from Kyle Hopkins in Unalakleet --

(UPDATED) Mackey part two:

Mackey part one:

Here's Mackey today in Unalakleet. He said both Baker and Smyth deserve the win this year.

From Mike Campbell in Anchorage --

How fast an Iditarod is John Baker running under what have been nearly ideal conditions?

Darn fast. Potentially record-setting fast.

Half the Iditarods — including this year’s race — travel the race’s southern route, generally acknowledged to be a little longer and tougher than its northern cousin. Doug Swingley of Montana set the southern route record in 1995 when he captured the first of his four championships in 9 days, 2 hours, 31 minutes.

Ramey Smyth leaves Unalakleet Sunday. (Bob Hallinen)

John Baker in Kaltag currently leading the Iditarod.

Bob Hallinen/Anchorage Daily News

Name: Muggles
Gender: Male
Age: 3
Weight: Roughly 40 pounds
Position: Wheel
Musher: Judy Currier, Fairbanks

One of three sons of Lance Mackey’s legendary lead dog Zorro on Currier’s team.

From Beth Bragg in Anchorage --

Citing sick dogs, Jamaican musher Newton Marshall scratched this afternoon in Anvik.

Marshall, who placed 47th in his rookie run to Nome last year, had 11 dogs on his team when he decided to pull out of the race at 3:25 p.m.

From Kyle Hopkins in Anvik --

Fairbanks musher Judy Currier hasn't told Iditarod officials yet, but she plans to scratch here in Anvik. She got in late last night with one leader, Pebbles, suffering kennel cough and another with a shore shoulder.

She dropped yet another leader, Athena, back in McGrath.

Currier has enough dogs to continue, she said, but not enough to guide the team to Nome.

John Baker naps in Kaltag Saturday. He was the first musher to reach and leave the checkpoint. (Bob Hallinen)

Saturday, 8 p.m. update
Kotzebue's John Baker, driving a team of huskies familiar with Alaska's western coast, pulled out of Kaltag at 5:18 tonight, headed toward Unalakleet -- the place where the Iditarod hits the Norton Sound coast.

Lance Mackey and Hugh Neff take shots at each other in Anvik as the mushers reach the halfway point in the Iditarod. Later Neff channels spiritual inspiration when picking his lead dog out of the checkpoint.

Bob Hallinen in the Anvik library. The school has one futon and he let me use it.

From Kyle Hopkins in Anvik --

After an afternoon of photographing mushers Friday, Bob Hallinen rented a snowmachine from someone who works here at the Anvik school and rode up the trail for more photos. (See the pics here.)

Lance Mackey talks about once-favored Martin Buser's current chances in the Iditarod, and throws out a few of the mushers he thinks still have the best chance to win the race.

Five-time Iditarod champion Rick Swenson broke his collarbone on the Happy River Steps before the Rainy Pass checkpoint. Three days into the race later, he has no regrets for pushing forward.

Dust does not need your approval.

Name: Dust
Age: 5 or 6
Position: Swing
Musher: Jodi Bailey, Chatanika

Dust is not a big barker. She is not easily impressed by strangers.

“She’s a dog that appears rather quiet and reserved until you pass the test. And once she decides you’re cool, then she’s your girl,” Bailey said.

A veteran of the Copper Basin, Yukon Quest and Kobuk 440, Dust plows into headwinds, Bailey said.

Her nickname is “Dust in the Wind,” and she’s just one of Bailey’s dogs with a theme song.

“We have one dog named Lobben, just like the boot,” she said.

“Her theme song, it goes to the tune of Rockin’ Robin,” Bailey said, breaking into song: ‘Lopin’ Lobben, tweet, tweedle-lee-dee. Lopin’ Lobin.’”

The Big Lake musher talks about the rigors of staying awake on the long dark Iditarod trail.

From Beth Bragg in Anchorage --

I just talked to Doug Katchatag, the checkpoint manager in Unalakleet, the village where the Iditarod hits the coast. I wanted to know if he's seen any signs of a tsunami.

"Not yet, anyway," he said.

Katchatag said trailbreakers came through Unalakleet on Wednesday and the trail looks good.

He also reports lots of snow between Old Woman Cabin and Kaltag, "but it's well-packed."

Ray Redington Jr. in Anvik. (Bob Hallinen)

Friday, 9:10 p.m. update
Less than three hours separated first from 10th place as a rollicking crowd of mushers headed up the Yukon River into a 15 mph headwind Friday night.

Wondering who’s who as the mushers left Grayling?

Scott Janssen's dogs today in Takotna. Bob Hallinen/Anchorage Daily News photo.

Check out all of today's photos here.

From Kyle Hopkins in Takotna --

"My wife makes fun of me because she says I'm the only vegetarian alive who buys about 5,000 pounds of beef a month," said Michigan musher Ed Stielstra.

The five-time Iditarod finisher ordered a cheeseburger today at the Takotna dining hall. No onions. A quarter-pound patty flown from Mr. Prime Beef in Anchorage.

This is not like him. But then, life is different on the Iditarod trail.

"The last time I ate meat was here -- two years ago," he said.

Stielstra is kind of a multi-layered dude ... an example of the varied cast of characters who aren't a threat to win the race but rely on the Iditarod to help make their livelihood.

He used to oppose dog mushing as cruel, until he learned about the sport. Now he teaches it to kids and sells sled dog tours at ski resorts.

He missed last year's Iditarod for the birth of his son, Nate. The boy turns 1 year old on Saturday.

Stielstra is carrying a photo of him to Nome:

Name: Lynn "Swanny" Swann
Gender: Female
Age: 1
Weight: 52 pounds
Position: Team dog, may lead later in the race.
Musher: Ed Stielstra, McMillan, Mich.

From Kyle Hopkins in Takotna --

Chatanika musher Jodi Bailey – who is attempting to become the first rookie to finish the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest and Iditarod back-to-back – has this message for her mother, Nancy:

The two premiere sled dog marathons are very different races, she said.

“There’s a lot of hoopla (with the Iditarod),” she said. “Like on the Quest sometimes, you’ll leave a checkpoint and you’re going to be gone for 200 miles before you reach another checkpoint.”

“You take off with your dogs and you really get much more of a sense of being out there along with your dogs, that you just don’t get on this race,” she said. “Having said that, it’s also kind of energizing to roll into these places and have like an entire school full of people screaming … feel kind of like a rock star.”

Cold hammered mushers on the Quest. On the Iditarod, warmer temperatures have left Bailey’s dogs sluggish, she said.

“Ungodly warm,” said Bailey, 42. “Not liking the warm.”

In other news: Bailey has traded chocolate-covered espresso beans for caffeinated jelly beans as a go-to snack along the trail.