Lisa Kelly’s 2025 Return to Ice Road Truckers Season 12 — Life, Updates, Horses, Divorce, Injuries

It’s official—Lisa Kelly is back on the ice. When Ice Road Truckers returns for Season 12 on Wednesday, October 1, 2025, at 9:30pm ET/PT, fans will finally see one of the show’s most iconic drivers behind the wheel again. It’s been a long haul since the series last aired in 2017, and many have wondered what Lisa has been up to during the show’s extended hiatus. From life away from the cameras to staying connected with the trucking world in her own way, she hasn’t exactly slowed down. Now, with History Channel reviving the hit series after eight years, it’s the perfect time to look back at where Lisa’s journey has taken her since Season 10—and what makes her return such a big deal for longtime viewers.

Life on the Road After IRT

In her YouTube Live sessions, Lisa shared that trucking never really stopped for her. She continues to haul freight up and down Alaska’s Dalton Highway, often running back and forth between Fairbanks and Prudhoe Bay—1,000 miles a trip. She describes the brutal conditions: bumpy dirt stretches that “rip trucks apart,” with constant breakdowns and repairs becoming part of her daily life.

Horses and Home Life

Off the road, Lisa’s biggest passion remains her horses. She owns Tennessee Walkers, Gypsy Vanners, and Miniatures—twelve in total at one point. Feeding and caring for them is a never‑ending challenge, with hay costs in Alaska running as high as $140 a bale. She even admitted she sometimes has to plan trucking trips around making sure her horses are taken care of back home.

New Saddle, Growing Barn, and Expecting a Foal

In her February 16, 2023 livestream titled “New Saddle!”, Lisa shared updates from her Alaska barn. She unboxed a custom Synergist saddle designed to fit both her and her horse Ember, after months of shipping delays. During the stream, she gave fans a look inside her barn—racks filled with saddles, tack rooms, carriages, and even a wash bay—while introducing her growing herd of Tennessee Walkers, Gypsy Vanners, and Pintos. She highlighted Maybe, her pregnant mare expected to foal soon, and affectionately noted her bond with Ember, her favorite riding horse. Between unboxing gear, caring for her herd, and even showing off the barn’s “disco ball” for birthday parties, Lisa emphasized how central her horses and barn life remain to her world in Alaska.

Injuries and Recovery

In August 2024, Lisa reported a leg injury after one of her horses, Ink, stepped on her and caused a break. She posted a photo of her cast decorated with doodles to share the incident with fans. The accident highlighted the physical risks of managing a large barn alongside a trucking career. While the injury required recovery time, she later returned to both the Dalton Highway and her regular barn duties.

Trucks, Breakdowns, and Upgrades

By the fall of 2021, Lisa’s career entered a new chapter. She relocated to Fairbanks for a new job and began driving a Peterbilt she hoped to purchase, describing it as “pretty gray with a red frame.” This transition marked both a personal relocation and a professional reset, bridging her earlier TV years with her ongoing work on the Dalton.

On December 3, 2021, she announced that she had moved into a new shop in Fairbanks, giving her a dedicated base to service trucks and store equipment. Over the following weeks she cleared and outfitted the space with tools, chains, storage racks, and even basic living quarters—a small kitchen, washer and dryer, and a bedroom area. By February 2022, she showcased the completed setup in a YouTube video, emphasizing how the shop allowed her to keep both her 389 “Thumper” and newer rigs prepped for the punishing Dalton runs.

Fast forward to 2025, and Lisa is now at the wheel of a 2026 Peterbilt 589 (Cummins). It’s become her mainstay on the Dalton, while Thumper still has a place in her lineup. The 589 comes with updated features like remote tire‑pressure sensors, though Lisa has admitted it doesn’t always deliver the punch promised on paper.

Even with better equipment and a proper shop, the Dalton continues to win. Breakdowns remain constant—hood springs snap, panels shake loose, lockers act up, and air leaks appear without warning. For Lisa, the pattern has been the same across every truck and every year: the Dalton always wins.

Battling Scammers and Staying Private

Lisa also addressed the issue of online impostors pretending to be her. She urged fans not to fall for scams, reminding them she’s not very active online outside her verified YouTube, Cameo, Patreon, and Facebook accounts. As she put it, her days are too full of work, horses, and repairs to be “bored and looking for friends online.”

Creative Outlets: Music and More

Lisa has also stepped briefly into the gaming world. In October 2023, she appeared in the launch trailer for Alaskan Road Truckers, providing voiceover for the promotional video. By December 2023, she confirmed that players could actually play as her character in the game’s Ice Roads expansion. While not a major career shift, it highlighted how her reputation as one of the most recognizable ice road drivers has even crossed into gaming.

