disappearing into Alaska (Anchorage, Fairbanks, Valdez: relocating, condo, vacation)

[amylewis]

Originally Posted by BudinAk

O......M......G!!! Did I read this right...a girl/lady/female with more than one M1 Garand? And a Dodge 4X4 diesel? And a malamute? And knows how to hook up solar power to batteries? With technical and mechanical expertise? Ok...lest I be mis-construed: I'm not "hitting" on you, I'm taken and quite happily married. But...I'm impressed! You will fit RIGHT IN anywhere in Alaska you care to settle...so come on up!Bud

Hey Bud, thanks for the invite. I've decided to forget about West Virginia after attempting to correspond with people on the ground there. I was met with unusually heavy indifference, which tells me it's prolly not where I belong.

Yep, I have two garands. My adopted grandpa once asked me why I had two. Told him "Cuz I ain't been able to get three yet."

I ran a bullet casting and ammunition production business for three years commercially, and have been doing it for myself a lot longer than that.

After what I've read here dealing with the weapons and ammo is going to cost me. No way do I want it all anywhere near Kanadian soil. No way am I trucking through there with 38,000 rounds of ammunition, 200 lbs. of powder, 100,000 primers, 5 loading presses and all my casting gear either!

I'll take the ferry thankyouverymuch! Can I get my truck and 5th wheel on that ferry? How long is the trip?


Also, how hard is it to find steady under-the-table work up there? Where might be the best places to do that?

a.

[Rance]

As long as your gonna have wheels and something to live in. You should be able to find something...in any of the towns along the highway system.

[BudinAk]

Got a good chuckle about your reply to the person wanting to know why you have two Garands...LOL! I know EXACTLY what yer talking about, and where yer coming from...been loading my own since the mid-60's, and cast my own lead also, for 45 Colt, 454, 30-06, and 45/70. Still have the Rockchucker press I started with in the mid-60's. I bet you know right away what these mean: 4350, 4064, 3031, 4320, RX7, Herco, Green Dot...
With all that stuff you have, the ferry is the way to go. The trip from Washington probably takes about 4 or 5 days to get to Whittier, but I am just guessing...it's not a long time, since they are moving along at a pretty good clip day and night. The ferry will have LOTS of room for your truck and 5th wheel...not a problem...it's a good sized boat.
Anyway.....Rance is right, just about any town will have something you can do for a living. Example: if you start in Seward you might maybe line something up in the tourism industry for the summer. These guys hire quite a few people every spring: Employment Opportunities
And...you might not be interested, but these guys will hire you right away, TODAY, starting at $17/hr (they are practically crying for new-hires, especially for someone who already knows how to shoot): http://www.correct.state.ak.us/corre...o_recruitment/
Another place to look: Alaska Job Center Network
Sure sounds to me like Alaska is the place for you...

Bud

Originally Posted by amylewis

Hey Bud, thanks for the invite. I've decided to forget about West Virginia after attempting to correspond with people on the ground there. I was met with unusually heavy indifference, which tells me it's prolly not where I belong.

Yep, I have two garands. My adopted grandpa once asked me why I had two. Told him "Cuz I ain't been able to get three yet."

I ran a bullet casting and ammunition production business for three years commercially, and have been doing it for myself a lot longer than that.

After what I've read here dealing with the weapons and ammo is going to cost me. No way do I want it all anywhere near Kanadian soil. No way am I trucking through there with 38,000 rounds of ammunition, 200 lbs. of powder, 100,000 primers, 5 loading presses and all my casting gear either!

I'll take the ferry thankyouverymuch! Can I get my truck and 5th wheel on that ferry? How long is the trip?


Also, how hard is it to find steady under-the-table work up there? Where might be the best places to do that?

a.

[amylewis]

Originally Posted by Rance

As long as your gonna have wheels and something to live in. You should be able to find something...in any of the towns along the highway system.

Thank you Rance. I was looking for the fishery jobs, but they want money for you to even look at them, and I don't have any money right now. I do know that there are a lot of seasonal workers there who follow the salmon runs, but I'm not wanting to do that, I want to settle in one place with my doggie and stay there.

One thing I'll say, the cost of housing there isn't much different than anywhere else in the country if you go by what you see online. No bargains, that's for sure, and most rental places are "no pets" right up front. I was looking in Kenai, but perhaps there are better and more affordable places not listed online.

I'd definitely be living in my trailer for a while there. I'd just need to find a situation where I could hook it up to power and water and not pay through the nose for the space.

Ideally I'd like to get it somewhere out of town as far as possible and still have power. Water I can manage on my own if I have to without a hookup. It would be nice also if my malamute could run off-leash where we live.

