Kelly Maixner Mushes Nearer Nome in 3rd Iditarod Race - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

Some top mushers may cross the finish line soon, in the last Great Race on Earth.

This is Kelly Maixner's third time competing in the Iditarod, up in Alaska.

The North Dakota native is coming in--in the top 30 right now.

He's got supporters near and far.

She teaches a Medical-Related Careers course to students around the state through I-TV.

Technology is helping Joelean Lowman learn some timely geography.

"There's Nome, so you can see he's almost, almost there." says Lowman.

She's tracking her brother, Kelly Maixner online.

It's Kelly's third time competing in the Iditarod.

Through a special subscription, she can see his GPS in actual time.

"I'm watching it closely-we track it on GPS and facebook..." says Lowman.

She's not the only one.

"The way I like to watch is to obsessively watch his tracker, he has a little GPS tracker..." says Margaret Maixner/Kelly's wife.

It's been nine days since Margaret has seen her husband, and excitement in Alaska is building.

Margaret says she's expecting Kelly to come in Wednesday afternoon.

Due to warm weather--and dehydration of some dogs- it's not looking like he'll be in the top 20.

"He was a little bit down when he realized he wasn't going to meet his goal, but when I talked to him yesterday he seemed back in good spirits, glad to be on the trail and doing what he loves to do." says Margaret.

"Looking how far he's gone this year, he's doing amazing." says Lowman.

Although many members of his North Dakota family are watching from afar, many are still there in spirit.

"Tye, that one's named after my nephew, Shane is named after my brother, Shanny, after my sister." says Lowman.

"Kelly's always been the person who sought out the next great adventure and he lives life to the fullest, when he moved to Alaska he said two things he wanted to do was an Iditarod and climb Mt. McKinley--he's been training." says Lowman.

Kelly and his wife Margaret have a baby girl Rosie who is over a year old.

Margaret says a baby brother is due in June.

To track the rest of the Great Race you can visit www.iditarod.com