Martha Dobson 2011 Teacher on the Trail

Photos 3.16.11

What do these mushers have in common?

Close Finishes and Broken Records 3.16.11

Temperature in Nome 0°F, winds 3 mph Last night there were some CLOSE finishes which is very unusual in a sled dog race. Ken Anderson and Jessie Royer raced into the chute at the same time, Ken’s team taking 9th position by 3 inches of dog nose. In close finishes like this, it’s the dog that …

Photos to Enjoy

Koyuk to White Mountain to Nome 3.15.11

Koyuk is a beautiful, peaceful village. Under bright sunshine, the river ice sparkles. During the night, we stood outside and spotted headlamps coming across the ice. During the day, we spotted the teams, dark caterpillars moving along the trail. Children played near the checkpoint and people visited inside. When John Baker was there late at …

Dropping In

3.12.11 Anvik temperature 8 a.m., 8 degrees F 3.13.11 Unalakleet 10 a.m., 5 degrees F, winds 5 mph  Shageluk, Grayling, and Eagle Island—I dropped in on these three checkpoints briefly over one day. The principal/teacher’s daughters were bestowing rubs on Justin Savidis’ and Paul Johnson’s teams as they rested, in Justin’s case, or bootied up, …

GPS Tracker, Hugh Neff First to the Yukon 3.11.11

Temperature in Anvik 3.11.11, 21°F, winds 5 mph. Search for the formula to convert Fahrenheit to Celsius to calculate the temperature. All the mushers have a GPS tracker strapped to the front of their sled or inside their sled bag. Slightly angled on the sled, these trackers update automatically every fifteen minutes or so. When …

Out of Takotna 3.10.11

 Temperature in Takotna, 8 a.m., -12°F, no wind  Mushers left last night beginning at 2200 (can you convert that to a 12 hour clock?) with Martin Buser. A few mushers who had taken their 24 hour layover in McGrath blew through Takotna and headed to Ophir. All the mushers have to declare a 24 hour …

A Hodge-podge of Checkpoints, Ambling & Alacrity 3.9.11

What’s a hodge-podge? Can you figure out what it means by looking at these different photos? You’ll see photos of students, teachers, mushers, dogs, and sleds. When you think you’ve made a good guess at what hodge-podge means, ascertain its meaning by checking a dictionary. Think about this: You know I have a GPS tracker …

Juxtaposition and Iditarod 3.9.11

Temperature in McGrath 3.9.11, 20 ° F, winds 9 mph. That means it feels like 9°F. Clicking on a photo will enlarge it. In literature, juxtaposition means to contrast two objects or texts that oppose each other. Describe the juxtaposition seen in the pictures here. How deep can you think about juxtaposition with the airplane …

Zooming GPS Tracker & Logistics

Temperature Nikolai 3.8.11, -2 degrees F according to the round thermometer on Schnuelle’s sled Follow me using my GPS tracker and when I’m flying, I’ll be zooming. You can see what checkpoint I’m staying in, too. Compare my speed to racers’ speeds. I carry my tracker in my backpack. It weighs about 2 pounds, and …