year when Matt came into the checkpoint, a Facebook fan from Florida had made arrangement with Peace on Earth Pizza of Unalakleet to deliver a pizza for Matt. With Failor departing the checkpoint in just five minutes, I briefly wondered about pizza again this year.
But there was pizza. Five pizzas had been delivered to the checkpoint for Matt! Five Peace on Earth pizzas would feed twenty very hungry friends. Matt was gone and there were the pizzas. Happy Birthday Matt was written on one of the boxes. We took pictures to show Matt in Nome and then the volunteers and mushers in the checkpoint celebrated Matt’s birthday. There was also a phone number on a box so one of the comms people called the number to let them know the pizzas had arrived, that Matt had gone on through but they were being devoured in his absence. The story that came back from that phone call connected the pizza delivered last year with the pizza delivered this year. The fan that had sent the pizza in 2013 had since passed away from complications of diabetes. Friends or hers decided to pick up on the idea and send pizzas this year. They intend to make it a tradition to honor their departed friend and make Failor’s stop in Unalakleet special. There were at least three hungry mushers in the checkpoint, Mike Williams Jr., Paul Gebhardt and Nic Petit that really appreciated being a part of the new Failor Pizza Tradition.
