Martin Buser poses with a fan in Unalakleet during the Iditarod. (Photo by Zachariah Hughes/Alaska Public Media)
Rick Casillo mushes out of Unalakleet during the Iditarod. (Photo by Zachariah Hughes/Alaska Public Media)
Mushers who have been competing in the Iditarod a long time have relationships and traditions they revisit each time they run the race.
When Martin Buser gets to Unalakleet, that means a bag of muktuk.
“I love eating the local food, and for about 15 years, a little girl would come and meet me, no matter what time of my arrival, her mom would drag her down,” Buser said. “Now, of course, the girl is grown up and out of Unalakleet.”
That tradition is being held up by someone new, who stood patiently by Buser’s dog team before handing him a zip-lock bag of whale skin and blubber.
“This little boy has come and brought me muktuk, local boy Wasook Jones, brings me muktuk every time I show up, inconveniencing himself and his family to make sure I have some of the most delicious muktuk around,” Buser said. “It’s just always heart-warming when he shows up and brings me that. I always gobble it down right away.”
As Buser watered his dogs, he chatted with Clarence Towarak, who has come down to say hello to the musher each year since the 1980s.
As Buser attended to his dogs, Towarak explained that when mushers are at the front of the pack, they don’t have much time or energy for talking with folks.
“At least he’s got a sense of humor at this point in time,” Towarak said. “Those guys in the top five to 10, they’re all business.”
It’s not been a great race for Buser.
His dogs have been persistently sick, which, at one point, made him doubt he’d be able to finish. That’s never occurred.
In nearly four decades of mushing, Buser hasn’t scratched in an Iditarod.
But the worst seems to be over, and he said the dogs finally looked ready to run.
“All we need to do is get it done,” Buser said. “Just get to Nome, get this over with, that’s all I need. Get another one under the books and regroup.”
This will be Buser’s 34th full Iditarod if he finishes.
Mitch Seavey beds down his team in Kaltag during the Iditarod. Seavey was expected to finish in Nome sometime Tuesday evening. (Photo by Ben Matheson/KNOM)
A sleepy sled dog lays down in Kaltag during the Iditarod. (Photo by Zachariah Hughes/Alaska Public Media)
Katherine Keith tending to her dogs in Kaltag before departing for Unalakleet during the Iditarod. (Photo by Zachariah Hughes, Alaska Public Media)
John Baker and Katherine Keith talk at the checkpoint in Kaltag in the Iditarod. (Photo by Zachariah Hughes, Alaska Public Media)
Jon Baker and Katherine Keith in Kaltag during the Iditarod. (Photo by Zachariah Hughes, Alaska Public Media)
Scott Smith at the checkpoint in Galena during the Iditarod. (Photo by Zachariah Hughes, Alaska Public Media)
Huslia residents came out in force to welcome the first musher, Mitch Seavey, on Thursday night, March 9, 2017, during the Iditarod. (Photo by Ben Matheson/KNOM)
An aerial view near the Alaska Range. (Photo by David Dodman/KNOM)
Huslia is hosting the Iditarod race for the second time in history. (Photo by Ben Matheson/KNOM)
Sleepy sled dogs belonging to Pete Kaiser, Ray Redington, Jr., and Jason Mackey rest at Galena during the Iditarod. (Photo by Zachariah Hughes/Alaska Public Media)
Michelle Phillips mushes toward the Galena checkpoint Thursday during the Iditarod. (Photo by Zachariah Hughes/Alaska Public Media)
Wade Marrs was the first musher to reach the Ruby checkpoint of the Iditarod, coming off the Yukon River into town at sunset. (Photo by Zachariah Hughes/Alaska Public Media)
Aliy Zirkle gets water while stopped Thursday, March 9, 2017, at the Nenana checkpoint of the Iditarod. (Photo by Zachariah Hughes/Alaska Public Media)
Upon arriving in Ruby, Dallas Seavey quickly attended to chores during the Iditarod. (Photo by Zachariah Hughes/Alaska Public Media)
Dallas Seavey arrives second to Ruby just after the sun set Wednesday night during the Iditarod. (Photo by Zachariah Hughes/Alaska Public Media)
Ruby, on the south bank of the Yukon River, seen before mushers started arriving Wednesday during the Iditarod. (Photo by Zachariah Hughes/Alaska Public Media)
Two-time champion Mitch Seavey begins his Iditarod run at the Fairbanks re-start on Monday. (Photo by Ben Matheson/KNOM)
A team travels on the Iditarod trail to Manley Hot Springs. (Photo by Ben Matheson/KNOM)
A team travels on the Iditarod trail to Tanana. (Photo by Ben Matheson/KNOM)
Nicolas Petit’s Iditarod team begins its 2017 race in Fairbanks. (Photo by Ben Matheson/KNOM)
Martin Buser is chasing his fifth Iditarod title in 2017. (Photo by Ben Matheson/KNOM)
The Manley Checkpoint (Photo by Ben Matheson/ KNOM)
Annie Kelley is the Teacher on the Trail for the 2017 Iditarod (Photo by Wesley Early/Alaska Public Media)
Teams began the journey to Nome from the re-start at Willow Lake in Iditarod 44 . (Photo by Ben Matheson/Alaska Public Media)
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