We left Dawson after a fun night of handler drinking and hot tubbing  around midnight.  The chance to get good but short sleep did us  well.  We drove to Pelly and set up a nice camp inside the community  building.  It was about 200 miles on the trail so we waited and  checked the web site to watch the race progress.  Mike arrived  shortly before 10 am with 10 strong dogs.  Each time I see the team  come in they are wagging their tails and smiling.  Jim has a split on  his front pad and the pad is healing but the injury is effecting his  gait.  The vets checked him over and Mike will be continuing to keep  him on the team.  Stump is doing great and he has lead the majority  of the race.  Reba has really shown her skills in lead too.  The dogs  rested and ate well.   The checkpoint had tons of great food, which  supported local families in need.  The checkpoint manager, Dave, did  a wonderful job running Pelly checkpoint and made sure that the loose  dogs stayed away from the teams resting.  Mike and the team rested 8  hours and when it was time to leave, the team all jumped to their  feet, let out a group howl and headed down the trail.  McCabe Creek  was the next stop and after cleaning up the straw and having some  food we drove the short distance to the dog drop.  At dog drops we  are not able to touch the team in anyway and we are not responsible  for cleaning up the straw.  Mike at this point has the fastest run  time to McCabe.  The team continues to pick up speed and get  stronger.  Due to the really warm temperatures Mike has tried to run  during the evening hours and rest during the day.  We past Mike about  5 miles out of McCabe creek, and saw a lynx on the road.  He decided  to rest the dogs as long as the run over took, so as Mike and the  dogs rested, we played some Cribbage and watched the mice run  around.  The team looked wonderful and eagerly left the checkpoint  around 1am.  We drove over to Carmacks and slept for a few hours.   Mike had a great run over to Carmacks (with the second fastest time)  arriving at 6:30 am.  The checkpoints are getting pretty quiet as the  middle of the pack is getting pretty spread out.  The team ran so  fast to this checkpoint that the run during the evening schedule is  off.  Mike is concerned that the heat is going to effect the dogs and  may stop during the day today on his way to Braeburn.  We will spend  some time here sleeping and hopefully feeling better since I have the  cold that has been going around.  The finish line is getting so close  and the dogs and Mike seem very happy.  I'll keep you posted.  (Sorry  if this does not make a bunch of sense, I am very tired) 

Sue,  Handler Scott and Handler Moe (Gerry had to go back to work in NH and  caught a flight out yesterday)