My generator was stolen back in the Mojave, and that was a big loss. I want another one before I head that way, but they are pricey. It might be that I can revive my old business in those parts, bullet casting, I just have to find a source of lead. Wheel weights will do.

I don't need much for myself, as long as I can eat and keep a roof over my head I'm happy. Eating would seem to be an easy thing there with the abundance of fish and game.

What does it cost to get the necessary license to bag oneself a moose? Where would I go looking for a moose? Are there any around the Kenai penninsula? How about caribou?

Amy

[amylewis]

Originally Posted by BudinAk

Got a good chuckle about your reply to the person wanting to know why you have two Garands...LOL! I know EXACTLY what yer talking about, and where yer coming from...been loading my own since the mid-60's, and cast my own lead also, for 45 Colt, 454, 30-06, and 45/70. Still have the Rockchucker press I started with in the mid-60's. I bet you know right away what these mean: 4350, 4064, 3031, 4320, RX7, Herco, Green Dot...
Bud

Oh yeah Bud! I know all that stuff very well. I've always loaded my M2 ball ammo with IMR4895, my .308 as well, before my M1A was stolen, but I do know that a lot of folks prefered 4064 in that rifle. I liked to load 41.5 gr. 4895 behind a 168 SMK in that rifle, it was a tack driver with that load. I've also always used CCI #34 primers in my battle rifles, don't want slam-fires!

I'm flat out religious about meticulous case prep, and I'm firmly convinced it's the best advantage you can give yourself at the firing line.

For my 1911 rounds I tend to load 5 grains of W231, which has done all I've asked of it for years now, for my Anaconda .44 I use my pet load, my cast gas checked 300 gr. LSWC, 20 gr. H110, magnum primer, and firm crimp. It's a really sweet silhoutte round and arrives with considerable authority. Good hunting round as well.

I tend to load down for the garands, 46 grains of 4895. It's easier on the brass, the gun, and me. For the most part I use the 152 gr. military spitzers, I bought 10,000 of them from River Valley Ordinance a while back, still have most of those, but my favorite is the 168 gr. SMK.

Those Rockchuckers are what I started on, and I have two of them still, one has my Dillon RapidTrim (tm) permanantly mounted on it for 06 cases. The other I use for decapping. I also have two RCBS Pro2000 progressives, and a 50bmg Ammomaster I bought in fond hopes of one day having the rifle I needed it for, but that hasn't yet happened.

I have tons of brass dude! Still have brand new 45-70 brass I didn't get to use, 100 pieces, know anyone who needs it? Hey, how hard is it to scrounge alloy up there? Do the tire places let you have it free, or do they stick ya for it?

I still have two RCBS ProMelts, LOTS of moulds in many calibers and weights, as well as loading dies for guns I don't even have. I sold a lot of .455 Webly bullets while I was in business, which I found strange, but was quite happy to sell them. The Webley was as close as the Brits ever got to producing a real handgun, and it has it's devotees. Personally I think if you have a Garand and a 1911 you are good to go, and need nothing else.

I also cast for such things as 43 Mauser, 50-90, 45-70 (of course), 43 Spanish, .45 miniballs and other north/south skirmish stuff, and I bought this mould for .520 hodgon, just because it was so incredibly neat!

With that mould you can adjust the weight/length of the bullet, and it's quite a cleverly done mould. Never sold any of those bullets, but I've got that mould

I also cast a 130 gr. gas checked spire tip for my garands, and it's peformed very well. It cycles the action smartly with 35 grains of 4895 behind it, is quite accurate, and will punch through a steel trailer frame at 100 yards very nicely.

(gosh it's nice to have someone to talk shop with again!)

Looks like I found the right forum, and the right state to live in. Just have to find a way to get there, and that's about money.

Amy

BTW, mucho thanko for the job links

[Rance]

Originally Posted by amylewis

Thank you Rance. I was looking for the fishery jobs, but they want money for you to even look at them, and I don't have any money right now. I do know that there are a lot of seasonal workers there who follow the salmon runs, but I'm not wanting to do that, I want to settle in one place with my doggie and stay there.

One thing I'll say, the cost of housing there isn't much different than anywhere else in the country if you go by what you see online. No bargains, that's for sure, and most rental places are "no pets" right up front. I was looking in Kenai, but perhaps there are better and more affordable places not listed online.

I'd definitely be living in my trailer for a while there. I'd just need to find a situation where I could hook it up to power and water and not pay through the nose for the space.

Ideally I'd like to get it somewhere out of town as far as possible and still have power. Water I can manage on my own if I have to without a hookup. It would be nice also if my malamute could run off-leash where we live.

My generator was stolen back in the Mojave, and that was a big loss. I want another one before I head that way, but they are pricey. It might be that I can revive my old business in those parts, bullet casting, I just have to find a source of lead. Wheel weights will do.