Lisa has also turned to AI‑assisted music writing apps like Suno to create more than 600 songs. Some are lighthearted, while others reflect personal struggles—such as processing the loss of a foal. Music has become another outlet for her to balance the highs and lows of life, alongside trucking and caring for her horses.

Relationships and Community

When Lisa celebrated her 41st birthday on December 8, 2021, she marked the occasion quietly at the shop with her then‑husband, Traves Kelly. At that point, the couple had been married for 13 years, having tied the knot in 2008.

In the years that followed, however, the marriage came to an end, and Lisa later clarified that she is now divorced and no longer married. Today, she is partnered with Mike, her boyfriend and fellow trucker, who often convoys ahead of her on the Dalton Highway with his own truck and tools. She frequently mentions him in livestreams as the person she now shares both her work and personal life with. Lisa also stays in touch occasionally with fellow drivers like Jack Jessee and George “GW” Wright, a fellow Dalton Highway driver known from Ice Road Truckers, though she admits she’s largely “antisocial” outside of work. For her, life remains a cycle of trucking, fixing, feeding horses, and doing it all over again.

From YouTube Lives to long hauls and horse barns, Lisa Kelly has kept busy since 2017. And now, with her return to Ice Road Truckers Season 12, fans will get to see how those same grit and routines play out once more on TV—proving she never truly left the ice roads at all.

From YouTube Lives to long hauls and horse barns, Lisa Kelly has kept busy since 2017. And now, with her return to Ice Road Truckers Season 12, fans will get to see how those same grit and routines play out once more on TV—proving she never truly left the ice roads at all.

Updates from Lisa Kelly’s July 16, 2025 YouTube Live (Post‑2017 Hiatus)

Where is she trucking now?

• Running the Dalton Highway (Haul Road) between Fairbanks and Prudhoe Bay — “back and forth,” full‑time.
• Calls it “mud road truckers” in summer; in winter it becomes the familiar ice road.

What does she haul and with what rig?

• Currently a tanker/bulker driver, hauling heavy every trip (she cited ~69,000 lb of product; gross varies).
• New primary rig: 2026 Peterbilt 589 (Cummins), ~10,000 miles on it during Live; still owns/likes her older 389 (“Thumper”).
• Noted new features like tire‑pressure sensors with remote antennas; mixed feelings about the 589’s power vs. expectations.

How often is she on the road?

• The Fairbanks–Prudhoe run is ~1,000 miles per round trip.
• Summer: typically 2 trips/week (road is too rough to fit a legal third).
• Winter: can sometimes push 3 trips/week, though it’s hard on equipment.

How bad are the roads (really)?

• Describes the Dalton as brutal: constant potholes, calcium slick, and severe washboards; average speeds can drop to 5–25 mph with brief chances to hit 50 mph.
• Frequent breakages: hood springs, body panels, air leaks; she once lost side panels to bumps and expects fender failures.
• Landmarks mentioned: Finger Mountain, Beaver Slide (10% grade), Arctic Circle, “Old Man” hill.

Any mechanical challenges right now?

• Lockers intermittently inoperative (“had to reboot the truck” previously); seeking air‑actuated lockers before winter.
• Running without a power divider at the moment — “it can’t snow on me.”

Schedule, weather, and conditions

• Reported 55°F and raining during the live; earlier summer heat hit the 90s in Alaska.
• Said it snowed on the pass a couple of days prior and some trucks were burning out.

Who is she still in touch with from the show?

• Keeps occasional contact with Jack Jessee and GW; rarely talks with other cast, especially the Canadians.
• Mentions Carlile is still operating up there; currently running for “Mackey.”

Personal life snapshot

• Not married; happily partnered with Mike, who often convoys ahead and carries tools. She calls him kind and dependable.
• Owns ~12 horses (Tennessee Walkers, Miniatures, Gypsy). Balances runs with barn/fence work and frequent vet/farrier visits; notes hay costs around $140 per bale in Alaska.
• Addressed a difficult recent event: lost a foal, wrote a sequence of instrumental pieces about it.
• Says she’s selling some horses to keep the load manageable.

Online presence & impostor warning

• Primary, real channels: Facebook, Patreon (rarely used), Cameo, and YouTube.
• Repeatedly warned fans about impostor accounts DM’ing for money or “friendship.” She does not ask for money and is not actively messaging fans.

Tech & hobbies

• Uses Starlink for connectivity on the road.
• Enjoys Suno (AI music)—claims 600+ tracks, including a numbered story set; also rides motorcycles (dual‑sport, race bike, minibike) when time allows.

“Is she still an ice road trucker?”

• Yes—she never stopped hauling the Dalton; the TV pause didn’t change her day job. Season 12 simply brings cameras back to what she’s been doing all along.