Greetings, Dexter and Southfield! I have only been in Anchorage for 22 hours, but it feels like a week! Saturday was a long day of travel, but I was blessed with no delays. I left Boston at 7:00 a.m. and arrived in Anchorage at 4:15 p.m., which was really 8:15 p.m. in my brain, since the time difference between Boston and Anchorage is four hours. After some coffee and unpacking, I ventured out into the streets to explore amidst the 8 degree temperatures and 25 mph winds! I stumbled upon a carnival going on across the street from my hotel and was amused by the fact that five year old children were riding on whirling roller coasters in single digit temperatures! My night was cut short at 8:30 as it was really 12:30 Boston time, and I needed to get some sleep.

Sunday morning I woke up at 4 a.m. despite my efforts to go back to sleep. I decided to take advantage of the time, and I hopped in my rental car at 6:00 a.m. to drive along coastal Route One, otherwise known as the Seward Highway. Since the sun does not rise until 8:15 a.m., I explored the many snow-covered streets of Anchorage until then, waiting to catch a glimpse of the sunrise. My hopes were dashed when I realized a blizzard was on the way. After traveling 5 miles, I was suddenly stuck in the middle of blowing wind and falling snow. It was quite surreal as I attempted to take a picture of the ocean, which was really a heap of icebergs crumbled on top of one another! I eventually turned around and headed back to the city. I hope to return to the famous highway and view the imposing Chugach Mountain Range.

While all of you back at home are experiencing a winter drought, Anchorage has had a record breaking snowfall totaling over 180 inches! Mall parking lots are filled with 6 story high piles of snow! Stores ran out of shovels back in January but have received a new shipment in the past few weeks. All the downtown streets are snow covered, and my Toyota Corolla is struggling to survive in these harsh conditions.

Once back in Anchorage, I watched the World Dogsled Sprint Championships, which occur every year during The Fur Rendezvous, a week long event that has been going on since 1935. It was a festival created to coincide with miners and trappers returning to town with their goods. Now visitors from around the world come to witness some of the most hilarious events imaginable. In just two hours I saw parts of an organized snowball fighting contest and an outhouse race on sleds! There is also snowshoe softball and thousands and thousands of furs being sold. Many of you can relate to the snowball fight, as it is set up much like a game of capture the flag or dodge ball. The people wear helmets and are allowed to pre-pack 270 snowballs before the contest!

I could write about ten more pages, but I have to get some sleep. I am looking forward to a great week!!

Mr. Kolva

Hello to all on the other side of the country!

This morning I woke up at 4 a.m. I am still in the process of adjusting to the time difference. I was able to fall back asleep until 7 a.m. The snow is still falling, which limits what I can do and see. Once again I attempted to take a drive north on the Glen Highway to view the beautiful Alaskan wilderness. I used Google Maps to navigate.

When I arrived back in town, I walked into several fur and craft shops. Anchorage is packed with dozens of these stores! One gift shop greets you with a ten foot tall grizzly bear! During my walkabout, I was able to “Skype” briefly with the boys in my fifth grade class. I showed them what the streets of Anchorage looked like and said a quick “hello”. The wonders of modern technology in Alaska! After a quick lunch of reindeer sausage and, yes, reindeer soup, I noticed the sun had popped out for the first time since I arrived, but of course, it was STILL snowing. I decided to stroll down to the Comfort Inn parking lot to look at the snow sculpture contest, held every year during the Rondy Festival. Several of them were quite impressive. I especially liked the one of a polar bear playing a piano that is balanced on a sea walrus’s head with an eskimo coming out of the piano!

Since the weather was improved, I attempted to drive south on the Seward Highway to Chugach National Park and Turnagain Arm. This ocean inlet is dramatic with mountains rising straight up from the icy waters and topped with snow capped peaks. All of this can be seen from a highway which cuts through the massive mountains right along the ocean’s edge. Turnagain Arm and the highway are one of fifteen roads in the United States that have been designated as an “All American Road”. I took many pictures. At Beluga Point, I was hoping to catch a glimpse of a Beluga whale and a bald eagle. Unfortunately, I had no luck on both fronts.

Tonight marks the beginning of the Iditarod Teacher’s Conference. I will meet many other teachers from all over the country. I look forward to reporting back to you tomorrow. Until then, enjoy the nice weather in Massachusetts!

