What changes did paulsen go through in his transformation in his book Winterdance

Gary is in his mid-forties when he uproots his wife and son to move to Minnesota. There they set up house in a small cabin and begin farming, hunting, and trapping. They do away with luxury items like television or a car and survive on what they can provide on their own. Eventually Gary gives up trapping but keeps his small team of sled dogs to run for pleasure. The more time Gary spends running the dogs, the more he yearns for more. One day his wife says he will run the Iditarod in Alaska, and Gary realizes she is right.

Gary's conversational style of writing gives the reader a strong sense of what he is like as a man. Gary is an intelligent man although his many training blunders make the reader wonder about his level of common sense. Gary approaches training for the race with wide-eyed enthusiasm and blissful ignorance. He also has a warm heart that allows him to read the dogs and eventually understand that they have more to teach him than he does them. Throughout the race Gary drinks in his surroundings even though he is not always aware of them. Gary's simplistic lifestyle allows him to appreciate the race for what it is and what it has to teach him.