WELLLL ... we finally arrived in San Diego late Monday evening and fortunately found a great little neighbourhood bar to have dinner in. Our room, or should I say "bungalow" is great. It might be a tad small but right on the beach on Mission Bay. Here is the view from our doorway. Weather is a little cool for the area ... low 60's to low 70's and just a little bit of sun. But it sure beats 50 below in the Yukon! hahaha

Jo dragged me kicking and screaming yesterday to do some shopping but I survived and went through some therapy with the proper medication as you can see. Medical therapy will probably continue for the rest of the week. We had a nice afternoon on Wednesday walking the "boardwalk" and lo & behold found anther great bar to have lunch in. Jo's daughter, Jodene, arrived last night and will be accompanying us on the cruise. So we'll have to visit our favourite beachside bar again for lunch today. It's a tuff life, I know but we'll muddle through with your support!

Well, we made it home to Kitchener after switching loads at the Manitoba/Ontario border and only about 7 hours behind our schedule, due to the switch. It's amazing how much a little bit of time matters when you have been on the road for 6 weeks and really want to get home. AND, when we finally get back to the yard, our pick-up wouldn't start! Seems that sitting around for 6 weeks in really cold weather freezes your gas line and significantly weakens your battery! After wandering around looking for gas-line antifreeze, 2 visits by CAA and having to spend another night in the truck we finally did get home!

Jo's glass of wine was actually screaming at her by now! Kovu, our cat, was happy to see us and our poodle, Truffles, was very happy to be home. No, we don't leave our cat outside, it's just a good picture of him. Actually, we say that our tenant, Dennis, who lives in the upstairs apartment has a cat that has its own 2 bedroom apartment!

It has been very cold here in southern Ontario with lots of snow while we have been gone. Dennis has been pulling yeoman duty keeping the sidewalks and driveway clear. Well, he has had the assistance our next door neighbours' boy, Josh, to help out as well. Speaking of our neighbours, I noticed that Jason has a new gas grill ... hmmmm ... I must go over and inspect it!

This morning is no exception to the cold and I have to go back to the Challenger yard and finish emptying our truck out. We are driving our pick-up back out to BC for the Yukon dedicated run and will be using the Yukon-fitted truck out there. This truck has special snow tires, cleated tire chains and the proper permits for the Yukon.

We still have a lot of work to do getting ready for our southern vacation. I have to see if I'm going to fit into any of my summer type clothes ... should be fun.

'til later ...

Can't let Billyboy have all the fun, so I have kicked him out of the author's chair, stole his favorite pen and have taken control of this blog.

We are just getting close to finishing our Yukon run and have a load already preplanned in the Delta yard to take us back to Ontario. (Major thanks to Byron in the Delta office for making sure we get home for Jan. 14). Just have to switch trucks and be on our way. I've even checked the weather channel on our BlackBerry and the long range forecast for the trip home appears to be good except for some anticipated snow in Regina. Let's keep all fingers and toes crossed.

Home here we come! There is a glass of wine calling my name, I can hear it already. MAJOR "girlification" is also in order for this trucker Momma. You have no idea just how ugly you can get after 6 weeks in a truck ... :).

Soooo, just why the heck did I sign up for this gig? It's definitely not rated on the top of the "girly girl" so called bucket list. I think that "safety and security" has never been one of my strong points.

Approximately 10 years ago I was office manager in a corporate office of a group of 36 stores. Sitting at my desk I noticed a transport truck trying to back up into a small mall and my car was quite close. I stuck my head out the door and motioned to the driver that I could move my car to help. He shook his head no, so I just stood and watched while in one fluid motion he backed his rig up into this difficult spot. When he got out of the truck, I stuck my head out the door and told him, "When I grow up, I want to be a truck driver just like you!"

Wooda thunk that it would happen. Life behind a desk had become mundane and I was always so jealous when Bill would call me at work and say, "I'm off to California". It was only a matter of time before I would toss my perfectly organized desk items out the window and jump into a lifestyle that simply has no boundaries. This Yukon run has only stretched that boundary to a new dimension.

There is a saying...."Once the mind has stretched to accept a new idea, it never goes back to the original size."

