Curt Perano arrived to once again a cheering crowd. Not many kids have shown up to school here today. It is not every day that Iditarod comes to town. The community centre is packed full, too, and as soon as Curt arrived, people were streaming to the “halfway finish line”.

They are waving Huslia penants and then there is a nice story with that. Tim just walked to the grocery store to get my supply of Diet Coke and chips when he came back with the same penants. Warner Vents’ (2nd place 1974 Idiatarod) sister runs the store. She had those pennants made up in the 1970s, but they have a husky face on it, which resembles the Iditarod logo. Not wanting to get into trouble, she did not continue to sell them and put them in the basement. And many years later, now that Iditarod is coming to town, they are seeing the light of day again. Of course we had to score some, too. Their dad, Bobby Vent, is also an Iditarod finisher and he had 22 children. Talk about being a busy family, pulling off an Iditarod race while having a big family.

Curt Perano was not overly talkative when he came into the checkpoint. Then again, can you blame a man from New Zealand to be a bit shell shocked after experiencing most likely one of the coldest nights in his life?

Here are some pictures of Curt Perano checking in: