After eight years the freeze has thawed on History Channel’s Ice Road Truckers. The hit original series returns for Season 12 on October 1 with new and familiar daring drivers taking the wheel venturing through treacherous terrain in northern Canada .

Todd Dewey comes back along with Lisa Kelly to work for the Muskie Creek trucking company. These road warriors haul crucial supplies and necessities to isolated communities under a tight six-week window of winter. Every run has its own levels of unpredictability and risk. From icy roads to frozen lakes, there is also frostbite to consider in their efforts to bring food and materials to places that depend on it the most. 

For Dewey, it was all about family during his time away in the last almost decade. The dad of four daughters was motivated to come back because he loves a good challenge. Here the Port Angeles, Washington native opens up about getting back on the road. 

What were your thoughts when the show was initially put on hiatus and now brought back all these years later? 

Todd Dewey: When the show ended in 2017, it was kind of a good thing for me at that point in time in my life because I had four daughters. We tried for a boy, and I couldn’t get one. But, anyway, the first one was just graduating and out of high school. Then it was back-to-back, so it was nice to have that little bit of a break to concentrate on family and get my daughters all squared away with what they would do after graduation and into college. As they decided what they wanted to do with their lives, it was nice being home and not having to leave and take off for months at a time.

Ice Road Truckers just get in your blood. There is no way around it. If you like challenges and being presented with challenges and everything Mother Nature throws at you, that really grows on you. Even though I was on hiatus for eight years, every single year that is all I could think about. Every time the winter time started coming around my wife would see me online and ask me, “what are you doing over there? Are you looking up ice roads again?” I wanted to see who was hauling and what loads they were hauling up there. It’s just something that grows on you. I was pretty excited and at the same time nervous when I got the opportunity to go back up there and see if I had what it takes to conquer the ice roads. 

Did you have any second thoughts about signing on again after talking with your family at this stage of your life? 

It was a big family discussion because out of those eight years my two oldest daughters gave me my first grandbabies. That was a whole life change for me, which was absolutely wonderful. At the same time, all of my daughters have moved out of the house and into their own homes, living life and doing absolutely wonderful things. My wife and I for the first time in about 25 years are empty nesters. So when the opportunity presented itself, I thought I had to do this. I couldn’t stop thinking about the ice roads. Of course, the wife was asking me if I thought this was a good decision. “You know what goes on up there and how dangerous it could be,” she said. I couldn’t say no. I had to do it. 

How was it getting back out there again? 

Like any other crazy and wild adventure where you get used to doing it and don’t do it for a while, I was nervous. I’m not going to lie to you. I was like, “I have gotten a lot older and my hair is gray. My body is a little more worn out from all the hard work trucking and stuff I do in the mountains with logging and all that. Am I still going to have what it takes to be physically sound to do these ice roads? I was nervous. I was probably too nervous because I was worried it would mess me up. 

How was it working for Muskie Creek? 

I was nervous working for a whole new company. You get hired by them to do ice road trucking and don’t know what to expect. You don’t know how other drivers they have up there are going to be, what kind of loads you’re going to haul, and challenges presented. It ended up being a good company to work for. They’ve got pretty decent equipment and lots of loads to be delivered. It was very high-risk and dangerous oversized loads that had to be done. The only good side to that is when you do the high-risk and more dangerous loads is there are higher rewards. It all panned out in the end. But at the same time I tell you that if you watch Ice Road Truckers, this is a season you’re not going to want to miss. 

Did you feel you had something to prove? 

Absolutely. When you’re stuck, broke down and unable to get your load to the community, the company you work for will question if I was the guy that could get things done or if they had to find someone else. You have that in your mind 24/7. You have to make sure whatever is thrown at you that you still make things happen and conquer any challenge. You make sure you get those loads delivered and that you have a paycheck at the end of the season. 

What are some of the biggest challenges you face? 

It’s Mother Nature. It was one of the craziest years up there. It was -40 degrees outside and sometimes down to -60 with the wind-chill. There were breakdowns, losing oversized loads, trailers almost flipping over. There were some things that happened this year that have never happened before and are going to blow your mind. And they always happen when you least expect it. You don’t think anything like that is even possible and it happens. You think, “how is this even possible?” It is the most challenging job you could ever think of. It takes a special kind of trucker to go out there and do it. Let me tell you, when you go out there and fight through those long ice roads for weeks on end, you face every challenge.

Anything from snow storms to thin ice to cracking ice to some of the steepest hills you could possibly imagine, when you fight all those elements cussing and swearing and kicking your truck, and you finally get there. When you see those communities and those families come out and those kids give you a big giant hug. It’s like Christmas time to them. You’re bringing them what they need to survive because the rest of the year those ice roads aren’t there, and they are completely cut off from the outside world. That is their only access to get them everything they need to supply their families. When you go through that and beat the ever living crap out of yourself and truck to get that load there, it’s a pretty good sense of accomplishment. It’s something I can’t even explain to you. You have every emotion hit your body all at once. It’s a pretty awesome feeling. 

This is such a unique job that only those who experience it can probably understand. How was it to have someone else who has been through it to lean on like Lisa? 

When you can go out on the ice roads and work together as a team, it’s what you want. If something happens, you’re there to help them or they’re there to help you. It was really nice going to work for Muskie Creek this year alongside Lisa. We got to work together as a team and fight some of these roads together. When bad and nasty things happen, and there were a lot of them, we were all there to help each other out and get us through the situation with anybody getting terribly hurt or losing their lives. It ended up being a pretty good season for us because that’s one thing that could happen. It happens every year and that is what my wife worries about. She’ll go online and see the headlines. Truckers lose their lives all the time. It happens and is part of the job. You have to be a crazy trucker to go out there and do the job. You can’t be scared. 

What do you make of the new blood we’re meeting this season? 

They are pretty good guys. You always get nervous when new people show up. You wonder if you’re going to have to hold their hand and teach them everything, but it actually turned out pretty good. There are some pretty good truckers this year. I can’t speak to how they felt or what situations they were in because we weren’t together all the time. But the new blood is pretty good. I really like the father-son team up in Saskatchewan. They are some awesome and dedicated truckers, so I’m looking forward to seeing this year myself. 

When you’re at home, how is it adjusting to be known for the show? 

To be honest with you, things haven’t changed much. I’m sure that will change once the show gets back on air. I’m from a really small town where everyone knows me. I’m just “Trucker” Todd. I have been my whole entire life. Everybody does ask and always wants to hear about it. For me, I don’t really do it for fame and glory or fans. I do it because I really enjoy ice road trucking. I like the challenges and see if I can get a job done when it says it can’t be done. 

What stands out about this season? 

This whole season was totally different. It’s a completely different season of Ice Road Truckers compared to all the ones I’d ever been up there. There wasn’t any drama in terms of wanting to beat the amount of loads with other companies. The way climate change has affected this planet and the shorter ice road seasons that keep happening because it keeps getting warmer and warmer, we only have a short amount of time to get the loads in. This year we were really dedicated to working as a trucking family and getting these loads into the communities as fast as we could to get them what they needed. I think it was mainly based on that and what we went through. It was Mother Nature versus us truckers because it was a phenomenal year with Mother Nature. 

Ice Road Truckers Season 12, October 1, 9:30/8:30c, History Channel