Mr. Kolva

Greetings Dexter and Southfield:

Today marked the beginning of the Iditarod Teacher’s Conference. I listened to several teachers speak about how they use the Iditarod to teach their students about math, science, writing, and many other topics. One of the speakers was a woman named “Finney”, and she was the first “Teacher on the Trail” in 1999. Each year a teacher is chosen to fly to all the checkpoints during the race and report back to other teachers and students. It sounds like it would be an amazing experience. She reminisced about the time her bush plane (these are the planes that pick up supplies, people, and dogs on the trail) dropped her off at a checkpoint in Skwentna. The pilot dropped her off in the middle of an airstrip and told her to walk north, pointing towards the woods. She walked for several minutes and came to a fork in the road. She made the wrong choice and ended up all alone about two miles away from the checkpoint! Alaska is such a massive state, and getting lost takes on a whole different meaning of being scared!! Finney managed to find her way back, thanks to the help of some kind, local natives.

I also heard stories from real mushers. One musher told a story of how she lost one of her dogs halfway through the race, only to find him heading back to his kennel hundreds of miles away from where they had been separated. Another musher showed us a video of her Iditarod race last year. This video was filmed from a camera on her head! The video can be viewed on www.cnn.com in the travel section under her name, Angie Taggart. Very cool!

After the speakers finished, we were finally able to go outside, and it was sunny!! We traveled to the home and kennel of artists Jona and John Van Zyle. Jon is the official artist of the Iditarod, and his home was filled with amazing paintings and artifacts all depicting Alaska and the “Last Great Race”. The best part of our visit, however, was being able to visit with the dogs. They were well behaved, as they sat on their little houses waiting to be patted or hugged while people took pictures. Then, after a little while, they were unhooked from their posts and allowed to run free amongst all the human strangers! These animals are amazing. Their eyes are unique, and they move around with such grace and power. At first glance they may seem a bit scary, but that all changes when they approach you and lick your face! The Van Zyles are very lucky to have these wonderful creatures. I asked Jona if they ever let all twelve of them come in their house, and she replied, “Of course we do, all the time. They lay on the couches and beds and are treated like kings and queens.” While we were there, we were able to see them eat a meal of moose meat, beaver, and moose bone!!

Today was a great day, and tomorrow promises to be even better. We visit former Iditarod champion Martin Buser’s kennel, as well as go to the Iditarod Headquarters in Wasilla. I look forward to seeing more dogs!! Until then, enjoy your snowstorm! It’s about time!!

Mr. Kolva

Greetings Southfield and Dexter!

Today was an amazing day. We started at 8:00 a.m. with a one hour bus ride in a snowstorm to Wasilla, the home of the Iditarod Headquarters. I had the privilege of sitting with this year’s Teacher on the Trail, Blynne Froke, a high school teacher from California. We had a great conversation, and one of her stories was about how she had been trapped in Skwentna on Sunday. There was a storm that dumped 3 feet of snow, and planes were unable to take off and land. She had to wait while bulldozers plowed an airstrip runway on a frozen river. The runway was barely wide enough for the plane to turn around!

Eventually we arrived at the headquarters, and we were allowed to roam around while the mushers and their teams of dogs waited to be checked by the race veterinarians. The process was very impressive, as each dog was thoroughly inspected from head to toe. Many of the vets are volunteers from all over Alaska, and their work is very respected by mushers and the people of Alaska. After some great conversations with the mushers, including Trent Herbst and Ken Anderson, we loaded up the bus and headed to lunch. We ate at a place called Settler’s Bay Lodge, and the food and views were amazing. From our tables we could see a good portion of the massive Alaskan Range, just at the beginning of Denali Park.

After lunch we headed to Big Lake, where we visited Happy Trails Kennels, home of four time Iditarod champion Martin Buser. On the ride over I saw several moose across the countryside, both standing and lying down. In this harsh winter, moose have become a problem, as the deep snow has forced them to walk on the packed trails that the dogsled teams use. During the Jr. Iditarod already several moose have become tangled in the dogsleds’ ropes. Because of the snow, the moose are migrating to towns like Anchorage. One of the teachers even saw a moose as she was going through a McDonald’s drive-through! The kennel was the highlight of the trip. Martin Buser has over 90 dogs! Each was eager to greet us, barking and jumping up on us as if they had known us all their lives. We saw a great video of one of Martin Buser’s victories, and he spoke to us about how he prepares for the race, with some great stories included. He said that a dog will take over 2,000,000 steps during the race! He also said that if a dog breaks a nail or has one damaged, he carries “backup nails” that he glues on with superglue, so they don’t miss a beat. He spoke a lot about how he trains the dogs to eat well and often, and that it only takes the dogs a week to recover after they finish the race, and then they are ready to run another one! I asked him, “How much speed does your team lose if you have to drop a dog for one reason or another?” His response was that often the team will run faster, and that they only run as fast as the slowest dog. The team senses what the right speed is, and they all work together to maintain that speed. In fact, he finished second one year with only seven dogs, while the other leaders had at least 13! I left his kennel with a real appreciation for him, his philosophies on racing, and his unwavering love and respect for his dogs. It was truly a memorable experience.

