Book excerpt: Once infected with the mushing virus, there is no cure -- there is only the trail Don Bowers learned the truth of these words as he lived his dream of running Alaska's grueling 1,100-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. With no mushing experience and little money, but with a spirit of adventure and support from friends, he started from scratch to put together a team. Over the next two years, he discovered that becoming a serious musher is not to be undertaken by the faint of heart, or by those who cannot learn to laugh at themselves and keep going in the face of daunting difficulties and dangers. By the time he eventually pulled under the famous burled arch at the end of Front Street in Nome, his perspective on life had been changed forever by his dogs and by the staggering scope and intensity of the Iditarod. This is Everyman's Iditarod, a tribute to the dedicated dreamers and their dogs who run to Nome in back of the pack with no hope of prize money or glory. This is truly "the rest of the story" of the Last Great Race on Earth.