
…yesterday, it was the Warsaw Community Public Library, and today we visited with the awesome 5th grade classes at Bunker Hill Elementary (pictured above) and Adams Elementary. Next stop… Hope Public Library, March 16th at 6:30 pm.

…yesterday, it was the Warsaw Community Public Library, and today we visited with the awesome 5th grade classes at Bunker Hill Elementary (pictured above) and Adams Elementary. Next stop… Hope Public Library, March 16th at 6:30 pm.
Thank you to the Rural Alliance for the Arts for sponsoring our Batesville Intermediate School visits for the second year in a row!

As always, the teachers had their students well-prepared for our time together, and we enjoyed lively discussions about the 1,049-mile Iditarod Sled Dog Race which, of course, is happening RIGHT NOW! Noggin and I gave five talks at the school over the course of two days. Each and every third grader has picked a musher and dog team to follow daily throughout the race so they were ready to talk trail. And Noggin, as always, was ready for a little sled dog TLC…

Playing…

… and relaxing!

Noggin, Chloe, Romano, Jigs and I witnessed a long and lovely sunrise this morning driving east towards Dayton, Ohio.

For the second year in a row, we presented our Iditarod talk to a 6-week “Iditarod Class”organized by our good friends, “Marty and Kenny,” at the beautiful University of Dayton.

We enjoyed visiting with everyone, and look forward to seeing you all next year! Both Noggin and I especially loved talking with Chuck Ritter — Professor Emeritus, University of Dayton Geology Department — who gave me a wonderful pep talk supporting my current studies aimed towards a geology degree. I could have chatted with him for hours. Thanks, Chuck!

All that love can be exhausting…


… at Northside Middle School in Columbus, Indiana!
Thank you to the Centre Township Branch Library in South Bend, Indiana for such a warm welcome and fun afternoon!


Such a gorgeous library window display!


Whether it be warm, dry straw on the Iditarod Trail or a thick foam cushion at the South Whitley Library (IN), sled dogs LOVE their beds.

Karen Land and Noggin speak/snooze at the South Whitley Library.
Top photo: Cherry (L) and Viper (R) on the 2002 Iditarod Trail, McGrath Checkpoint.

Yesterday before our Iditarod talk at the Pendleton Community Library in Pendleton, Indiana, we discovered this cavedog graffiti on the concrete trestle under the CSX railway. I’m opposed to all types of graffiti and destruction of property, yet these simple figures caught my attention, prompting me to pause and admire, and even smile. I’m sure it had something to do with the fact that four dogs — Jigs, Chloe, Romano, and Noggin — were leading us down the gorgeous paths of the Falls Park Trails. Or maybe it was the simplicity of the modern-day pictograph — woman and her dog — and what it represents, what it feels like to be in such a relationship. To all of you who have shared a profound bond with an animal, I’m sure you “get it”… so I’ll just let the image speak for itself.

Karen, Jigs, and Noggin

Even though it was a perfect autumn day in Indiana and there were dozens of football games on the tube, we had an awesome turn-out at the Pendleton Library. I really enjoyed visiting with everyone. Our always-delightful-host, Kristen Case, let us take home a sheet of her famous Romano Stickers.
Thank you, Nicole, for sending these great photos of our Iditarod Skype session last week. It’s so fun to see what it looks like from the classroom’s perspective on the other side of Skype. The students at the Boyle Road Elementary School in Port Jefferson Station, New York were well-prepared to visit with Alaskan Huskies, Noggin and Romano, and their musher (me); the entire class donned their favorite winter hats and mittens/gloves for the occasion. What fun!

She’s a dog with vision.