New Book on Joe Redington Sr.

Poster for the newest book on Joe Redington Sr.  By Katie Mangelsdorf, it's titled Champion of Alaskan Huskies: Joe Redington Sr., Father of the Iditarod

Here's part of the blurb on the back cover:  "Joe Redington Sr. was an ordinary man with extraordinary dreeams--and buckets of determination! His vision was as vast as the majestic Alaska landscape he loved to explore. This firsthand account is of the man whose love for the Alaskan husky and the Iditarod Trail evolved into the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Joe's adventurous spirit, fierce perseverance, and creative heart burned strong within his character and enabled the impossible to become a reality. His spell-binding stories and genuine love of Alaska drew people into his dreams. This is the story of those unique feats that defined Joe's life, and built the foundation for the most demanding and famous sled dog race in the world."

 Author Katie Mangelsdorf was at Iditarod Headquarters on Th. evening to sign books. The book should be available via the ITC website's store and/or Amazon.com soon. 318 pages, $19.95, paperback

 The Redington Family was on hand to support Katie. Raymie and Barb Redington signing books for Helen Hegener, right.

Barb, Raymie, Katie, Ray Jr., then Ray's children Isaac and Ellen(front) beside the statue erected at Iditarod Headquarters in memory of Joe Sr.

Katie (who's a retired teacher, too, I might note) with Joe Sr. 

Volunteer/Musher Sign-Up Picnic

Captions will be brief or non-existent for a bit, sorry.

Replica of Rohn cabin.

Candy Gibson

?? and Lilian at the volunteer sign-in table

Lilian, who came to visit from Switzerland, and Candy

Inside the meeting room

Joanne Potts chats with Pat Moon

Ken Anderson doing sign-up paperwork.

Lunch line, where mushers and fans share the line

Peg Stout and daugher DeeDee

Hugh Neff

Karin

Fan and musher spouse Maureen Morgan. I fell in love with her blouse.

Hmm, Jeff King? Yep, Jeff's back. Seen here chatting with head vet Stu Nelson.

Jeff and John Baker share a laugh

John being hooked up to do some announcements.

Aliy

Kevin Neher, who'll be an Idita-2012 rookie.

Ken and John

John was learning the writers cramp may be part and parcel of being champ as he signed endless autographs and was signing bibs here for the ITC's auction.

Jeff King signing up after a one-year absense.

Jeff Schultz chats with musher Jodi Bailey

Jodi

Dallas Seavey, ?, ?, Jeff King

Did you doubt for a moment that I didn't take time for some puppy visiting?

I love reading license plates anyway, some are so funny, but bet you can figure out which family owns the dog truck this one's on.

Brief "checkpoint" stop at the Millennium Hotel

Iditarod Headquarters in Anchorage during the race, the Millennium Hotel from outside. And, of course, you'll notice the sign for Fancy Moose Lounge, a very popular hang-out for one and all.

One one of the posts inside the Fancy Moose.

June Shelley working in the phone room.

One can never have enough stuffed huskies.

This was as close to dogs as we got today. A plane was due in but hadn't arrived, so we just sat in the Moose and enjoyed the view.

I don't normally get in photos with folks, but figured, hey, these are the parents of one of my favorite mushers, Aliy Zirkle, so why not. It also let me show the haircut. Ha

They did fly in a sled while we were there, albeit in pieces. The people front left have the runners while the rest of it followed.

Pat Schue and GG Goss