Erin Montgomery 2015 Teacher on the Trail

Dog Lovers Lane

The Iditarod Winter Educator’s Conference is underway. After a day filled with breakfast, presentations, lunch, and Skype visits, the teachers enjoyed an excursion to Jon and Jona Van Zyle’s Dog Kennel and Art Gallery. The first time I visited their kennel I fell in love with the dogs and the Van Zyles. They are so …

Kevin Harper Wins Junior Iditarod

Kevin Harper got a little sleep last night after doing his chores and feeding his dogs. He woke up at approximately 1:00 a.m. to begin his preparations to depart Alpine Creek Lodge at 4:18 a.m. Jimmy Lanier was doing the same preparations for his departure at 4:10 a.m. Eight minutes will separate the two Junior …

The Juniors Are Out

This weekend reminds me of being home. A small community coming together in time of need. The Junior Iditarod needed a place to move the trail due to extremely icy conditions. Cantwell did not bat an eye when the start and finish was moved to their community. They offered up their homes, their church, and …

Fantasy Iditarod Draft

If you enjoy following the Iditarod, you will enjoy it more by following the race with a Fantasy Iditarod Team. Just before I left my students in Iowa, we held our own draft for Iditarod mushers. With their team names created and their teams selected, my students are geared up for the race to begin. …

The Junior Champion – “Will it be a boy or a girl?”

“Will it be a boy or a girl this year?” This is the question Barb Redington asked the junior mushers last night at the Junior Iditarod Mandatory Meeting. There are eleven juniors racing this year, six girls and five boys. Ten out of the eleven young mushers sat in the front row at Iditarod Headquarters …

Preparing for the Junior Iditarod

The Junior Iditarod is 3 days from starting and preparations are starting to be made. Last night four eager Junior rookies sat in the front row at the annual Junior Iditarod rookie meeting held at Iditarod Headquarters. The night was filled with speakers providing advice, information, and guidance as they begin their journey as a …

Checkpoint Checkup: Unalakleet to Shaktoolik

As mushers leave “the place where the east wind blows,” they won’t be losing the blustery wind by any means. This next leg of the journey for mushers is approximately 38 miles to Shaktoolik, another village along the coast. Depending on weather it should take teams 4-6 hours to complete. As teams leave Unalakleet, the …

Change is in the Air

10 days remain until the start of the 2015 Iditarod. You can sense it, you can feel it, you can see it, and you can touch all things Iditarod here at the Millennium Hotel, Iditarod Headquarters. Walking around the Millennium Hotel I can begin to sense a change. Tables are set up in different places, …

Checkpoint and Trivia Tuesday: Kaltag to Unalakleet – What does Unalakleet mean?

Last week we followed musher Cindy Abbott to Kaltag. This week our journey will take us about 82 miles to Unalakleet. Depending on if mushers decide to camp along the trail, this leg of the journey could take them 10-15 hours, and depending on the weather could even take up to 20 hours. Weather conditions …

Hello from warm, sunny, 42 degrees Alaska!

It is a beautiful spring day outside today. The only problems with the unseasonably warm temperatures are, I am in Alaska, it is still February, and the Iditarod starts in 11 days. Yesterday as I finished packing my bags in Iowa, it was well below zero with the windchill and there was still snow on …