Starting the trip reports

It is true, there is no place like home, but at least this time of year, I could very  happily be "home" in Alaska. That is not too likely to happen but one can dream. A fixed income, at least at the rate mine is, would not go very far up there. Unless I can convince a nice sled dog to share her den and hut with me...kind of SOL!

Okay, I left El Paso to start my trip about noon on Wednesday the 22nd and finally arrived at Anchorage about 9:30 local. Words of wisdom--do not change from American to Alaskan in Phoenix! You have to take the air-rail to a far distant place and go through security again since you have been outside the main terminal. The TSA idjits took my untouched milk shake and threw it in the trash!! I made my flight but thank goodness had two hours or I would not have.  C'est la por avion! (bad French but anyway!)

Before midnight, which is barely dusky this time of year, I was delivered by one friend (thanks, Bill) to another friend's home and quickly collapsed in her lovely guest room. The drive from Anchorage to Palmer is pretty but my weary eyes did not take much in. Palmer is a neat little town with a lot of history, BTW, and I'll talk more of that later. I enjoyed my stay there very much. Also thanks to Svetla, my hostess, who cooks amazing things mixing her native Czech cuisine with US/Alaskan fare (buffalo is yum!) and allowed her dogs to give me the doggie fix I needed daily.  Here is a snapshot of her sharing a banana with Sasha (Bichon) and Wally (Swedish Vallhund)  And yes, that is also a very old herding breed and in the background of the Welsh Corgi and Lancashire Heeler! I wanted to stick him in a crate and bring him home but with five dogs here it would be too many. And Svetla would  be devastated and mad at me. She, too, loves her fur kids! Her life story is amazing and eventually we'll work on her autobiography but there are some things she can't quite revisit yet without having nightmares.  One tough, brave and strong woman and also a breast cancer survivor. Think pink!!

Another word to the wise--if you go to Alaska in June or July, do not expect to rent a car easily. After spending a long and frustrating hour on the phone Thursday, my intended recovery day,  I finally got one--back in Anchorage--for about twice what I had planned to pay. :-( Svetla and I drove back down in Friday to collect it  Second day slipped by but I did get to enjoy the scenery this time and came back in a flaming red Ford Fusion with 1600 miles on it when I got behind the wheel. I would not buy one but it was not a bad car.

Suddenly it was Saturday morning, the  day of the Iditarod Committee's annual open meeting, the first day of musher sign-up for 2017 and the annual volunteer picnic. This was one big event on my trip calendar. I drove over to west of Wasilla and got there early which was a good thing. I felt the crowd was a bit lighter than last year and fewer mushers actually signed up. This may be from the 33% increase in the entry fee from $3000 to $4000 and some contention over various issues that have a number of people a bit upset. However there were plenty of folks around before the end of the festivities. I talked to quite a few of them and saw even more.

For what it's worth, the Board promised to revisit the entire Iditarod Race Rule Book at their October meeting so we may be seeing at least a few changes such as the so-called "gag rule" about no public negative or derogatory comments by mushers from sign-up to forty-five days after the race, the also contentious issue of  mobile-phones allowed or not, and perhaps even the 'carrying dogs' business. We shall see. I sat very quietly and said almost nothing at the meeting.

Danny Seybert was reelected to the board by a very large majority of votes, mostly mailed in. Outside I walked up and said "Congratulations --and condolences." He smiled as I explained I know what being an officer in any organization entrails--lots of work, lots of flak and little credit. He agreed and then said, "I know you. You're the lady who's writing the book." I admitted I was and was quite gratified and pleased to have someone --a very busy but also astute and seemingly sharp guy--recall that. From there I talked to the new volunteer coordinator--Joanne Poole is beginning to pass along some of her many tasks at last! She was the honorary musher this past race and has been a fixture at ITC HQ from the first.  And I can't actually sign up until they put the new forms on the site about October but that is in the works. I also saw some of the volunteer folks I met last year and renewed those acquaintances. And since I was wearing my Santa Fe (RR) logo ballcap, I had a number ask me if I was from NM, thinking it was for our capital city. There seems to be a really odd link between the 47th and 49th states which surprised me at first but I am getting used to. Lots of desert rat sled dog fans, it seems, and some very serious ones.

To be continued...