STRAW PROJECT REPORT

Many thanks to Stephanie and Juliah for their input on this. I spent about 2 hours on the phone with Stephanie today and 2 hours tonight with Juliah in order to come up with a plan. Enough of us are concerned about costs that it made sense to revisit the Manley drop again, because it would eliminate the airdrop to Tanana. We would instead be hauling the three-days of supplies (including straw) from Manley to Tanana. Stephanie believes she has a contact who would deliver the straw and supplies (drop bags) to Manley. I am told that the bales will range from 40 to 60 pounds — i.e., the smaller bales, not the big bales some of us use. When you see the cost of shipping, you will understand why we were trying to eliminate an air drop. This time, I’ve included the 6.25% tax on each shipment. Unfortunately, bypass mail was not an option for us for the two airdrops (Ruby and Kaltag). Assuming we make the drop in Manley, here is how the costs will break down for the straw from NENANA start through OLD WOMAN cabin:

$57.96 for 4 bales of straw per musher used for the first six days [initial batch of two bales delivered from FBNKS to Nenana start and then 2nd batch of two bales delivered to Manley]. We would also want to cover the gas to Manley and back. This straw will cover Old Minto, Beaver Point, and Manley (Nenana drop) and Tanana, Bone Yard, and Trapper Cabins (Manley drop).

$ 129 for 2 bales of straw per musher delivered to Ruby IF Wright’s gives us the standard, rather than the oversize rate [$22 per bale x 2 = $44 for 100 lbs. of straw; shipping is 79 cents per pound or $79 plus a $6 delivery charge from Cold Spot to the airport). I have left my contact information for the manager to discuss the lower rate with him as a courtesy discount. The Ruby drop would be used for Ruby, Galena, and Nulato.

$ 126.50 for 1.5 bales of straw per musher delivered to Kaltag [$33 for the straw and $87.75 for the shipping @ $1.17 per pound with a courtesy discount, which I am still working on plus a $6 deliver charge from Cold Spot to the airport]. The Kaltag straw drop would be used for Kaltag and Old Woman. With six mushers, this means we will be shipping out 9 bales instead of 12 to one of the more expensive locations on the trip.

Straw total per musher for straw from Nenana start through Old Woman cabin is $313.46.

Stephanie is working on the cost of the straw from Unalakleet to Nome. This will cover the final six days of the trip plus Nome. The straw would be ordered at the normal costs for shipping straw to Nome. Stephanie is working with Bering Air to see if we can get free or subsidized shipping. Each musher will need 5.5 bales of straw [total for 6 mushers would be 33 bales going out of Nome]. The total cost is yet to be determined but Stephanie is working on this.

I know we talked about having the straw costs deposited by December 1st. Given how long this has taken to get this far [I spent hours on the phone with various airlines, Cold Spot, Alaska Mill and Feed, Underdog, and Airland, Everts, and NAC just to get pricing], I think we should push the date out by a week or two to allow Stephanie to get the straw costs for the final part of the trip. She has to determine with Bering Air where the drops will be [she thinks they will be in Unalakleet, Koyuk, and White Mountain but needs to confirm that. If Bering Air is willing to be our sponsor and drop off the straw at no cost, the mushers still would be looking at $429 apiece for straw from Unalakleet to Nome.

Bottom line: at a minimum, the straw will cost each musher around $750 but it could go quite a bit higher if Wright (only airline flying to Ruby and Kaltag) won’t give a courtesy discount and if Bering Air charges us for flying the straw.

The figures you’ve been given for the air freight for Ruby and Kaltag will also apply to the drop bags. Unlike the straw (which is considered oversized so there is a higher rate), the drop bags will go at the prices stated above. Juliah and I calculated that each musher will ship out about 45- 50 pounds for each day — about 1 lb. of kibble, 1 lb. of meat, and 1 lb. of fat plus booties and personal food. So, the air drop in Ruby would be about 150 pounds for three days which would cost $118.00. The air drop in Kaltag would be 100 pounds and cost about $117. My personal opinion is that we most likely will be shipping a bit more since this is only 900 pounds and my dim recollection is that I shipped out more than that. Anyway, this gives the mushers some idea of projected costs. We will also need to buy cases of Heet, which will need to be hauled since they probably can’t be flown as they are flammable.