Moving to Homer or Seward areas - big family, lots of decisions! (Fairbanks: how much, big house)
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We have the Milepost ordered and on its way. Already have AAA Premier membership, and it's on my list to look and see if it applied in Canada! That is excellent news!
If it were just my husband and I, leaving the furniture would be a no-brainer, but with 4 kids, 5 beds, dressers, nightstands, dining table and chairs - just everything - it adds up. And it's not especially the cost of replacing up there, but the hassle of potentially having to drive to or past Homer to pick stuff up, and then haul it back, potentially 30+ minutes past Homer. That's always what the hassle is - going to look at it and pick it up and haul it home. I can see that hassle being magnified many times up there. And if we're taking food - which seems really important to me, tell me what you think - might as well stuff in the bedframes, etc.
We're from the SW corner of Oregon, where rain is 9 months of the year. My sister-in-law lived in Juneau a couple of different times, and had very vivid descriptions of the rain, haha. My sister owns property on Prince of Wales, and tells me about the rain there. I love what the rain brings us - the thick forests, springs and rivers everywhere, etc, but I am weary of it. Having done a year in Colorado, I know that I don't mind the cold (at least Colorado Spring "cold"), as long as it's not flipping raining, LOL. My husband is from Colorado, and his sentiments are similar.
My husband is an excellent mechanic and will be going through everything on the suburban before we go, and we will be taking multiple spares for both the truck and trailer. We'll have his floor jack handy and his truck tool boxes for repairs. Extra hose clamps, fuses, the usual. He knows our rig inside and out, and has it extremely well set-up (hot shower on the side of the road, anyone?! Solar power charging system. Air compressor. :-) ) I'm guessing we will get an enclosed trailer, but I have no idea what size. He has hauled 39' trailers with the mad max suburban before (fully loaded), but there's no way he's going to want to do anything close to that for this trip. I would be thrilled if he would do a 20-foot trailer, but we'll see. We have 2 open trailers here to liquidate and my daily driver suburban, and my husband's current commuter car, so those will bring some cash to put towards another trailer and the move. Once the house sells, we'll be fine for cashflow, but we will want to have the transportation rigs ready to go long before a closing date!
He will also probably be planning to bring a large volume of his contractor tools (he's been a carpenter and private contractor for 20 years now, residential and civil). I'm thinking that could eat up a lot of space in a trailer, but would be important to have when we land.
What else should I be thinking of? Cooler with food for the trip, as much as possible. I imagine we will want to do hotels at night with the kids, especially if it's into September when we roll. If we haven't already purchased a home prior to leaving, then some sort of short-term rental ready and waiting.
Here's questions: Banking - are there drive-through ATMs in Homer? Hauling 4 kids out and back into carseats any more than absolutely necessary is not my favorite thing, LOL. Internet - does satellite internet work decently up there, for places that don't have any other options? How far out East End Rd do things like natural gas, landline phones, and normal internet run? Are used woodstoves readily available and affordable around Homer, or would we be prudent to bring ours with us? What about wood cookstoves? We have one here, but it would take up a lot of room. I wouldn't want to pay over a $1000 for another one up there, if we could just bring ours.
Commuter vehicle - I loathe the idea, but would it be prudent to purchase a subaru here in Oregon and me drive that up while hubby drives the truck? I guess I can scope used car prices on craigslist up there to figure that one out.
If we decide to do a scouting trip, how much can I anticipate to spend on a weeks worth of lodging and a rental vehicle? Do you rent out of Anchorage and then drive it all over the state? That seems like it would cost a ton.
What makes Delta Junction and that area better for homesteading than south peninsula?
Thank you all for the suggestions and questions! This helps IMMENSELY to get things figured out that I wasn't even thinking of before!
MouseBandit
Last edited by MouseBandit; 06-29-2016 at 08:08 PM..
Reason: fuses, not breakers, LOL
Yes... KFF (Keep From Freezing) packaging is pretty expensive and I am not aware of any that are good for prolonged periods of time. In my experience it is meant to keep products from freezing during transportation, not storage.
I'm only going to have them stored in trailer until we have a home secured, so not long-term, not past the end of september.
MN Man - nope, neither of us have ever been up there before. :-) However, we have moved 26 times with his work in the last 15 years, with 2 kids at the beginning, and now with 4 new little ones. Usually on 3-day notice, haha. We are adventurers, LOL. And honestly, there's been a lot that's gone into this decision, years and years in the making, and we have very solid reasons for coming up there. It may take a while to find "our" little corner of the vast state, but there's not too many things that would either push us out of there, nor draw us back down here. We've seen his sister-in-law come and go from different areas of Alaska, for various reasons, and that is not our M.O., LOL. We've studied, we've analyzed, we've been watching for years, and we're sure.
Another question: We have a conex here. Is there any feasibility to packing it up here, and having it hauled up to a barge (Portland, OR, I'm thinking) and then retrieve it up there and have it trucked out to our property? Or would that be prohibitively expensive, even if it were possible? Do people use conex's for storage up there, or would there be too much reinforcing needed for weather and snow load?
