It's called the Great Canadian Road Trip and an epic journey is certainly what it is. For Chris Thorsteinson and Dave Wasyliw of Doc Walker, it's another day at the office.

The first leg of the tour with Canadian icons Michelle Wright and Jason McCoy happened last October when they covered 9 Ontario cities in just 11 days.

This week, the tour started up again with the bus pulling out of Portage last Saturday, this time for 7 western Canadian shows in 9 days. Red Deer was the site of the first sold-out show on Tuesday and then things continued on in Whitecourt and Camrose with a show tonight (Friday) in Fort Saskatchewan. From there, it is off to St. Albert, then Cranbrook, B.C before doubling back and doing a concert in Regina next Thursday. When it is all said and done and they return to Portage, they will have covered around 5000 kilometers in just over a week.

Lead singer Chris Thorsteinson says the band has been doing this for 30 years so this is nothing new and adds everyone on the tour gets to know each other very well.

"We're all on one bus here and it's a lot of fun. We've all been doing it for so many years that it's sort of second nature for us. Michelle (Wright) is just such a sweetheart. It's kind of like having a mom on the road. She's always making sure that we have our cold medication and everybody's being good and not staying up too late."

Chris and Michelle

Thorsteinson has some fond memories from early in their career of buses that always needed repair, but adds that won't be a problem this time around.

"It's a homegrown bus from Portage, Kelly Morris. He's got a couple of buses. We've been working together for years. He's been our driver for a long time, and a lot of people in Portage know him. It's kind of nice hanging out with hometown guys on the road knowing they are the ones that will worry about the logistics. You can sometimes get some strange bus drivers."

The singer chuckles, "Not saying Kelly isn't weird, but you know, it's a really good buddy driving the bus, he takes care of it and takes care of us."

Once this leg of the tour is over, the band quickly jumps on a plane to do two more shows thousands of miles away on the beaches of Cuba. Thorsteinson jokes that it's a tough job but someone has to do it. 

"There is one in Holguin and one in Varadero, so that's going to be a lot of fun. There are a lot of people and families that I know from Portage coming and a lot of people from Vakkar Beach. I love the summer at the lake, so I have to go to Cuba and enjoy some sun for a week. The shows will have a neat vibe as well."

Following the shows in the Caribbean, the final leg of the Great Canadian Road Trip will pick up in the latter part of February with the tour ending in early March in Winnipeg. The trio will perform one more show as a team this summer at Dauphin Countryfest as well.