The order of business for Saturday at McGrath was moving people to new locations and new assignments.  I’m moving to Unalakleet, the first village on the Bering Sea.  From all information we can see through race stats, Insider and GPS Tracker it would appear the Brent Sass will collect the First to the Gold Coast Award presented by Wells Fargo.  He stayed about 30 miles this side of Kaltag and will have a 60 mile run into the checkpoint.  It’s only a guess but I think we’ll see him shortly after Saturday turns to Sunday.  BTW, don’t forget to turn your clocks ahead.  We expect Brent will be followed shortly by Aliy Zirkle and Dallas Seavey.  Keep your eye on the race stats and GPS Tracker.

Anyway, getting back to moving people.  The Iditarod Air Force planes will take to the air at first light to clear out checkpoints that have closed and to pick up dropped dogs from checkpoints.  Some race personnel fly with the Iditarod Air Force for relocation and others fly on larger aircraft like this very nice Navajo 8 of us flew to Unalakleet in. The flight from McGrath to Unalakleet took about an hour.  That’s as the crow flies. Had we flown over the trail it would have been considerable longer.  What a great flight and what great scenery.

I was very anxious to get to Unalakleet for the Community Ski Race.  It’s an annual event that brings many skiers to the Dragon’s Back across the slough from the checkpoint.  There are races for all the children in the Learn to Ski Program, Race Team skiers and anyone else who has skies.  The community is there to cheer for the youngsters and oldsters alike.  Ski coach Nancy Persons is the race organizer but like most events of this size, she gets help from many other people.

Outside of the ski race, things are quiet here.  Once the first musher arrives that will change.  teams will be coming and going for the next five or six days.  If the usual pattern repeats itself, the winner will be in Nome while mushers are still resting on the slough in Unalakleet.