"What makes Delta Junction and that area better for homesteading than south peninsula? "
I was kidding because that's where I live now so I'm biased. However it does get much hotter in the summer time and is much drier up here than Homer. It also has no property taxes and a lot more bigger parcels of land available for sale at a lot more reasonable cost. Homer is kind of limited geographically. A lot of farming and hobby homesteaders here. However, if you like Homer you probably wouldn't like Delta. It's, uh, not as "cool" as homer. If you don't like rain though, just be aware there's plenty of that in Homer and Seward. Delta is a cold windy desert.
Lots of connexs up here. A conex isnt just for storage in homer. That's a bona fide living quarters right there. There are drive through ATMs and all the modern convienences, besides big box stores. I love the save u more store in homer though, it's like a mini costco. When I moved from homer they were about 4 miles down east end road with natural gas. I'm not sure how far they are taking it out.
There are lots of garage sales and moving sales where peple sell everything they own to head south. You could replace any home furnishing right in homer pretty easily. Join Homer buy/sell/trade on that one website and take a look around.
Another question: We have a conex here. Is there any feasibility to packing it up here, and having it hauled up to a barge (Portland, OR, I'm thinking) and then retrieve it up there and have it trucked out to our property? Or would that be prohibitively expensive, even if it were possible? Do people use conex's for storage up there, or would there be too much reinforcing needed for weather and snow load?
MouseBandit
You will fit right in, lol
Yes, you can get a container delivered to port, barged over then delivered to home from port. How much it costs will depend on size, weight, where to and from, etc. I'm assuming it's a dry container and not a rag top or a high cube or something. Capacity of a 20-footer is 48k lbs and a 40-footer is 58k. There are so many variables with freight costs, if I were you I would call or email a few places to get some rough quotes. It won't be cheap, but I would imagine it would be less than what a moving company would charge you for door to door service.
Floor jack is good... I carry mine in the back of my truck. I only had to change a tire ONCE in -40*F with a bottle jack before I started carrying it with me. That is for the birds.
Regarding trailer size and weight (for hauling up the Alcan)... I wish I could find this picture to show you. I know I have it on my work computer. When a friend moved from Oregon to Healy (south of Fairbanks) he took a picture of his trailer hitch before he crossed into Alaska. The tongue is bent. He was hauling a Suzuki Samurai and those things can't weigh more than a couple thousand pounds.
I am a tool hoarder and strongly believe that they are one of the best investments a person (who can use them) can make. So I would probably cull the true junk if there is any and bring absolutely everything else.
I would definitely buy a Subaru in Oregon. It's hard to find good vehicles up here for affordable prices. Did I say that it's "hard"? I meant to say "it's impossible."
You guys are awesome!! TY! I will scope out the barge thing for the conex. If we can do that, maybe I can sneak in my mama's funiture, haha! (I just inherited my parent's furniture and it's pretty and solid and familiar, LOL.)
I doubt the suburban would fit in the conex, but who knows! That would be sweet to ship it up and us just fly! ;-)
Cold desert would be harder for us. :-) I know that Mat-Su is the gardening mecca, but I really love forests! I would definitely take more forest and less garden if that's what it comes down to.
I don't know why but I hadn't thought of searching "that website" for local groups! Brilliant! TY!
Floor jack is good... I carry mine in the back of my truck. I only had to change a tire ONCE in -40*F with a bottle jack before I started carrying it with me. That is for the birds.
Regarding trailer size and weight (for hauling up the Alcan)... I wish I could find this picture to show you. I know I have it on my work computer. When a friend moved from Oregon to Healy (south of Fairbanks) he took a picture of his trailer hitch before he crossed into Alaska. The tongue is bent. He was hauling a Suzuki Samurai and those things can't weigh more than a couple thousand pounds.
I am a tool hoarder and strongly believe that they are one of the best investments a person (who can use them) can make. So I would probably cull the true junk if there is any and bring absolutely everything else.
I would definitely buy a Subaru in Oregon. It's hard to find good vehicles up here for affordable prices. Did I say that it's "hard"? I meant to say "it's impossible."
Holy Cow- yeah a samurai is extremely light, LOL! Smaller is better! Maybe the conex idea will pan out!
Do the floor jacks have any trouble operating at those low temps? Does the hydraulic fluid get thick or not want to work?
I agree it's a pretty good idea to bring a car up. This is a pretty legitiment example of an used car ad on Craigslist up here without too much exaggeration.
"-Moving out of state and must sell my trusty 1993 Subaru Outback with 275,000 miles. I am using it for work right now so I can't sell it until July 29th- but it must go before august 1st. The car runs strong, is very reliable and is in excellent condition. The only minor problems it has is a blown head gasket, and it doesn't go into reverse. I remedy that problem by parking on a hill so I can just roll backwards in the morning. You only need to add one quart of oil a day to it to keep it running. Also the drivers side door was smashed in by a moose, so you have to get in through the window or passenger side door. $3500 firm. No lowballers, I know what these things are worth!"
You'll be fine for extreme cold temp wise on the drive coming up in August or September, even into October a bit.
Well, do us a favor and don't just move and then disappear from the forum like so many before you. It will be interesting to hear what you've got going on. I'm trying to become pretty much self-sustaining --- got the salmon part licked but have to work on some greenhouse crops. I live on POW, which is pretty much a peat bog, so the soil needs major amending before much of anything will grow, but we've started some stuff in raised beds, and there are plenty of berries on my property.
Kinda sound like the Homer area might be your place...don't discount Haines, though. It may be in the SE, but it's much drier that the rest of the panhandle.
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