No surprise to fans watching times on the Internet—Buser is first into Eagle Island checkpoint at 6:30 AM with a time of 9:24.

What does it mean to the following pack? Still located in Greyling, I walked around the checkpoint log cabin and did a reaction survey with AP writers, Cabellas Jon Little, our Iditarod media group, a few self made experts including checkpoint communication volunteers, and reactions from mushers lounging in the EXTREMELY warm checkpoint.

Buser, first and foremost, posted the fastest time from Anvik to Greyling of 2:19, so he is still the speedster on the trail. One musher piped up and pointed out that he was not the fastest into Anvik from direction Shageluk, while our Communication Expert noted Buser’s time of 9 hours 24 minutes into Eagle Island.

That time is slow by normal standards. For example, Doug Swingley had a time of 7 hours 40 minutes in 2005. While we all digest this fact, the 55 gallon wood burning stove in the checkpoint swallows another dry spruce log, and MAN, is it ever hot in here. A few mushers sleeping on the floor, where the air is cooler, sigh, snore, and roll over for another ten minutes of deep sleep.

Jon Little listens to Ellen ( with Alaskan Public radio) who feels that Martin stopped and snacked his dogs, therefore accounting for his slow time. Aaron Burmeister, alert with a cup of coffee in hand, theorized that blowing winds had stacked drifts on the trail and delayed progress. Little, the pundit operating at Cabelas.com, nodded and also supposed that the trail must drifted and soft. Aliy Zirkle, using the available for practical purposes, turns to Aaron Burmeister, who also has been posting fast times, announces that she is going to stay another hour to insure that her team is fully recharged for a long run of 9 to 10 hours.

Meanwhile, Robert Sorlie rises from a sleeping mat in a far corner, and exits to check on his resting dogs outside the checkpoint. John Baker, the annual top finisher from Kotzebue, Alaska, is motionless in a deep sleep position at the far end of the cabin.

For insiders here in Anvik, the benchmark has been set. Martin set the time, now the others must match it. Tmes posted on this run from Greyling to Eagle Island will reveal the trend. Is Buser gradually separating from the pack or finding his lead eroding?

The Trail

Once mushers exit Greyling down a steep slip on to the Yukon, the trail at first appears interminably boring and featureless. At places, the Yukon, including islands,oxbows, and braided channels, can be four miles wide. It is an immense river, which to villagers, is referred to as a personality. The Mighty YUKE, transporter of huge runs of salmon, the conduit of transportation for villagers, is frozen solid in November and a main highway for villagers.

AT each bend, the river exercizes its force and energy. In winter, winds accelerate and decrease with the lay of the river. Buser certainly encountered wind tunnels enroute to Eagle Island, all of them directly in the face of his huskies.

I asked villagers here in Greyling if they had traveled 140 miles upriver to Kaltag this winter. No, they replied, gas is $5.50 a gallon in the village, a fact requiring no further explanation.