Takotna or Ophir? (Pie or Privacy?) Where Iditarod Mushers Choose to “24” is Often a Question of Personal Choice.
![Musher attends to his team in the Ophir checkpoint](https://knom.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/20180307-Jeff-King-resting-his-team-at-the-Ophir-checkpoint-1200x788.jpg)
Camaraderie and comfort or quiet and privacy? Comparing the Takotna and Ophir checkpoints shows that personal preferences for mushers differ when it comes to where to take Iditarod’s mandatory, 24-hour layover.
Starting Positions Set for 2018 Iditarod; 67 Mushers to Depart from Willow on Sunday
![Miss Alaska 2017, Angelina Klapperich, poses next to the trophy (bearing a likeness of the late Joe Redington, Sr.) that will be given to the 2018 Iditarod champion.](https://knom.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/03012018-MusherBanquet-Miss-Alaska-1002x1200.jpg)
After bib #1 was dedicated to this year’s honorary musher, the late Joe Redington, Jr., Cody Strathe and all the other 66 registered mushers drew numbers from a traditional mukluk boot during Thursday night’s mushers banquet in Anchorage. Strathe will be the first musher to leave Willow Sunday afternoon.