At night I had the privilege of attending a reception for last year’s winner, John Baker. It is clear that John is a very humble man, and that he has dedicated much of his time to making things better for children from his hometown of Kotzebue, Alaska, as well as all of the state. I left the reception tired and ready for bed, only to see Lance Mackey, winner of four straight Iditarods, walk into the hotel lobby! I managed to get a hand shake and a picture. Until tomorrow!

Mr. Kolva

Greetings once again,

Today was an interesting day spent attending the Iditarod Teachers’ Conference. I spent most of the morning listening to a biology teacher talk about how he uses the race to teach genetics. He also showed a picture of a sled dog he bought last year, and he hopes to race in his first Iditarod in only three years! The next speaker had spent many years as a volunteer at various checkpoints on the Iditarod Trail. She had many amazing facts to share. For example:

Dogs race over 3,000 miles while training for the 1,000 mile Iditarod. If you ran a Boston Marathon, an ironman competition, and the Indianapolis 500, you would still be 500 miles short of the distance traveled in the Iditarod. A 50 pound dog burns 10,000 calories a day, and 200 pound gold medal swimmer Michael Phelps burns the same amount!

At noon time I traveled across town to have lunch with my musher, Lachlan Clarke, who will allow me to ride on his sled in the ceremonial start on Saturday. As I arrived, I was able to watch the mushers gather for their group picture. It was like a press conference for a famous celebrity. Many cameras flashed, and people cheered for these revered "stars". I almost wish these impressive people were more famous in the "lower 48" states, but I am guessing they like staying out of the spotlight! Lachlan was very friendly and had numerous stories to tell me. He has faced adversity this year. During his drive to Alaska, he was involved with an accident on the road with a moose. No people or dogs were hurt, but the moose was injured and Lachlan’s truck was damaged. He considered withdrawing from the race. However, he took the initiative, handled the situation with the moose, and found someone to repair his truck. During the winter when there is a lot of snow on the ground, it is easier for moose to travel along roads and hard packed trails through the woods then it is to try and move through deep snow. This results in humans and moose coming into contact with each other more often. Lachlan was very interested in our schools. In Colorado he teaches high school students the proper way to handle horses. He was also a semi professional football player and tried out for some NFL teams! In the picture we are proudly wearing Dexter School and Southfield School hats.

Tonight I attended the mushers' banquet where I met many Iditarod mushers and watched them receive their starting numbers. After the starting number of each musher was announced, each person patiently waited and signed autographs for hours. Imagine the Boston Bruins being introduced at the beginning of the season, and then each player signing thousands of autographs! The mushers are very thankful and humbled by the support they receive from their fans.

Tomorrow is the final day of the teachers' conference. On Saturday I am going to ride on Lachlan Clarke’s dogsled in the ceremonial race start!! Until then, enjoy your weekend!

Mr. Kolva

Greetings Dexter and Southfield!

Today was the last day of the Teachers’ Conference, and I was able to hear from a lot of interesting people. One was an author who wrote a book about Joe Redington Sr., better known as the “Father of the Iditarod”. He received this name because he is the man who started the “Last Great Race” and helped develop it over the years. Joe was quite a wilderness man, and one story the author told us summed it up. Joe once crashed the same plane three times in the deep woods of Alaska. Each time he had to fix the plane, he had to cut down hundreds of trees with an axe and had to pack down hundreds of feet of snow with his snowshoes to make a runway! On one of his crashes, he actually landed the plane on top of the trees because there was not a clear landing area. Redington also ventured to the summit of Mt. McKinley (20,000 ft) with his sled and dogs! He was 62 years old! Accompanying him on the trip was a musher soon to become famous, Susan Butcher.

Several mushers spoke next: Ed Steelstra, Pat Moon, Angie Taggart, and Jeff King. King entertained us with his stories of the trail, and they were hilarious. However, the audience was most captivated by the story told by Ed Steelstra. He once fell off his sled, landed on a rock, and broke his leg. He rode 27 miles to the next checkpoint and had a veterinarian look at it. (There are no official human doctors out on the trail). His knee was the size of a basketball, and he asked the veterinarian her opinion. She asked, “Can you take care of your dogs?” Steelstra replied, “yes”, and the vet said, “Off you go!” Steelstra finished the race that year on one leg.

The Chief Veterinarian, Stu Nelson, spoke next and focused on the care and health of the dogs. I learned that a typical sled dog will eat six times as much as my golden retriever. Also, the vets place small microchips inside the fur of each dog, and it acts like a GPS system. This way they can always locate a dog if it happens to get separated from its team (which is rare). There are over 45 veterinarians who volunteer from all over the country. Next, we heard from the Iditarod Air Force pilots, which was informative. Without the bush planes there would be no food and supplies for the teams along the trail. The pilots even transport the dogs left at checkpoints back to Anchorage. Apparently the dogs love to fly, and they usually take naps during the flight.

