Jeff has just a couple of goals he wants to accomplish before he feels ready to retire in a couple of years. One of those was to upgrade his truck so he has the proper payload for our Northern Lite truck camper, to get us ready to hit the open road.

He thought he had already purchased the right truck, the one he’d drive for decades to come. A beautiful diesel Platinum F-350 with every bell and whistle – massaging seats, heated steering wheel, sunroof. But the payload that was advertised was inaccurate and all those bells and whistles and heavy diesel engine took away from the weight capacity – meaning it could support the camper, but I wasn’t supposed to pack more than a pair of socks and a spoon.

So he’s been looking at his options.

For kicks he inquired about one for sale in Alberta that caught his eye. And they offered him more for his current truck than he ever thought he’d possibly get in the Yukon.

So he placed a deposit and jumped in his truck for a winter road trip from way up here to a town on the far side of Edmonton. 2,617 km (1626 mi) away.

He drove for 6 days, round-trip. Saw caribou and bison and many moose. He drove through snowstorms, the dark, and saw so many people in the ditches.

And he came back with a smile.

He traded his truck in for a newer, Ford 350 XLT, diesel, DUALLY!

He’s scaled down from the Platinum trim to an XLT. He doesn’t have leather seats anymore, or even heated seats. And now he has a key instead of a push button. But he says it rides nicer! And the seat is more comfortable!

It’s a 2024 and had only had 26k km on it.

And since it is a dually, he gains 2,500 lb weight capacity over the old one.

You know what that means!?! That means we can put enough water in our camper for a SHOWER! HECK YA!

The mathematics just aren’t in its favour for it fitting in our garage though, especially since the garage has a 90° turn to get in or out off the back alley. Maybe if the neighbours aren’t home, he could use their parking spots to try to back it in straight, but I think he’ll have one spare inch to split across both sides.

It needs to be winterized still, especially because it’ll have to live outside. It has a block heater, but it’ll need battery blankets and an oil pan heater. Probably an LED light bar in the grill too for winter driving safety. And we’ll need different swing-out leg attachments for the camper to fit around the dually wheels.

It’s so clean! And shiny! Makes you want to continue to get it detailed regularly!

Meantime, Hank and I held down the fort. It was a busy week with work, Hank walks, bringing in firewood, shovelling snow, and helping out friends. I made a couple runs out to the airport to pick up some friends and picked up a key from the University for Jeff to teach another course this weekend (firearm safety). I stayed up too late every night, watched a lot of Martijn Doolaard work on his stone cabins in the Italian Alps (thanks for the recommendation Emanuele!), and got totally attached to a poor little motherless monkey named Punch. (You haven’t heard of Punch? Catch up, would ya!?!)

I also thought it was a great week to start a new workout program so that was smart (felt those squats for days).

We’ve had a couple of beautifully sunny days. Cold though. It was -32C this morning and I see a -39 forecast for Saturday night.

The sun makes Dawson City into a different place, though, compared to the dark December coldsnap. I’ve moved my houseplants closer to the window so I can ween them off the grow lights.

Happy Yukon Heritage Day!