Any insights on moving to Two Rivers (Fairbanks, Hope: real estate, insurance)

[PeterD]

It's looking more and more likely that my wife and I will be relocating to Alaska from the UK.

One of the places that is high on our list is Two Rivers.

Does anyone have any insight into the area/town and any glaringly obvious good or bad points I may have missed out on.

Thanks
pete

[Arcticthaw]

Hello Pete,

If your refering to Two Rivers Alaska near Fairbanks, see: Two Rivers, Alaska (AK) Detailed Profile - relocation, real estate, travel, jobs, hospitals, schools, crime, news, sex offenders

Two riveris is a rural area about 16 miles east of town. Chena Hot Springs road is the road to town or the springs in the other direction. Pleasant valley is just to the west had has some services there like fuel and churches. I haven't been out that way in a while to update what else is there. The road to town has a fair amount of traffic and is prone to frost heaves, though they try to keep it maintained. Between, frost heaves, traffic load, winter driving conditions, and moose this road can be a bit dangerous for the uninitiated. Unless you have already found a place out there, I would suggest you start off in Fairbanks while discovering the areas around you. Two rivers seems to have its share of dog mushers, so I hope you like the sounds of dogs. Also they mushers there have some trail systems set up for training, its not uncommon to drive home and see dogs mushing down a trail or near the road. You will see moose regularly also. The topography for the area varies from hilly to flat in some of the valleys. A word of caution on where you choose to find land. Most land on the North side of a hill will have ice etc, some of the low spots will be wetlands so keep them in mind when looking for your bit of paradise. A nice place on a hill looking south will give you a great view of the Alaska range!

You will do most your shopping in Fairbanks, and depending on your lifestyle work there also. If you do decide on land out there or anywhere rural find out about power and how deep a well you will need. Getting power to some properties is expensive.

Good luck.

[Dusty Rhodes]

Two Rivers?, Isn't that the hometown of Rick Swenson, Kelly Williams, et al? although it was mentioned that dogs are trained there. could be..... D

[PeterD]

Thanks guys, yep its that Two Rivers, and the sound of the dogs is one of the reasons we're looking in that area. We're going to add to it with our 20 !

Thanks for the information, it'll be helpful when I'm asking questions.

[earls]

So your moving your family, household goods, and 20 dogs (what breed?) to a remote place in Alaska? From the UK!! By the time you pay for that long move and get the dogs out of quarantine it should be late 2008. Have you run dogs before? You ever play the kids game whip? you may want to increase your insurance coverage. A couple of thousand pounds of frozen high protein dog food should get you through until fishing season.
Best wishes

[RayinAK]

No idea how long it takes to get the dogs out of quarantine. But we do have a few European mushers around. We also have at least one Japanese young lady who races in the Yukon Quest, and so forth.

[PeterD]

Originally Posted by earls

So your moving your family, household goods, and 20 dogs (what breed?) to a remote place in Alaska? From the UK!! By the time you pay for that long move and get the dogs out of quarantine it should be late 2008. Have you run dogs before? You ever play the kids game whip? you may want to increase your insurance coverage. A couple of thousand pounds of frozen high protein dog food should get you through until fishing season.
Best wishes

Glad to see you think we've put no thought into this........

I've been running sleddogs since 1988, all our dogs are Siberian huskies and all of them are either imported from racing kennels in the US or were part of the team I brought over to train and race in NH for a winter a couple of years ago.
There's no quarantine period for bringing dogs in - all our dogs have rabies vaccinations and a Pet passport.

The reason for the original question was because all the people I know who say Two Rivers is great are all dog mushers.
I was wondering if anyone who was not a musher had anything good or bad to say about the town(ship).

[Arcticthaw]

You might enjoy this link if you haven't already been there. They may give you more specific info.

Two Rivers Dog Mushing Association

[warptman]

Theres two mushers down the road from me, for the most part you can't hear them. But if the wind is just right or if its calm out, you can hear them dogs howling all night.

[HeartsnAK]

PeterD,

You will love Two Rivers. My husband and I lived there for 5 years and would move back tomorrow, if we could. We are not mushers but love the sport. Two Rivers is a mushing community at its finest. Tight knit but not "in your business", in fact, they prefer to stay out of each other's business and encourage others to do the same. That was fine by us. We knew folks were around who could and would help if need be but knew they would respect us from a distance if that was what we wanted too.

Sometimes, we heard the sound of dogs howling, most times we did not. Like warptman said, it depends on the wind and whether or not it is feeding time! We always knew when our neighbors' teams were being fed. You could set your clock by it and it was not at all a bad thing.

I honestly never met kinder, more down to earth people than Fairbanksans in general and Two Rivers mushers were the cream of the crop.

When you are there, be sure to check out Two Rivers Lodge. When we lived there in 2000 - 2005, the dining room was for tourists and special occasions for locals and the bar was a regular watering hole for mushers who just dropped in for a beer as they were passing by. We have great memories of many a fine Friday night there. Again, we would move back in a heart beat.

Hope this helped.