CHICAGO -- On the same morning Punxsutawney Phil declared there to be six more weeks of winter, a moving truck was being packed outside of Wrigley Field with the promise of two more weeks until Spring Training.
Thursday marked Cubs Truck Day, when one vehicle loaded with all the necessities for Cubs players and personnel during their Spring Training stay headed to Mesa, Ariz., where the Cubs officially begin their World Series title defense.
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"Once we get loaded, we're going to do the paperwork and we're going to head out," said truck driver Lynn Ambrosy of Midway Moving and Storage on a day when Chicago's temperature hovered in the mid-20s. "The warmer the better for us."
Ambrosy said the trek to the Cubs' Spring Training home will take about 34 hours.

The truck contains all things needed for the Cubs between Feb. 14, when pitchers and catchers report, and March 29, their final game in Arizona.
That includes equipment and uniforms, as well as players' clothes and suitcases. There also were plenty of golf clubs and bicycles for the players' downtime. That included the bike of manager Joe Maddon, an avid cyclist.
Maddon's bicycle tires were "almost as wide" as the moving truck's, joked Ambrosy.
This isn't the first time Midway Moving and Storage has worked with the Cubs, but it is the company's first year as the "Proud Mover of the Cubs," a deal signed before the Cubs' World Series championship.
The truck leaving Wrigley Field on Thursday isn't the same one that will return before the team's home opener on April 10. That one still needs a little work.
"We'll have our 'Official Cubs Truck,' which is getting sanded down," Ambrosy said. "We'll drive that down and it'll be all decked out for the way back."