Lance Mackey.  He is amazing.  This evening he breezed along the Fish River into the checkpoint at White Mountain, hours ahead of the competition.  After checking in, Lance moved routinely, methodically, through a long to-do-list.  First, he put down straw; sometimes he even dumped the straw right on top of the dogs for more warmth.  He pulled off their booties, opened three bottles of Heet, lit a fire, and began boiling water for the dog’s food.  While the water was heating, Lance pulled jackets out of the sled, straightened each one and put them in a pile.  After putting the jackets on the dogs, the water was heated; the frozen meat added to the water.  Lance put kibble (dry dog food) in each bowl and poured the hot meaty broth over it, serving the dogs in the same order every time.  Once they had eaten, he massaged the paws of some of the dogs and then they were set for their eight-hour rest.

Lance managed to take care of his dogs in the midst of chaos.  There were hundreds of people standing around.  The media was filming and taking still shots and interviewing him while he was working.  The vets are also caught in this jumble of people, checking each dog and making notes in Lance’s Vet Book.  Lance and his dogs seem to take all of this attention in stride.  Neither are distracted enough to interfere with what they are suppose to be doing.  The dogs ate their dinner and curled up and went to sleep.  Lance took care of them, never losing his concentration while answering non-stop questions.

While Lance was working, his mom surprised him by coming to the checkpoint.  She gave him a huge hug.  Lance said to his mom, “Aren’t these dogs superstars?”  Her response, “You are a Superstar!”

The “Superstar” may receive the big prize tomorrow under the burled arch in Nome, for the third time.