Dear Charlie Boulding,

Congratulations in finishing in eighth place. We have enjoyed following you during the race. You are very courageous to enter the Iditarod race and we are glad you finished in eighth place. We hope you enter the Iditarod next year and hope you win, good luck. Is it fun to race in the Iditarod? Is it hard to finish or easy? Well, we hope you answer our questions. There was an article that said your dogs ate some bad meat. Is that true or not? If they did, we hope they get well soon.

Sincerely,

Jennifer, Charlie, Kalye, and Cruz
Mrs. Williams 4D Class
Stephenville, Texas

Dear DeeDee Jonrowe,

Congratulations on finishing the Iditarod race. We know that's a great but difficult accomplishment. Also, congratulations on finishing in the top 20. You are a real great musher to qualify for the Iditarod, but you are a wonderful musher to finish no matter what place you finished. It was exciting to follow you along the race and to learn about the Iditarod dogs, especially yours. We are very glad for you and your dogs on finishing the race. One of the people in our group has an Alaskan Huskie. Another one has lived in Alaska before. Lots of luck next year!

Your friends always,

Molly Roberson, Kassadi Kendall, Katie Fritts, and Ashley White
Mrs. Williams 4D Class
Stephenville, Texas

Dear Mark Black,

Congratulations for getting so far in the Iditarod! Better luck next year! We hope your dogs are feeling good. We enjoyed following you. It was an exciting race. Great job on qualifying for it. If you plan on racing next year, we hope you do well. Because we followed you, we learned a lot of things such as dogs wear booties and sleep on straw. We didn't know there were so many checkpoints during the Iditarod. We hope you enjoyed all the beautiful scenery during the race.

Lexi, Zach, Shelbie, and Jesenia
Mrs. Williams 4D Class
Stephenville, Texas

Dear Kjetil,

We are very glad you finished the Iditarod race. For a rookie, you did a great job getting into the top ten. How long does it take to get into the Iditarod? How many dogs do you have? Can you keep some of the dogs? Our friend, Patrick, wanted to know if you cut through Norton Sound. If you could write back, we would really appreciate it. Do your dogs run on ice?

Your friends,

Randy Woolley, Patrick Williams, and Baz Taylor
Mrs. Williams 4D Class
Stephenville, Texas

Dear Kelly,

We've been studying the Iditarod. We know what you do is fun, but also dangerous. One day we would like to race when we get older. We would like to meet you, but you are too far away. We know you were in great shape. But we are so sorry you got hurt. We are hoping you'll get better. We hope you start racing again. Ribs sometimes heal fast, so rest and get better. Good job on finishing the Iditarod race. How did your dogs react? Have you ever raced in any other races? What are your dogs' names? How often to you train your dogs? How did you feel when you got finished? We've been studying the Iditarod at school. Out of all the rookie females, we picked you.

Love,

Chelsea, Taylor, Greg,and Krystal
Mrs. Williams 4D Class
Stephenville, Texas

Dear Doug Swingley,

Congratulations on your marriage! We're glad that our teacher enjoys following the Iditarod and does activities with it. We were wondering why is this your last time to be in the Iditarod race? You have such a good record in this event and could have a much longer one. Our class has found out a lot about the race, especially our group. We watched Balto, Beyond Courage, and looked up information about you and other things, and read Zuma's Paw Prints. We were also wondering how long you have been interested in sled dog racing. Texas doesn't get much ice or snow so not many Texans are popular for sled dog racing. That's why it's amazing to us that you get to race on all of the white stuff. Our group is glad you didn't place in the very last, but we're glad that you got to learn more about the people that make it possible for everyone to try to race. Have a happy life and family!

Sincerely,

Meagan Landry, Matthew Abshire, Neely Turley, and Miranda Priddy
Mrs. Williams 4D Class
Stephenville, Texas

Dear Martin Buser,

We are very glad that you achieved first place! We think that you worked very hard on this race. Everyone in our group thinks it's cool that you've broken all the Iditarod records. Our group thinks that your dogs are fast and loyal to you. We are looking forward to seeing you in the Iditarod next year. Our class watched two movies. The first movie was "Balto," and the second one was "Beyond Courage." We know how hard it is to run the Iditarod race for 1,151 miles in 10 to 17 days. It is cool that you finished in 8 days, 32 hours, 46 minutes, and 2 seconds.

Hopefully, we will see you next year!

Sincerely,

Gil, Leon, Katie, and Ashley
Mrs. Williams 4D Class
Stephenville, Texas

Dear Aliy,

We are glad that you finished the Iditarod race after the buffalo charge. We were wondering if your dogs got hurt after the charge. We found out that the helicopter made the buffalo go away. It was smart of you to go back and check that the buffalo had gone away. We were tracking every musher that our class followed over the computer. While the race was going on, we watched two movies to learn more about the Iditarod race. We watched "Balto" and "Beyond Courage." Both of the movies were exciting. What was it like during the race? We found out that there are 1,151 miles in the whole race. The Iditarod race in an exciting race. Sometimes people get hurt during the race. Our group, German, Amber, April, and Ashley, have been proud of your for how you have done. We are glad that you finished the Iditarod race safely. You have done great in the race. We hope that you keep on racing in the next Iditarod races.

Sincerely,

German, Amber, April, And Ashley
Mrs. Williams 4D Class
Stephenville, Texas

Dear Jeff King,

Congratulations for finishing and ranking in the top ten racers in the Iditarod. We would all like to go to Alaska and learn how to be a musher. It is probably incredibly difficult. We hope you and your dogs are healthy and we hope none of your dogs were hurt in the race. We also hope you are happy with the place you got in the race. What are some of your dogs' names? All of us have dogs, but I don't think they would be able to compete in the Iditarod. Next year we hope you do just as good, but hopefully even better.

Sincerely,

Jay, Mike, Greg, and Ray
Mrs. Williams 4D Class
Stephenville, Texas