Dear Dear Dee Dee,
Hi! I couldn't wait for you to finish the race! You were so good. You did great! I know that you started out in 16th place, then you went back, was up and running again! Some times you were going slow and other times you were going good! I learned that mushing is alot harder then I thought! I always thought that you just pull and they go! You taught me alot, about mushing. You were great the whole stretch. You lost some dogs, but you were great even without them.
This year at school, we made little dog sleds with our mushers pictures! Next year maybe we could make a big model of the Iditarod. I'm glad I picked a satisfactory musher. You didn't win, but isn't it great just to finish? Next year you might shorten your resting. Or get a new or better team. You honestly did wonderful! You finished and I'm really proud. Hope to see you in the running next year!
From,
Amanda Cristina Ball
Mrs. Fryman’s 4th Grade
Upper Arlington, Ohio
Dear Linwood Fiedler,
I am glad that I followed you in the Iditarod.You were doing really great and for a while you were in first place. I also learned that the sled dogs wore little booties on their feet. I learned that the Iditarod is not a walk in the park because you only get so many supplies and you're on your own. We made Iditarod ice cream,we made popsicle stick people that followed the trail,and made a huge map of the Iditarod. Next year if they have the medicine for the disease you should carry that with you.I saw your web-site and I think your dogs are really cute. I'm sorry that your dogs got sick. But it was smart of you to drop out. I bet if your dogs didn't get sick you would have WON!!!!
From,
Sarah Dick
Mrs. Fryman’s 4th Grade
Upper Arlington, Ohio
Dear John Baker,
Hey, ALL RIGHT you got in 3rd place, you rule! I can't believe you even finished the race, I couldn't! I think you are an awesome musher getting in 3rd place. Does it feel good John? | bet it does. I am in Mrs. Fryman's fourth grade class, I have been following you since the Iditerod started. Man, I can still barely hold it inside me! YAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!! (Sorry I had to do that). I think it was cool when you were in 2nd place. I was proud of myself to be choosing the winner of third place in the Iditerod race! I think that next year that you should hold back at the beginning then when everyone else is tired, GO ALL OUT! I learned that people from all different places on the world can go to the iditerod. And I learned that the iditerod is not just a dinkey bike race, it is a very important time in the world that every school, every grade should know about! We did a lot of activities on the iditerod, like we made Idetirod Ice Cream (MMMMMM). We made a map of the iditerod trail, and soap carvings. I LOVED IT!
From,
Devon Meyer
Mrs. Fryman’s 4th Grade
Upper Arlington, Ohio
Dear Jeff King,
You were so good. I can't believe you came in 6th place during the hardest dog sled race in the world. Your my hero. Were you scared? I sure would be. I'm sorry you had to drop some dogs, I hope they're okay. Well you did great and I admire you for that. You made me want to do it. I might do the junior race like your daughter sometime. I learned a lot about the race when I was following you, like that the race is not as easy as riding a bike . Are you doing the race next year? If you are then do exactly what you did this year and you'll get in 6th again maybe even better like in 1st. We made mushers that had your faces on them and I hope you had a great time doing the race I know I had a great time following you in the race . My favorite part was when you came in 6th place .
From,
Chelsea
Mrs. Fryman’s 4th Grade
Upper Arlington, Ohio
Dear Mr. Swenson,
Congratulations on getting in nineteenth place! You did great! I was so happy when you crossed the finish line. I followed you this year and learned a lot about the Iditarod. Our class made slideshows about their musher, dogsleds with our musher inside, made Eskimo ice cream, and kept a chart about how their mushers were doing. I really enjoyed following you, I thought it was going to be a boring assignment, but it was really fun!
