Unalakleet is like nothing you have ever seen before.  It is on the coast of the Norton Sound entering the Bering Sea.  As far as you can see in any direction it is icy and white.  Last night the wind chill made the temperature feel like it was 50 degrees below zero!  It is definitely the coldest place I’ve been on the trail.  The snowdrifts are 7 to 10 feet high in town and it has made it a little difficult for me to keep my bearings.  After being in the Athabascan villages of Nikolai, McGrath, and Grayling, Unalakleet feels like a big city.   It is the largest checkpoint on the trail with cars and trucks and snow machines moving the 600 inhabitants around town.  The native people here are Inupiat (Eskimo).

The school in Unlakleet is very involved with the race.  Once the mushers arrive, the student broadcast team from the Bering Strait School District (BSSD) goes full speed ahead with interviews, filming, and editing.  Their products are aired on a program moderated by Chick Beckley that is broadcast to schools in Alaska and the lower 48.  I was invited to participate in the live broadcast this morning.  It was such a thrill to be in Unalakleet and chat and answer questions from students in Minnesota and Florida.  The other amazing piece is that I knew the teachers in those schools!  Sheryl Cater teaches in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.  We spent time together just last week at the 2009 Iditarod Teacher’s Conference in Anchorage, and at the restart of this year’s race in Willow.  Bonnie (a teacher from Merrit Island, Florida) and I both met at the 2006 Iditarod Summer Conference.  She has the quilt the teachers made in 2006 on display in her classroom.  This is truly instructional technology that empowers teachers and students.  This BSSD project is an outstanding example of how Iditarod brings learning to life for students around the world.  Their web site is: http://mushing.bssd.org.  For photos and video go to: http://mushingmedia.bssd.org.