Iditarod Camaraderie

Saturday, March 8, 6 p.m.

The church in Anvik, where the bell rings for the first musher in town

Alice Rubenstein wearing the vest made for her by Poldine Carlo of Nulato

Alice poses with the parka made for her by Chris Alowha of Savoonga

Iditarod Veteran Vickie Talbot and her new passion

Vickie's ultralight stands in stark contrast to Paul's Turbo Otter

A BRIGHTER PICTURE FOR NATIVE ARTS
PETITE PLANE


Today your UltimateIditarod crew split up in a new way. Daniel and Dan stayed at base camp at Eagle Island, while Paul took Jeff, Jeanne and myself, along with Vicki Talbot, in the Otter on a tour of the nearby checkpoints. The snowmobiles had the day off. We first flew to Kaltag where a few teams were resting, and picked up a passenger who flew in on the daily mail and supply plane. That's how we met Alice.

Then we flew to Unalakleet to fuel up. Next we flew low over the Nulato hills, hoping to see caribou to the checkpoint of Grayling, which is downriver from us here at Eagle Island. There we met up with our regular passengers, Donna King, Rod and Barb. Donna then flew with us to Anvik, where husband Jeff is taking his twenty-four hour layover. The adventurous Rod and Barb took a snowmachine to Anvik, and joined us while we checked out the action at the checkpoint. It was while we were at Anvik that I got a chance to get to know Vicki Talbot.

These two women are so interesting that I feel compelled to share their stories with you.


A BRIGHTER PICTURE FOR NATIVE ARTS

Alice Rubenstein is chair of the board of the Alaska Native Arts Foundation. Last year, when she accompanied her son, Andrew a really committed Iditarod fan along the Race Trail, she became inspired by the artwork of the villagers she met along the way. She discovered many talented artisans who had no outlet for their creative expressions. Furthermore, these artists have such limited financial resources that they cannot fully develop their talents.

Alice has strong connections to many major retailers through her previous business endeavors. She purchased a significant amount of Native art while on the Iditarod last year, and showed it to some of the retailers she knew, who were immediately interested. They appreciated the value of the work, and saw a potential market.

Alice joined with others who became the Founding Directors of the Alaska Native Arts Foundation. Willie Hensley, Susie Bevins, Ron Senungetuk, and Sonya Kelleher-Combs are now teamed up with her on the board of directors.

The Foundation purchases artwork from the best artists in the villages of Alaska. It pays fair wholesale market value for the items, which helps assure the financial security of the artists. The Foundation, in turn, sells to retailers after a reasonable mark-up. The balance of all this income is turned back into support of emerging artists to help them launch their careers. In this way the Foundation directly nourishes both experienced and beginning artisans.

This fledgling organization needs the support of all of us who respect Alaska Native Culture and want to promote its vitality. They can be reached through their website: alaskanativearts.org.


PETITE PLANE

Vicky Talbot flew into Eagle Island Camp in her ultralight aircraft yesterday. Today she joined us on our jaunts in a real plane. But along the way we got to know this intrepid adventurer, and felt compelled to share some of her tales with you.

Vicki is a single mom of four boys ages 17 to 27. She completed the Iditarod in 2000, and last summer solo-canoed down the Yukon River from Whitehorse, and up the Bering Sea coast to Nome. This year she is traversing the Iditarod Trail in her petite airplane.

She has been flying for about a year, and has logged over a hundred hours so far. The aircraft is powered by a two-cycle snowmobile type engine. It has fabric wings, and can carry a load of about three hundred pounds in addition to the pilot and full fuel. It cruises at about 40 mph.

In late afternoon today, she got her ready and gave our pilot, Paul Claus, a tour of the checkpoint from the rear seat. I'm on her list for a ride later, if weather permits.

Sitting side by side, the two aircraft are quite a contrast.