I don't need much for myself, as long as I can eat and keep a roof over my head I'm happy. Eating would seem to be an easy thing there with the abundance of fish and game.

What does it cost to get the necessary license to bag oneself a moose? Where would I go looking for a moose? Are there any around the Kenai penninsula? How about caribou?

Amy

There are lot's of tire shops on the kenai pen. Plenty of lead. There are a handfull of canneries around any of the coastal towns. And many do other fisheries besides salmon. Once you get a P.O. Box and become a resident the hunting/fishing license fee's drop big time. And yes we have many moose and even a permit hunt for Caribou. It's pretty darn hard to go hungry, you just gotta get out there and hunt.

[rotorhead]

uhmmm....you might not want to mention the part about 200 lbs of smokeless and all those primers unless the folks at the AMHS ask about it. I'm pretty sure that they'll have a bit of a problem with that.

The Kanadians too, for that matter. Even though its probably not mentioned directly in their regs, the customs guys tend to work by the "if its not expressly permitted, it must be forbidden" motto.

[DannyL]

Originally Posted by rotorhead

uhmmm....you might not want to mention the part about 200 lbs of smokeless and all those primers unless the folks at the AMHS ask about it. I'm pretty sure that they'll have a bit of a problem with that.

They will and it probably won't go easily.
Before inspection you will be asked if you have any "firearms or explosives" in your vehicle. BTW, camp fuel is considered an explosive. After saying yes your vehicle is tagged and you await the second part. The visual inspection and the check with the drug/explosives dogs by the Bellingham PD. And they do check.
200 lbs of smokeless powder just may get your vehicle pulled out of line, and you arrested if you said "oh I have nothing like that at all" and the dogs find it.
Cased ammo was not an issue, but I didn't have near your amount of it.

[amylewis]

Originally Posted by DannyL

They will and it probably won't go easily.
Before inspection you will be asked if you have any "firearms or explosives" in your vehicle. BTW, camp fuel is considered an explosive. After saying yes your vehicle is tagged and you await the second part. The visual inspection and the check with the drug/explosives dogs by the Bellingham PD. And they do check.
200 lbs of smokeless powder just may get your vehicle pulled out of line, and you arrested if you said "oh I have nothing like that at all" and the dogs find it.
Cased ammo was not an issue, but I didn't have near your amount of it.

Well, Bummer in the summer...

Seems as though I need to brainstorm on a better way to do this. Clearly it's not going to be a good idea to bring all that in with me, so perhaps having it shipped would be smarter.

What's wrong with this country anymore? It's like "Your papers please!"

Can't a decent American live freely as an American anymore? I'm going to ALASKA for pete's sake! A L A S K A ....
H E L L OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO?????????

I need the means to feed myself there longterm and I have it, together with the skills to do it. What's their problem? That I might not have to come begging for help from the system??? Help we are told right up front isn't there???? That I might be able to do for myself and not need them?

Yeah! I think that really is their problem! That they really hate an American who doesn't need them, and more importantly, one they can't control the living snot out of!!!!


What? Are we governed by a bunch of Nazis now?

My firearms and their support supplies and equipment are the means to survive there for me, to operate independently and survive there... kinda like... an American???? I guess if you can kill yourself a moose and eat for the winter they can't make money off you at the local Walmart, and that's really what it's about.

I've already read how many people came to Alaska with unrealistic expectations, poorly equipped, and ill-suited to the region and ended very very badly.

That's not at all what I'm doing, but it would seem that to come prepared to make it on one's own is illegal. Wot a nutty trip!!! How anti-human! How anti-American! How shameful!

Make no mistake, I'm not coming there to put on a pretty dress, a professional business gitup, and work for some stinking corporation welcoming rich guests into some hotel lobby, I could do that trip anywhere else. I'm not that kind of person at all, and that's not at all what I want from Alaska, it's the total opposite of why I would come there!!!

I would come there because I am my own person, because I need to be among others who are. Independent people with the guts to make it on their own where it's a hard thing to do. Those are the people I want around me. NOT a bunch of corporate leftist POS profitmongers turning the wild beauty of Alaska into just another globalization project in which they can have their cocktail parties and rape the place.

I might have been naiive, but I really did have the notion that I could expect better of Alaska than that leftist BS trip! I really did think I could go to one of the last frontier regions and live as I was meant to.

America... wow... what a country that was....


Amy

[amylewis]

Does anyone know of microtowns far into the interior where a well armed girl can get established provided she can get her stuff there? I can sacrifice, I just need to be where the government isn't. I can fish, smoke salmon and hunt and do just fine. If I have a roof and firewood... and good people around me I'll be okay.

a.