Hi Walter,

I am always in support of students learning about the sport of mushing.  I endorse your web site and the project. It should blossom into a great reference site for students. Thanks so much for your efforts!

DeeDee Jonrowe

At first one might be a bit confused by the name "elditarod" but only a few glimpses into the very professional web site will enlighten the viewer and bring the incredible nature and prowess of the Alaskan Huskies to light. This great site is putting out facts and information that is often tainted by uninformed parties. I greatly endorse your program and wish all the followers great success and hope to be chosen again by some of the classes as "the musher to follow."

Continued success and as always

Happy Trails,

Martin Buser

Walter,

I think as a musher who has dedicated the last ten years of my life to the dogs I have to thank you for the energy you put towards our sport. The more people that learn about our sport the better. I think animals and kids are a must and kids seem to really get excited about the dogs and the mushers. I was involved with a few class rooms last year and had a lot of fun with it. I would be happy to help with your program this year just let me know what I can do.

Thanks again,

Dexter Kancer and Dogs

Dear Mr. McKenzie,

Your website is a neat exchange of ideas. Over the years we have responded to hundreds and hundreds of kids letters and if you would so kindly share a few things with the teachers that plan on sending student letter for me it would be appreciated:

Dear Teachers, It is neat to receive the variety of letters and pictures from the students and we love that they are learning about what we do. However it does take a lot of hours to respond to the hundreds of letters and there are a few things that can be done to help us at our end:

1) Please include a self-addressed envelope - it really helps if it is the business size so when we fold our letter I only have to tri-fold the letter;

2) Include a postage stamp (some years we have literally spend a few hundred dollars on postage);

3)Please make sure the return addresses are legible - especially young students, some years I have been unable to send a letter because the student forgot to include their address or zip code or it is so unreadable that I can't make it out to send a reply;

4) Please explain to the students that it is not always possible for the musher to send a picture or bootie - we try but sometimes we get so many letters that we run out of cards or booties, etc but we do try.

We appreciate your time and effort to share the information with the students. We have heard several testimonies of the Iditarod sparking an interest for students that otherwise have become bored with school. We hope that Iditarod 2004 is a fun adventure for you and your students.

Ramy & Cathy Brooks

PS - Please let the teachers know that if the students send email that it may take awhile to respond - we had over 700 student emails in one week during the Iditarod. It sometimes takes a little while to get to all of the emails.

Hi Mr McKenzie,

Your website is Wonderful! Dog Mushing is a dying sport something that once was the way of life for many Alaskans has now given way to snowmachines. Those of us who still travel Alaska by dog team want to share our adventures with everyone we can, just so the sport or pasttime for some us never dies. We truly love what we experience with our teams and our dogs always teach us more than we could ever imagine possible. I as a musher have been truly blessed to have such a wonderful group of animals that love unconditionally all the time as I am not the worlds best sled driver. Please let me know what we can assist you and your classes with as the 2004 Iditarod gets underway here in less than 2 months.

Happy Trails with Puppy dog tails,

Judy Merritt

Hello Walter,

Just took a look at your web site. Very Awesome! I am in full support of students learning about Iditarod. The sport definatly needs the attention and interests. I would be glad to endorse the site and the project. Training is extensive and time consuming so I will do my best to return e-mails. Thanks so much!

Sincerely,

Ellie Claus