Thanks For Running in the Iditarod,
Emma Gargus
Mrs. Fryman’s 4th Grade
Upper Arlington, Ohio
Dear Jeff King,
Congratulations on finishing the Iditarod in sixth place. You only dropped 6 dogs too. I was hoping you would win or finish in 2nd or 3rd place but 6th place is good too. Why did you drop your dogs? It only took you 10 days to get to Nome from Anchorage. I think your best time was from Cripple to Shatoolik in 1 day. Did you encounter a moose when you were on the trail? How many times did you stop on the trail? Did you have to switch lead dogs? Our class each chose a musher and I chose you because of your reputation. Most kids chose Doug Swingley because of his reputation. They got really mad at him when they found out he wasn't trying to win, and he was retiring after this race. He said he was saying good-bye to all his friends on the trail.
We all had to make a slide show on the musher we chose and my slide show had pictures of your dogs from your personal web site. I also added your winnings, your record, your family and other things from your personal web site. We also made miniature dog sleds and kept track on where and when our mushers arrived at a checkpoint. We also made soap carvings of Alaskan things. The thing I liked best was when we watched a video of the Iditarod in 2001. My favorite activity was when we made the slide show and when we made soap carvings. I learned the commands that make the dogs go, turn, and stop. I used to think all you did was yell go, stop turn left, and turn right.
I think next year if you're racing again you should try to go faster or find out which dog is lagging and replace him or her. A good way to do that is time the dogs from your team then time the other dogs you have and keep track of how fast they go, then see which dog is the slowest and replace him or her with the best dog that is not in your team. I hope you can to respond back to me soon.
Sincerely, Frank Hu
Mrs. Fryman’s 4th Grade
Upper Arlington, Ohio
Dear Dee Dee,
You are a great musher! I am your biggest fan. I know all of your dogs. You had a great race! I hope you had a good time. I sure had a good time cheering for you. You are the best musher in the world! I hope to be a musher someday. How do you take care of all your dogs? I hope you mush next year, because you are the best musher ever! I can't wait for next years race because I wanna see if you'll be in it! I saw pictures of your dogs on your web site and I think they're all so cute! I love the pictures of all the dogs, especially Fireweed! I reeeealllllly hope that you mush next year!!!!!!!!! :-)
I loved the race. It was cool because you kept losing dogs but you kept on going. I really liked it because you finished and that's all that counts. You had a positive A+ attitude. I enjoyed following you in the race! Something that I have learned in the race is that I didn't know that the race is so long! I also learned that the race can be very dangerous. Suggestions for next years race is feed your dogs well, go fast and have FUN!!! We've been doing a lot of fun stuff having to do with mushers (like you, Doug Swingley, etc.) and the Iditarod. We made Iditarod ice cream with our kindergarten buddies. I did a slide show on you and I had fun doing that because I learned so much about you.
I know you like Golden Retrievers, horses, and purebred Ragdoll cats. I had a Shetland Sheepdog, (sheltie) except we had to put him to sleep because he had liver cancer at the age of 14. His name was Zero. I have a French Lop purebred rabbit named Skippy. He is gray at the age of 2 and he is turning 3 in May. He is a really cool bunny. Well, keep on mushing!
Your biggest fan,
Nuala Rose McSweeney
Mrs. Fryman’s 4th Grade
Upper Arlington, Ohio
Dear Jeff King,
You're a great musher! I can't believe you got in the top ten again! I'm glad I chose a wonderful musher like you! I've been supporting you for a long time. I have learned a lot from when the race started through the end.
A highlight from the race was when Spencer's musher won first place. None of us thought that he would win. We were all expecting Doug Swingley to win. Most people in my class cheered for Doug Swingley, they were so upset that he didn't win. One thing I learned is that mushers and dogs have food dropped off for them, I thought mushers carried their own food the whole way. Also that mushers must get to each checkpoint with the same numbers of dogs at the last checkpoint. If you race again, I think that you should keep up the good work. I also think that you should get some advice from Mr. Swingley.
Sincerely,
Yandong Bian
Mrs. Fryman’s 4th Grade
Upper Arlington, Ohio