During one night's drive at 3 am while Billyboy was sleeping, I saw the northern lights. It was not just a slight glimmer, rather the whole horizon was lit up. It was like daylight with all the colors of the rainbow dancing across the sky. It's difficult to put into words just how moving the experience was.

I'm glad I've taken this leap. Our new adventure will have it's good moments, and its not so good moments, but, it is guaranteed to be an adventure.

Enjoy the ride as we keep you up to date.

Hopefully our holidays will have Billyboy's feet warmed enough so that he can take over his writing of the blog and fill you in on our Mexican cruise that we will be taking before we return to BC on Feb. 8 to start the Yukon run full time.

Ciao baby!

We left Delta, BC Wednesday night, in the rain, with a good head start. It was +9C and very damp.

By the time we got to Williams Lake the rain was just a drizzle but the temperature had fallen to -1C. Not a nice combination for road conditions as we ended up rollerskating on greased glass ... well it felt like that anyway! We pulled over and waited for the salt shakers.

By 6:00am, Friday we had arrived in Watson Lake amidst -36C temps, a brisk breeze and some snow to finish the mix.

The dock in Watson Lake is outdoors and part of the contract is that we unload the freight there so we got to do some more rollerskating but this time with a forklift! Finally we got the necessary freight off and trundled off to Whitehorse.

The roads were in pretty good shape & so were the caribou! We saw a small herd enroute with a huge bull moose watching over them. What was that about, eh?

We switched trailers in Whitehorse, fueled up and had a bowl of soup and a sandwich. At the Trails North Truckstop in Whitehorse they do the fuelling for you. Nice touch in -33C weather.

JoJo is piloting now so I'm gonna saw some logs ... zzzzz

Please excuse the boredon in this post as I am just getting the feeling back into my feet ... not that it should have anything to do with it but when my feet get cold I just don't function too well. Many might say that my functioning doesn't have anything to do with cold feet! Add to that I am posting this from our BlackBerry and I have had enough challenges for one day!

Today we are getting ready to depart on another Yukon run. I hope that we don't run into temperatures like the last run. The picture here is from our dash screen showing -43C!

We had a "moose bumper" installed on our new truck the other day and it looks pretty good and should fend off any encounters with wildlife up north. The other folks doing this run (they leave on Fridays) told me last night that they almost ran over a herd of caribou on their way back!

Jo has been rearranging the cab interior and has most of our stuff neatly stored and easily accessible. She's very thrilled with her new "kitchen" in the truck. We are "roughing it" with a microwave, slow cooker, George Foreman grill, a couple of electric coolers and all sorts of small & sundry utensils! She makes a great chilli. One of our favourites is the beef short ribs that she does in the slow cooker. We better warn this guy to stay out of our way or he may end up in the pot!

Today we are in our company's Delta, BC office. We have acquired our necessary permits and licences for our new truck and are going to do a bit of shopping for groceries and other supplies related to our new adventure.

Last night we talked with the other couple that are doing this run also and got a few pointers on fueling and eating stops as well as where to find a bathroom in the middle of the night along the 1000 kilometres of nothingness from Whitehorse to Fort Nelson. The latter being very valuable information for Jo ... as the world is my urinal!

The Vancouver area has been getting blasted with winter this year and there is still a great deal of snow and ice around. It makes it kinda hard for our little poodle to find some green area to do her business but she is a real trooper. Once she gets outfitted in her booties and winter coats, there's no stopping her.

This past week Jo-Anne & I clued our children in to what we are going to be doing for the next 9 months. Jo's daughter, Jodene, was pretty excited but a bit sad that her Mom won't be just a short hour's drive away. But she is very happy for us on the whole. My daughter, Caroline, is very upset that her Dad is going to be so far away but hopefully she will come around and see the big picture the way we are looking at it.

This particular dedicated run is paying a bit of a premium in wages and represents a more relaxed style of driving ... if you can call driving throughout the Rockies in all types of weather relaxing! But the roads we are driving are in very good condition, very well maintained, very little traffic or congestion and with a network of support available as well. The extra bucks will sure come in handy as well and may lead to an early retirement for yours truly!! Now THAT, I can handle.

Time to get a move on ... there's stickers to stick and permits to file.