NOME cont day 3

Hank got up in the dark this am. He had dog lot duty at 6am!!! I was to relieve him at 8am (not happily).
Hank had a lot of dogs in the dog lot. Have to just keep a watch on them. When I got there at 8:30am the siren blew for Lance Mackey to come in. Everyone was excited to see him even though he didn't win this year. He is 16th. LOTS of people to greet him. Said he would be back next year. He thought he did very well with what he had. He only had 7 dogs and its tough to be first with that few. John Baker finished with 10 dogs. He also had some sickness in the team which slowed him up. He was still upbeat and pleased that he tried to "hurry along" and got the $500 for record time from Safety to Nome 2hrs 25 min. His Mother almost missed him as she thought he would be in at 11am but he was in at 8:55am. She was in the shower when the siren went off!!
She made it. I like her very much. Have spent some time with her this trip. Hans Gatt was there to great him as they are good friends.
Had fun with Lance, his Mom and his crew in the dog lot. Lance looked beat and hungry so off he went.
Before that his Dad called and he was so happy to hear from him. Sorry he's not here this year.
Finished up at the dog lot with freezing feet. Have to fix that for tomorrows "duty". Said goodbye to all the doggies and went in to Headquarters where John Baker was supposed to hold a press conference. Never happened. Had spaghetti lunch (moose meat in it). Then to a talk on sewing skins. Hank was going so I joined. We each made a black beaver ball for a key chain. Put it on our jacket pulls. Good lookin!!
Then to the museum for a talk from Howard Farley. He worked with Ray Reddington to put together what would be known as The Iditarod. He was in the first one. Full of information , good sense of humor and interesting.
Back to see Martin Buser come in at 4:03pm.Up at the arch with Martin and his wife Cathy and of course the reporters and everyone else. Martin said he dogs performed splendidly but he made many mistakes. He was FIRST at the beginning of the race and then fell way back. He was asked if that mattered. Should he have held back at the beginning. He said absolutely NOT. Its a race. I have a great team, they are fast and they were ready, why not push it. John Baker was there to great him. Took pictures together. He seemed glad to see his wife Cathy. She has retired from teaching.
Will be back after dinner. Its 7pm and bright as can be out!!!