I (Fairbanks, Kenai, Homer: RV parks, how much, houses)

[Jayke]

I am a Veteran of 16 years Army, still in and serving in Saudi Arabia. Been all around the world, seen everything from good, to bad, to worse. Ever since I was a child, I've loved the outdoors, from swimming, to fishing, hunting, farming, animals, nature and mother earth. I've always dreamt of living in the great outdoors, just didn't know it was Alaska until I was a bit older.

I've come to the point in my life, where I no longer enjoy my work, where I live, no purpose in life any longer, other than to wake up, and play that same broken record each day. Don't get me wrong, I am still very active outdoors, love to socialize, travel, experience new and exciting things, even bad ones, but it's just wearing me down mentally. The busy people, traffic, noises, pollution, attitudes, politics, economy, and all those things that I never really cared about, but somehow found myself right in the middle of it all.

I am very successful with my career in military and government work, I've escaped death more times than I'd like to share, and I've had a wide variety of past job experiences from butcher shop for a year when I was 16, to a nursery tree worker for another year, construction for 6 years, computers for 8 years, military for 16 years and all the jobs that entails from vehicle maintenance, to weapons, survival, land navigation skills, and more blah blah blah (Very experienced and knowledgeable person)

I've made the decision to stop procrastinating, and making excuses for myself as why I am not ready to move to Alaska, when all I can do is day dream about it daily. It's always been a dream, I don't want to wait until I am too old to enjoy what Alaska has to offer, and enjoy myself while I am still in my late 30's. I am financially stable, I have two RV's, huge house, cars, trucks, etc....I am single, never married, never had kids, was always married to my work and putting others needs before my own. Although, that part of me will never change, I've decided to start being selfish for once, and just worry about myself.

I have done years of research on Alaska, always book-marking pages, creating favorites, writing in journals, saving photos, investigating land purchases, property with existing houses, all wildlife, plants, and other natural resources, and the list goes on and on....I feel comfortable with my level of knowledge so far, but do I know everything? Not even close. I am an extremely fast learner and I obtain information, tricks and skills very quickly.

I am hoping this forum will assist me getting some input, insight, guidance on whether or not I should buy just land vs. housing (I'd love to build my own cabin specific to my needs), where I should move to, where to be isolated enough, but close enough to be a social-butterfly at times, a real old-school sense of community. Is there people out there who offer work exchange in different areas to possibly work and try out some areas every month or so until I find what I want? No ideas are bad ideas.

With that being said, I've read thousands of posts and forums. There are a lot of people out there (not everyone) but a lot, who love to scare people off (newcomers) with negative comments, or scare tactics, or just plain rude conversation. I can assure you, if you are one of these people, please do not respond, because I will have none of your B.S. in my forum. Everyone else, please let me know what you think, any ideas you might have, things you wish you could have done differently but passed up certain opportunities or missed out.

[Arktikos]

Great thread title.

How much cash do you have on hand? If you're loaded, my suggestion is look at Circle hot springs resort. Haven't heard the latest, as it's not in my neck of the woods, but I believe it's been FS for a couple years now at 3 million.
Seems like a lot for a "fixer upper", but what an incredible spot. Near enough to Fairbanks for regular visits, yet quite isolated.

Arctic Circle Hot Springs

[6.7traveler]

I thought it was only 1.8 million. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that's a tad out of his budget, but maybe I'm wrong.

Do you want more of a coastal area, or the interior?

[Jayke]

Thanks Blind Cleric that's some good info I'll look in to. Yeah my budget right now is a few hundred thousand; I am only 36 so I do plan on doing some work, possibly FT or PT job. 6.7 Teaveler; I'd love to be more around the coastal area for sure. I am a huge fishing fan and love to eat it. It's hard for me to decide even with all the research I've done it's nothing compared to actually being there and seeing for myself in order to make a solid decision, and trust me I'd rather be there right now than in this Saudi 120+ degree heat.

[Metlakatla]

I think there may be some WOOOFING opportunities in Alaska, but is it just me, or is asking people to do farm work in exchange for a place to stay just wrong? There's a lot of seasonal work that actually pays moneyand comes with employee housing; you might want to try that. Maybe somewhere like Seward.

[Jayke]

Thank you Metlakatla, I've read some pretty good things about Seward, looks like an interesting place and people. I don't mind working hard for a temporary place to stay, gain some additional knowledge and experience, I've seen and been in a lot worse conditions.

[6.7traveler]

Seward is cool but seems to have even less limited housing options than homer. At least in homer you could buy some land in anchor point or down east end road for a semi reasonable price.

The whole kenai peninsula is very beautiful, but very touristy and crowded in summer especially. I can't even handle my small grocery store in the interior these days it's so busy with tourists. I may need to move to eagle or something. I swear there's many more RV's coming up this summer vs the last two, but maybe it's just my perception.

Forget the coastal areas and look into the interior. There's still fishing everywhere and you can drive to salmon runs and the ocean when fishing time comes. Lots of veterans in my area, and cheap land. Less people and all the silliness that entails.

[Jayke]

6.7 Traveler, where is your neck of the woods. I do really like the Homer, and especially the Kenai peninsula area. I've done more research on Kenai then any other location in Alaska so far.

[Metlakatla]

We're actually pretty decent to newcomers here except the live-off-the-land types, which we've been saturated with lately, or the one who think that Alaska's still the place to go to earn a lot of money. Yes, we try to warn those away; I've personally paid for plane tickets south because someone got stuck in Alaska, so I feel a little invested, I guess. We get everything here from people who want to raise a family by "living off the land" in "the bush" to someone who was planning on spending the winter in Fairbanks living in his car. You sound like you have more sense than that.

You could drive up in one of your RVs and explore the state. Haines is another community that comes to mind.

[Jayke]

That was definitely my plan is to drive up in rv and just spend some time checking out different areas and see what speaks to me. I've read a little on Haines, seems like a fairly decent place. I'm sure there's a lot of rv parks around a long the way?