help from a local (Anchorage, Haines: hotels, dorms, buy)

[itsdylan48]

Hello all, im being stationed in Elmendorf air force base and arriving in early august is the plan. I will be out there for 2 or 3 years depending if i get married or not. I was wondering how essential it is to own a car out there. i have a ford focus and coming from california so not sure if it would be worth for me to drive my car up there if i am going to need a 4 wheel drive vehicle anyways. Also, most common cars? easy to purchase a decent vehicle out there? I have a few options and i just needed some more information in order to make a decision.

1. I drive my car out there or take the ferry
2. I sell my car here and buy a 4 wheel drive car when i get out there
3. I sell my car and dont purchase a new one if i dont really need it.

Also, is bicycle riding common out there? is that a thing? i would like to stop driving for awhile if that was possible but im sure its obvious not to many people do because of poor weather.

If anyone is stationed on base and could give me anymore information about the dorms and getting around base it would also be much appreciated! I am Traffic management 2T031.

I am also wanting to get more involved with hunting and was planning on purchasing a .22 rifle to start with and i know ammunition is pretty scarce in most states down here. is the same epidemic happening up there? consider a different weapon?

Any information would be much appreciated i have millions of questions and im sure anyone is able to answer some of them for me, thanks!

I have AT&T service for my cell phone, is the reception ok?

[AKStafford]

AT&T has good coverage up here. If you want to get off base, you'll need a vehicle. People own all type of cars here. So whatever you've got will work. And there is quite a bit of bike riding. Anchorage has a ton of bike trails.
You can't hunt much with a .22.

[stiffnecked]

Put some winter tires on it. Plenty of those Ford Focus on the road all year long. It'll allow you to explore and experience more of Alaska.

[Alaskan Mutt]

Taking the ferry in Aug could be difficult. Summer months are peak season for the ferry. If you can not find space on the cross gulf ferry and end up going to Haines, AK you will still have 750 miles to go. Getting a stateroom is iffy at best.

Having a car in Anchorage is not a must, but sure is nice. The city bus system sucks.

Lots of bike trails. However they are not much good during winter time.

A .22 is good for plinking but that is about it. .22 ammo is hard to come by. Depending on what you want to hunt for you will need anywhere from a 30.06 to a .375 mag.

[Dakster]

And I will add - taking the Ferry adds a lot of expense to getting you car there. However, people post that the scenery is awesome. One day I hope to take the Ferry up instead of driving. But you need more time and more money than driving.

When we get up there I was going to look into fat biking. (My wife is supposed to be working on JBER as well).

[rntim]

Last time we took the ferry was in the spring but you got to make reservations way in advance. Cost us 1600 total with a stateroom and truck and dog(a four day ride for us to get to Sitka). Also did the ferry up to Haines and drove to Anchorage from there, the border was a hassle at that time and from what I've been hearing, a real hassle now. We've met lots of guys going up to JBER over the years on the ferry system and they were all great and loved the scenery. And you don't have to get a stateroom if you want to "rough it," they have heated decks to crash out on and tons of other places to sleep on board but food is expensive. We usually get off at ports of call and get groceries at the stores. They have a microwave anyone can use and ice costs like 25 cents a bucket. 1-800-642-0066 is the number for the ferry system if you wanted to call and check what your options and cost are to compare costs.

[Dakster]

rntim - to put that in perspective. I am driving 5200 miles here shortly to AK. I will spend a total of $600 on fuel. I will call the food prices a wash. and another $600 - $700 on hotels total.

Now if I did the Ferry - you could cut $200 or so off the fuel bill and couple of Hotel bills ($200 or so). But you are adding $1600 to the total cost... I'll round things up and say it is $1000 more. Which is extremely conservative based on my numbers. I did think about resting/relaxing on the Ferry vs. driving and no need for the Canadian border crossing.

[rntim]

We were not so much concerned with cost the last time we did it and somehow we spent 750 on gas from Key Largo to Bellingham plus 450 on hotels. Yeah, driving may be cheaper but the ferry ride is spectacular! We've driven, flown and ferried in and out of Alaska for years. I'm not talking about saving money--I'm talking about options! If a person can afford it, its a trip that lots of folks only do once. We've done it 3 times and now have to take the ferry over to Juneau if we want "Big Town" stuff like wal-mart or whatever, which we don't!

[Dakster]

rntim - absolutely on options. (I don't live too far from Key Largo, btw...)

I only throw it out there as the person seems to be asking money saving ideas... That's all. Some people think the Ferry ride is cheaper than driving. It isn't. Just like I don't really believe that it is cheaper to ditch your current ride, as long as it is reliable, and buy something once you get there. I seem to see a lot higher vehicle prices in AK. Almost to the point that I could buy a used car here, drive it up, and trade it in, and get my money back on the trip!

[Alaskanatheart]

You got some good advice but I wanted to add a couple of things. We used Wrightway Auto Carriers two times and they did a great job at a reasonable price 888-594-4348.


You're going to be shocked at the amount of bicycles in Anchorage. I lived in Cali and for all the "eco green" hype there you will see at least 3X the amount of bikes in "Los Anchorage".

.22 rifle snicker, wouldn't even take down one of our ravens.

I don't think Elmendorf has dorms; I worked there for a year and a half and worked for Base Housing. Call the billeting office.