After the lectures were over, I met with other “Iditariders” to learn about the ceremonial race start tomorrow. I cannot believe I’m going to be riding behind 12 sled dogs! I walked the streets of Anchorage at night and watched them raise the official start banner. Later, while I am sleeping, they will bring some snow in on trucks (they have plenty of it) and create the trail for tomorrow’s ceremonial race start!

Until then,

Mr. Kolva

Greetings All – I am now an experienced dogsled rider!

Today was quite a day. I awoke to the sounds of mushers and dogs arriving for the ceremonial race start in downtown Anchorage. I put on about four layers of clothing and headed out into the falling snow. Fourth Avenue in Anchorage was lined with all the teams. There are 67 teams in all, and my musher, Lachlan Clarke, drew a start number of 66 at the mushers’ banquet on Thursday night. This meant that I could walk around to watch other mushers prepare to leave. The teams left at two minute intervals. It was also really fun to watch the mushers being interviewed. They are very accessible to the public, and I was able to pet their dogs and talk to whomever I wanted. I must have taken 200 pictures!

The race started at ten o’clock, and it was amazing to watch the dogs line up, many jumping straight up into the air because they were so eager to run. They were also very loud! One thing I did notice is that the teams that are considered contenders to win the race had very calm and controlled dogs during the hours leading up to their start time. Once they got near the starting line, however, the dogs could not contain their excitement.

At about 12:20 p.m. I hopped in my sled with 5 different cameras and hunkered down for the ride of my life. It’s really hard to put into words what it felt like to be pulled up to the starting line by a team of dogs while thousands of people line the streets cheering for Lachlan. When it was our turn to go, a cameramen interviewed me, asked me where I was from, and I said I taught at Dexter-Southfield Schools. Hopefully, I got on the evening news! Finally, we were off and flying. People went crazy! After about 300 yards, we had to take a 90 degree turn (that’s a right angle fifth graders) and the sled was jerked around the corner. I felt like it was the Daytona 500. As we moved out of downtown Anchorage we were immediately plunged into the woods. People lined the 11 mile trail and greeted Lachlan with high fives, threw some muffins, and they even gave us some hotdogs and water. It was the best hotdog I ever had. During the race, Lachlan talked to me about some of the things he has to do out on the trail and some of the training techniques he uses. The ride was one that I will never forget!!

Once we finished the ceremonial race, I watched the mushers feed and water their dogs and put them into their trucks. I said goodbye, thanked the Clarkes and hopped on a bus back to Anchorage. I had another race to run! I had decided I was going to participate in a race that has become an annual favorite called the “Running of the Reindeer”. I got a bib, put on some reindeer antlers, and ran down Fourth Avenue with 2,500 people while 8 reindeer chased us from behind!! It was quite an experience that I will share when I return.

Well, it is time for me to go to sleep, as I have one more, big day left. Tomorrow is the official Start to the 40th Iditarod Dog Sled Race!

Until then,

Mr. Kolva

Greetings for the last time,

Today was the official start of the race, and I drove about an hour to a town named Willow to watch the teams begin their journey. Along the way I managed to cross paths with a moose. The moose was only about two years old. Being that close to a moose can be dangerous because moose are nervous about wolves. The moose can mistake a sled dog team for a pack of wolves and the moose can become aggressive as a form of protection. After a few quick pictures someone climbed on a snow machine and scared the moose off. It was amazing to see how fast moose can actually move in the deep snow.

We went to the starting line for a brief time and saw the mushers preparing for the race. We witnessed random dog drug testing, saw the GPS boxes that each musher is required to carry, and witnessed a crowd of thousands. The teams were much more serious this time. The fans did not pet the dogs or speak with the mushers. Then, because of the crowds, I decided to head about ten miles up the road to Deshka Landing where I could closely watch the teams.

I was able to find a terrific place to watch the race. At one point a musher’s dogs took an abrupt left turn and headed off the trail right in front of me. The musher eventually returned his team to the trail, but the dogs were tangled. Lance Mackey happened to be the next musher on the trail. Lance Mackey had to wait for a bit until the dogs were untangled. He spent the time shaking hands with the crowd. Eventually his patience ran out, and he passed the unfortunate musher. It was quite a sight. After about 2 hours and 66 mushers, along came our musher, Lachlan Clarke. He waved a hearty hello to me, and off he went into the sunset. 1,039 miles to go!!

I then headed back to Anchorage along with a lot of other people and cars. It gave me time to reflect upon what I had witnessed this week. The one thing that stood out was how humble and friendly the mushers are, and how dedicated they are to the well being of their dogs. Alaska is a very humbling place, and the Iditarod is truly the “Last Great Race on Earth”.

See you Wednesday!

Mr. Kolva