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Old 06-29-2016, 01:46 PM
 
Location: SW Oregon
94 posts, read 127,618 times
Reputation: 63

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Hi! We are looking at moving our family (2 adults, 4 kids - ages 8-3), to Alaska - FINALLY! Obviously, this is going to be a big deal, with a lot of decisions.

We have our home here in Oregon up for sale, and as soon as it sells, we will hit the road (or water, or skies). We will be paying cash or almost-all cash for a place up there. Based on our research and family who have lived in Alaska, we are gravitating towards the Homer area (east of Homer, up the bay) or potentially Seward. Need to do more research on Seward still. We will have about a years worth of living expenses (which is to say, 2 years worth of Oregon living expenses, LOL) as reserves after we do the move and get a property.

We're looking for a property on at least a few acres - the more the better. 20+ would be superb! On the garden bench outside Homer would be great. We want to do a lot of gardening, small livestock (chicken, goats, rabbits), a few head of cattle if there's enough land. We homeschool our kids, and are comfortable living an hour or so outside the town, but we do need to be on a road, and have access to grid electricity. Water system (spring or well, not hauled and not dry) is also essential. I'm watching the MLS listings and see a pretty decent variety of places within our budget range.

A bigger house would be awesome, with all the kids and cabin fever and such, but the right property and price would persuade us to huddle up for the first winter in anything 800sf or bigger, and then expand next summer. As long as the home is weatherproof and functional, looks and style are not that important to us. Obviously, the nicer the better, haha, but we're not ones to care if something is "dated" or whatever. Log cabin or timber frame would be incredible.

Besides the Katchemak Bay area, are there any other regions that I might be overlooking for doing a low-key homestead, beginner subsistance lifestyle?

We don't want the rain that comes with the SE area (Haines, Juneau, Ketchikan) although we LOVE the look of the forests there. We don't want the Mat-Su valley - too hot in summer. Being from Oregon, we love the forests and the heavy trees. We don't want to be very close to cities or military installations. We're definitely not looking for extreme north, or bethel, or anything too tundra-like. The idea of not being on permafrost is appealing. We have looked at Talkeetna a lot, but it just hasn't called out to us, if you will, like the region east of Homer. (For what that's worth, LOL. Neither of us have ever been up there ourselves.)


Now that this is a go, I am shifting gears into the moving aspect, and that's huge! We kind of just figured we'd drive up, but I am hesitant about the long drive, about our older rig (1996 Suburban, modified into a heavy-duty 4x4), and the cost. With all the kids, everything is going to cost more. The passports alone will be $800 or so. I can't see us rolling out before the last week or two of August, even possibly not being ready until September.

How much do folks figure to spend when they drive the Alcan? We'd have our suburban and a trailer, most likely.

What about selling everything down here and buying used when we get there (furniture) vs hauling it up the Alcan?

We just inherited my mom's old furniture, and we finally have the right pieces for everyone, and solid, good stuff. (Not a small task with 4 kids!) I would love to bring it with us, but I don't want to be stupid about it. Finding 4 twin beds, mattresses, box spring, frames, without paying a fortune has been hard enough down here, I am concerned it would be more difficult there, plus transporting it from wherever we find it, out to a homestead. My rationale is that it would be harder in the short term, but that in the long term, it would be worth the hassle of getting it up there. Clothes, toys, household goods, I'm not worried about. Those are headed out the door next week, haha!

If we do bring a trailer, what are the thoughts on bringing food supplies (dried goods, home-canned, store-canned)?

Obviously, we have a lot of mouths to feed, and I have seriously about 2-3 years supply on most items in my stash (stuff we actually use, not just armageddon supplies, LOL). Since the cost of food up there is one of the big sticker-shock things I'm expecting, and since it would at least a year before I could expect to harvest anything from a garden, I'm thinking that allocating some cubic feet to food storage would be prudent. I would anticipate that I'd need to pack in the trailer with an eye to keeping canned goods from freezing - blankets wrapped around all sides of the food area? Pack in the center of the trailer?

What are good rigs on the ice? Are the roads icy more than they're snowy?

Our suburban is great in snow, we're both good snow drivers, but ice just sucks, LOL. I'm imagining the weight of our truck being a major detriment if the roads are usually icy. That said, we won't be frequent travellers, not like an everyday commute or anything. When husband gets a job, he will get a little subaru for a commuter car. But we need something capable for the whole family.

I'm thinking if we budget $8k for the whole move, we should be okay. Or am I dreaming on that?

Thanks!!

MouseBandit

Last edited by MouseBandit; 06-29-2016 at 03:03 PM.. Reason: Thought up more questions!
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Old 06-29-2016, 04:00 PM
 
Location: Back and Beyond
2,992 posts, read 4,265,274 times
Reputation: 7207
I used to live in Homer so ill try to answer some of your questions.

-Homer gets a lot of water on top of ice in the winter time. I would use studded tires there, otherwise your suburban will be fine.

-There aren't a whole lot of pieces of land in the 20 acre range on the bench, at least none that are affordable. 5 acres is a lot more common lot size there. You'd have to head way out to find a bigger piece like that. Anchor Point is closeby and is more affordable, although it doesn't have the same "vibe" or views as homer. I know of some big pieces (40-160 acres) for sale way up on Ohlson mountain, but the road to access them is impassable several months out of the year, leaving you with a 1.5 mile hike/ATV ride in.

-Gardening is huge in homer, and it seems everyone has a high tunnel. However a lot of people have water hauled out on the bench. The water isn't the best in areas and some really nice expensive homes even have water tanks.

-Homer and even more so Seward are very rainy by my standards. It may not have as high of inch totals but it does seem like there are more drizzly/grey days then not. Anyone that thinks that homer isn't rainy must be from Sitka

-I'd sell everything that didn't fit in the suburban or trailer. Everything, including home furnishings, is readily available up here.

