Volunteering for the Iditarod is an exciting experience rarely given anyone. For a cheechako from the Appalachians of North Carolina it is a dream come true.

Over a thousand hearty souls join the race aficionados to do all manner of tasks to make the race happen. Some of the volunteers have been to each race for as many as 30 years, while each year workers come for the first year full of awe and high expectations.

Thank you, Alaska, for being the last, but also the most exciting, frontier.

— John K. Spitzberg

Asheville, N.C.