Starting from where I left off last time, Most of Sunday consisted of waiting. The official start of the race was in Willow at 2pm ( the photos I posted previously were from the ceremonial start in Anchorage). Mushers typically start arriving to Skwentna around 8:30-9pm. Since it is early in the race, many of them opt not to stop for long, and instead push through. Our job as vets is to check over hopefully all the animals of the teams that are stopping, and to sign off on the teams that are not. Each musher carries a "vet book" which must be signed by the musher and a vet at each checkpoint. If they don't want to stay, we check off the "no exam" box, they usually grab their previously dropped off food supplies and off they go. Many mushers choose to camp out for a few hours either before or after the checkpoints, because it is quieter, less media and fans, less stimulation for the dogs, etc or because they want to rest during the warm part of the day and push through when the sun goes down so the dogs don't get hyperthermia. If further down the trail a musher has only "no exam" checked off for several checkpoints in a row, they are "strongly encouraged" to stop so we can check out the dogs and make sure everyone is doing ok.
At 6pm we had another delicious meal that couldn't be beat, and then went back to our post office to try to rest a bit before the long night ahead. Of course at that point it was pretty difficult to take a nap, with the anticipation mounting as the the sky got darker. (Incidentally there is still some daylight until around 18:45 or even later here, which was surprising to me.) Also, our humble abode was situated right alongside the snow machine (snow mobile) path and Skwentna also serves as a snow machine gas station. There is a certain type of person (often male, I'm just saying) who loses the ability to use their legs for walking when a snow mobile becomes available to them. I would really like it if someone would come up with a hybrid solar powered snow mobile that was quiet like a Prius. I wonder if the snow mobile demographic would embrace that.
In addition to the chainsaw sounds of the snowmobiles, around 8:30pm, we heard a helicopter chopping over us. There is something about that sound that makes you feel like something of significance is happening. Or that someone is in serious trouble. In this case it was probably the Iditarod Insider which is the main web based news source for the Iditarod. The mushers were getting close.
At that point we got suited up and walked down to the river. We had six veterinarians, three rookies like me and three experienced vets. We would roughly try to pair up for each team of dogs so that a rookie was with an experienced vet. As I walked over to the welcome banner with Alan, one of our most experienced sled dog vets, we could see a light approaching from down the trail. People gathered on either side of the banner, and instructions were yelled back and forth between the checkers, the runners, the flagger, and other volunteers. Finally what for minutes had been a light off in the distance suddenly turned into a team of running dogs and the crowd let up a big "whoop!" Martin Buser, many time champion, was the first musher to arrive. As he pulled to a stop, the checker welcomed him to Skwentna, recorded his arrival time, and asked him if he planned to stay. He said about 45 minutes, so "he s staying!" Was yelled out, a runner grabbed the gang line between the two lead dogs, and he was escorted down the line and then over to the side where a flagger waving a red glowing wand stood. Martin did not waste a moment idling. As soon as the team came to a stop, he set the brakes (which consist of two large claw like metal anchors that are hooked into the snow behind the sled) grabbed some things out of his sled and immediately started going down the team. Somewhere in there he tossed us the vet book and said we could look at the dogs as soon as he got the booties off. He walked down the line, connecting with each dog, pulling booties off, giving each one a vitamin E capsule, which has been show to decrease oxidative stress in sled dogs, talking to them and giving them a little love. As we did our exams he got hot water, food, and straw, all the while swarmed by journalists.The dogs are almost more excited about the straw as they are about the food. As soon as they have a little pile, they plop down and get comfy (ok some turn three times in a circle and then plop down). The dogs looked great. Within minutes of arrival, they were breathing at a normal rate, their heart rates were coming down, and they looked relaxed. And they were so nice. Sweet and affectionate, some a little shy and nervous, but not terrified. After the dogs were fed and watered, had been examined, and re-bootied, it wasn't long before he took off down the trail.
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