/ 2008 Archived Material / Ruby

Target Iditarod Teacher on the Trail^™ Ruby

by Jane Blaile

The flight to Ruby was nice - there was a little weather in the way about 15 miles out, but nothing that stopped us from getting there safely. Jeff and I set our gear on the side of the runway in the snow and started walking toward the village. We hadn't got all that far when a man in a pickup truck said he could take us back up to get our gear and then into the village. It's almost a 2 mile walk, downhill all the way, which isn't too bad if you have to do it. Every walk in Ruby is either up or down hill, you can't avoid either.

Lance Mackey had already arrived and Jeff King was arriving just as we were. Right away I went up to the school with my box of books from The Big Read project. The principal greeted me warmly and invited me to be part of their day's activities. They had just finished testing week and were having a kind of special day with painting, tie-dying, pizza lunch, and book prizes. For about 10 minutes, I spoke to the students about what I'd been doing and seeing as well as what it's like where I live in Arizona.

After lunch was a special contest - fire-building and S'more making. There are 32 students in the school, and they were all divided into teams of mixed grades and ages. The assignment: be the first group to build a fire and have everyone assemble a S'more. They literally took firewood, matches, starting material, and S'more ingredients to the parking lot and held the contest. How fun it was!

It was an early release day, so everyone went home at 11:30. I gladly walked the 1.5 miles back down to the checkpoint because it was a sunny, warm day. It was 25 and no wind. I glanced up and was met with the sight of the frozen Mighty Yukon River. Now, I've lived along the banks of the Mississippi and it never struck me as this. The vast expanse of snaking snow-covered river took my breathe away. I took lots of pictures, but it cannot be captured that way.

Meeting people at the checkpoints is one of my favorite things here. And today I met Doug Zirkle, Aliy Zirkle's father. I took a journey for myself, walking around the village, visiting the store, etc. Jeff Schultz, the photographer I am flying along the trail with, was going to go out onto the river to catch Lance Mackey as he left and invited me to ride along. What a kick that was! We sat on the river and as Lance came down out of the village, Jeff shot wildly. Then he jumped back on the snow machine and we went racing up the trail in front of him and stopped again to take pictures as he passed. It was really exciting! On the way back into town, we went up to the village cemetery. I think it was the most beautiful cemetery I've ever seen. A little later, we went back to the river to see Jeff King go. Just watching mushers come in, hearing them tell their trail stories, watching them work, seeing vets check dogs, watching race judges and volunteers direct and place teams in the narrow places of the village, listening to stories, knowing what's going on not in a few minutes after it happens, but AS it happens - that is my journey.