Iditarod 2022

My race patch for this year’s Iditarod arrived today. I’m always excited when it arrives. This is the 50th running so it’s a special anniversary patch. I have one from every year since the 20th race in 1973. It’s the only thing I’ve ever really collected.

The Iditarod is an over 1000 mi/1600 km sled dog race across Alaska. It begins in Anchorage on the first Saturday of March and ends in Nome, on the Bering Sea. It’s a tribute to Alaska’s rich history.

As race time grows nearer, I will probably write more about this as one of my passions over the course of decades.

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When NASA was training for the Apollo Project, some of the astronaut training took place on a Navajo reservation. One day a Navajo Elder and his son came across the space crew. The old man, who spoke only Navajo, asked his son a question to be translated: “What are these guys in the big suits doing?“

A member of the crew said they were practicing for a trip to the moon. The old man got very excited and asked, through his son, if he could send a message with them. A NASA trainer got a tape recorder. After the old man recorded his message, the NASA folks asked the son what he said. The son refused to translate it.

They brought the recording to the reservation but everyone laughed and refused to translate the Elder’s message. Finally they got their own translator. The official translation of the old man’s message was: “Watch out for these guys. They have come to steal your land.“