New Friends and Old Friends

Posted on June 21, 2012 Updated on June 21, 2012

Today was an amazing day!  I have been looking forward to meeting the Zientek family for the past 2 years.   They were exactly what I expected and are “good people” in my book.  Rachel has come a long way since the plane crash 2 years ago.  She recently graduated high school and is planning on taking classes in physical therapy.  Tammy, (Rachel’s Mom), is a wonderful woman and very easy to talk to.  It was a ton of fun and they brought Jacob Gibson with them.  Jacob pulled Rachel from the plane that day.  The Zientek’s had presented Jacob with an award earlier this week.  Jacob was a sweetie and it was such a treat to get to meet him too!

This morning I had a little bit of time before meeting the Zientek’s so I headed downtown.  The downtown portion of Anchorage is where most of the “tourist” areas are located.  There are tons of shops, activities and various buildings you can visit.  I had planned on just walking around and visiting the log cabin for some flyers.  However, I noticed a man unloading a sled.  This was not just a dog sled….it was the longest dog sled I have ever seen.  It had a unique brake and was longer than his entire truck bed.

He introduced himself as Rod Perry and then went on to say that he was in the first Iditarod race.  I am sure my jaw hit the floor.  He was super friendly and within minutes he was telling me stories from the trail. He was very entertaining and informative.  When I told him I was here for an Iditarod Teacher Conference he asked if I had ever met Diane Johnson.  He went on to tell me about some things that he has done with the Education Committee.  Then he told me about the two books that he had written.  Of course, I had to get them!  Luckily he had some with them and I was able to buy them and have them autographed.  He was an amazing storyteller and knows the history of the Iditarod because it is his life story.

Rod jumped on the sled and let me take some pictures.  I was surprised to see how short the runners were on this sled.  The brake was over 100 years old and it was amazing to see what good shape it was still in.  Rod has carried over 1,000 pounds on this sled.

This sled was featured during the 2011 Iditarod Ceremonial Race.  Rod led the ceremony with this exact sled.  The amazing part is that there was a rudder originally on the front of the sled that another person would use to guide the sled.  They would attach the dog team in front of the rudder so that the rudder was between the dog team and sled.  Rod said that it was almost impossible to stop a sled or control a sled of this size with 1,000 pounds on it.  However, with the rudder attached you could control the sled with just a little bit of movement.

Rod is very knowledgeable and gave me his website and blog address.  He lives about 20 minutes out of Anchorage and blogs about different aspects of Alaska along with dog sledding.  www.rodperry.com

It has been a great day here in Anchorage!  I can’t believe what all I was able to see and do in just one day.  It is currently 10 p.m. and due to summer solstice it is daylight outside.  The weather was beautiful and the temperature was a perfect 70 degrees.