-These are both fairly expensive areas real estate wise.

-check the kenai peninsula borough interactive map before buying any property. A lot of remaining parcels there have wetlands on them an you'll need a permit from the corps of engineers before you can build.

-I'd definitely recommend a trip up sooner than later. It looks a lot different in person and you'll learn a lot on where you want to be.

-Delta Junction and the Eastern interior is the best place for small scale homesteading in Alaska .

Good luck.
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Old 06-29-2016, 04:11 PM
 
Location: Interior Alaska
2,383 posts, read 3,065,118 times
Reputation: 2373
I don't know anything about the areas you're looking at because I live in the interior. But, when I moved up I sold everything I owned that didn't fit into the back of my 4-cyl 97 Tacoma (which I very seriously recommend trying to do) and through various discussions on this forum I've figured that it cost me about $5k. I am one person and I slept in the back of my truck the whole way up. I packed very carefully and left myself a body-sized hole to sleep in. I also ate grocery store food, not road food.

I ended up having to replace my radiator the day I left, then I had to stop and get it flushed in Humboldt County. Those expenses are included because that is the sort of stuff that happens and the type of things that should be planned for. Just hope it doesn't happen in the Yukon.

I would very seriously recommend looking into a AAA Plus or Premier membership, which requires that you first be a regular AAA member for 90-days before you can upgrade. All AAA packages offer towing in Canada, it's just that you can't get anywhere in 3-miles with one operator and one wrecker. AAA Plus is 100 mi and AAA Premier is 200 miles, both are 2 operators + 2 wreckers.

Member Benefits Chart

One of my cousins broke down in the middle of the Yukon in a brand new Dodge pickup and, long story short it cost them nearly $10k after towing, lodging and flying parts in and out of Canada. It was some sensor that was the problem, so the high $figure is not in parts and airfreight alone.

So I would budget more for moving six people, no matter how frugally you do it.
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Old 06-29-2016, 04:12 PM
 
Location: Interior Alaska
2,383 posts, read 3,065,118 times
Reputation: 2373
Regarding the rain... I'm curious where you live in Oregon to get an idea of what you might consider too rainy.
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Old 06-29-2016, 04:16 PM
 
Location: SW Oregon
94 posts, read 127,618 times
Reputation: 63
Ty! I'll look at Delta Junction and the Eastern Interior more before we make any hard decisions! So, a property with a good spring on it off East End rd - is that a "jump-on-it" kind of deal, that we aren't likely to see again? There's a place we like a lot from the listing, and a huge part of that is a spring that supplies the water.

Is craigslist the best source for used furniture and other used goods? Is there a second-hand store in Homer?

We did see the price difference in Anchor Point, but would really like to keep that south-facing Katchemak view and sunshine.

Someday, off the road system will be in our future, but not until the kiddos are quite a bit bigger - maybe 5 more years. Plus, that gives us time to hone the skills we have and acquire the skills we'll need to take that step. :-) I'm adventurous, but I don't want to be stupid, LOL!

I am waiting to hear from the hubby as to whether he wants to buy before we go, or roll on up and then buy when we're there. It would cost quite a bit to fly up and take a scouting trip with 4 kids, LOL, plus we'd have to have a caretaker for this property. If it's gonna be more than $2k for the scouting trip, hubby will probably just say to drive up and then buy. But, who knows! He's still recovering from the barrage of detailed info I've been throwing at him since he finally agreed to the move, haha! I agree it would be ideal to fly up and have a week to get the lay of the land and physically look at houses.

Are there mini-storage places on the Kenai (outside of anchorage)?

We could sell the place here, drive up, drop the trailer in a storage yard, and then spend a week or two cruising around figuring out the right town and property.

Is there still a laundromat in Homer that allows you to take showers? Any estimate on how much that would cost?
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Old 06-29-2016, 04:34 PM
 
Location: Back and Beyond
2,992 posts, read 4,265,274 times
Reputation: 7207
I should clarify that there is water out east end road. It's just the quality that's spotty. Some people have good wells and others haul water. I forget what's in the water that makes it's sub par, but a lot of people haul water for that reason.

Homer has a place to take showers at the laundromat. It's busy with fisherman and not cheap because it's on city water.

I would never recommend buying first. Homer has some "unique" housing. A lot that looks great on paper could have several school buses with blue tarps being live in next door, with a million dollar home next to that. You could camp out on the spit for very cheaply while you looked. I'd also be cautious of a spring, because that could easily translate into wetlands. Ideally you'd have a piece with no wetlands. Even if it looks dry you'd have to check the website to see what is classified as wetlands.
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Old 06-29-2016, 04:51 PM
 
Location: sitka, Alaska
284 posts, read 400,435 times
Reputation: 433
Nice little shot at Sitka 6.7traveler! Made me laugh! (Land prices are insane here)
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Old 06-29-2016, 05:07 PM
 
12 posts, read 17,216 times
Reputation: 59
so just to clarify...neither of you has ever even been to Alaska? At ALL??
I guess I can't imagine moving an entire family to someplace I'd never been. Maybe that's just me...
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Old 06-29-2016, 06:30 PM
 
26,486 posts, read 36,338,220 times
Reputation: 29543
Quote:
I would anticipate that I'd need to pack in the trailer with an eye to keeping canned goods from freezing - blankets wrapped around all sides of the food area? Pack in the center of the trailer?
It's going to take more than that ^^^ to keep canned goods from freezing when stored in an unheated trailer.
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Old 06-29-2016, 06:36 PM
 
Location: Interior Alaska
2,383 posts, read 3,065,118 times
Reputation: 2373
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.
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