March 6, 2003

• My Map Rap

  
  

  

  
  

  Ta-daah!  This will not only illustrate the big difference between this year’s Iditarod and those of previous years, but will also show my regular readers where I live in relation to the rest of Alaska, and Anchorage, too.  We  have a saying up here in the valley, about Anchoragua, that it has all the traffic and pollution of a big city, some of the cultural amenities, and in addition it is only about fifteen minutes from Alaska. 

  
  

  Follow the line of dots on the map north from Anchorage… up there between Willow and Talkeetna, is a dot labeled Sheep Creek.  This tells me that the creator of this map could well be a near neighbor of mine, since Sheep Creek isn’t a town.  It’s not even a village.  It’s a creek that crosses the highway near that spring where we get our water.  Near the creek is a lodge of the same name.  You won’t find it on many maps, but here it is.

  
  

  The dotted line that goes generally west and then northwest from Wasilla is the usual trail the race takes, beginning on Sunday, the day after the ceremonial run from Anchorage to Eagle River.  In recent years, due to a lack of snow farther down the Susitna Valley, the restart was moved to Willow and the run to Eagle River was shortened so that this year it ended in a parking lot on the edge of Anchorage.  That stretch of trail across Dalzell Gorge and through the Farewell Burn has always been one of the most challenging parts of the race, until this year.

  
  

  photo below:  Rookie Tyrell Seavey uses his weight to keep the sled upright as his team rounds a corner leaving the the Tanana checkpoint Wednesday morning.

  
  

  At Ophir, the dotted line splits.  Formerly, in alternate years the race took either the northern or southern route.  Yesterday, at Ruby, the mushers leading the pack reached the first “traditional” checkpoint and joined the original trail.  That N-S loop on the map above, through Grayling and Eagle Island, follows a segment of the traditional southern route, adding some distance to compensate for what was lost in moving the start to Fairbanks, north of the Alaska Range.

  
  

  

  
  

  By 9 AM today, local time, the four leaders had made it out of Galena on the way to Nulato:  Robert Sorlie in with 15 dogs, out with 13; Martin Buser in with 15 out with 14; John Baker in with 15 and out with 14; and the Iditarod’s only five-time champion, Rick Swenson, in with 16, out with 16.  Rick “retired” a few years ago, but he’s back to try for a sixth win.  He is now running about 7 1/2 hours behind Sorlie, the super-fast Norwegian who finished ninth last year as a rookie in this race.

  
  

  Charlie Boulding is out of Ruby in 12th place with 13 dogs.  Dee Dee Jonrowe is out of Ruby in 17th place with 12 dogs. 

  
  

  Dee Dee has done some commercials for an Anchorage Subaru dealership.  I’ve been trying to get a little video or still shot from it (short of taking a screen shot with my camera).  In the commercial, an unusually bewildered Dee Dee is standing with her head and shoulders out the sun roof as one of her dogs drives the car and another turns up the air conditioning.  She does a great job of sounding querulous, peevish and lost, all of which are just not the Dee Dee we know and love, but are certainly funny.

  
  

  

  • 1:22 pm
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