I bit the bullet and rented a car for the long drive from Colorado to Winnipeg. The load (sleds, tents and gear) was a little much for the family Subaru so I ponied up for a minivan rental. Honestly, after driving to Outdoor Retailer in Salt Lake in a minivan the other week, I've pretty much decided it's the perfect vehicle for me. I'm all about practicality and the mine van is amazingly roomy and comfortable! Unfortunately, when I got to Enterprise yesterday, my minivan was nowhere to be found and I ended up with a big Ford something or other. I'm not going to lie, the thought of traveling across one-third of the way across the country in something other than a mini van was disappointing. Needless to say, the sales guy saw the sad look on my face and offered me an extra 15 percent off my bill.

It was a bit of a chaotic week trying to get everything packed, and as usual, I got way too little sleep before departure. This year, I've enlisted the help of Cameron Martindell a Boulder-based writer and adventurer as an assistant guide for the polar training course and I couldn't have been more relieved when he took over driving just outside of Denver, pushing through all of Nebraska in the cold and dark. At some point, Cameron mentioned to me that the only two states he'd never visited were North and South Dakota. We managed to get to both during my early morning driving shift and Cameron has now been to all 50 states, a pretty cool feat in my book. For my part, I've still got Rhode Island and it's been eluding me for quite some time so I'm guessing I might stay in my 49-state holding pattern for quite some time.

After 16 or 17 hours of driving, we finally arrived at our hotel, road weary and tired. After a quick unload and rest, we drove down the street to the Super One foods down the street. I've been doing Polar training courses on Lake Winnipeg for four years now and its nice to have many things feel familiar.

Nothing of this comes even close to the frenetic pace of our North Pole expedition preparation last spring; however, it still took over three hours to purchase all the food for my six clients, Cameron and I. Tomorrow, we will purchase the rest of our fuel, rivet covers onto the sleds, mount ski bindings on my new Madshus and do a gear haul in the rental car to our base cabin on the eastern shore of Lake Winnipeg.

While everyone else, Bacchir, Erin, Tim (my tech/web guru) and Scott arrive tomorrow, Jorge and Wendy almost beat us here from Boulder courtesy of Jorge's private piloting license.

In the mean time, and before I go to sleep, I wanted to let you know that it is currently 1°F outside right now but with a slight breeze it the windchill makes it feel like -11. PERFECT WEATHER to learn about polar travel.

Image: Winnipeg Super One food shop. Eight people. Seven days. Cold Temperatures. Lots of Butter.