Anchorage-Here we Come!(Finally) (Hope: to rent, new home, live)

[JD2AK&ME]

I can't believe it! After a year of planning and working we will soon be in Anchorage. J is driving from upstate NY to Anchorage. He hopes to leave this weekend. It's quite a sight. He is driving a Geo with a thule on top, that has a canoe fitted upside down on top of it with a bike on ether side. He will be pulling a 5x8 ft trailer (the open kind) with bulky but not too heavy stuff. I gotta take a picture! He will be traveling with our big black lab in the back for company. We had our mechanic fix the car up bumper to bumper as well as add the hitch and lights. There is a fellow in the next town that custom makes the trailers for a couple of hundred more than you'd spend in a commercial store but the quality is sooo much better. (Plus I would rather give him the business then a big box store) We have a complete extra wheel and rim for both the car and trailer bolted to the trailer and got him a Garmin GPS that has maps all the way to Alaska. Of course he has his milepost! We have a 76 year old retired teacher friend that lived up the road from us. He and his wife have an RV and have been driving to Alaska and back again every summer for the last 10 years at least. This year he got a new pacemaker and off they went. They gave J the best route to go from here. We plan on meeting up with them some time after we get up there this summer. It will take J longer to get up there because of the small car and big load. I was going to go with him but as it turns out I have to stay here for a while, so the cat and I will fly up later. We weren't able to sell the house so we went to plan B and are renting it for a year and hopefully the market will be better next spring. We lucked out and found a nice couple to rent and care for the place.
I AM OFFICIALLY RETIRED AS IF JUNE 26TH & . Excited to go on to our new adventure, sad to leave my students, K-4th. You can do silly, imaginative, fun things with Children in an elementary art room that you can't get away with easily with grown ups. Grown ups can be so inhibited-they forget how to play, pretend and use their imaginations. Sigh, I know I will have to find children to work with in Anchorge. When you are used to teaching 470 students per week you can't just cold turkey teaching .
I'm hopeing I can fly up by the latter part of July, but I will have to wait and see. My 88 year old mother spent 2 weeks in the hospital and my siblings and I are trying to help my dad adjust to her new care now that she is home. They never cease to amaze me, they are the most devoted, loving couple and have been married 62 years.
I have been reading posts but have been going in too many directions to write until now. I'll try and comment on J's trip as it progresses.
Here's to taking chances and having new adventures!

[Grannysroost]

Originally Posted by JD2AK&ME

I can't believe it! After a year of planning and working we will soon be in Anchorage. J is driving from upstate NY to Anchorage. He hopes to leave this weekend. It's quite a sight. He is driving a Geo with a thule on top, that has a canoe fitted upside down on top of it with a bike on ether side. He will be pulling a 5x8 ft trailer (the open kind) with bulky but not too heavy stuff. I gotta take a picture! He will be traveling with our big black lab in the back for company. We had our mechanic fix the car up bumper to bumper as well as add the hitch and lights. There is a fellow in the next town that custom makes the trailers for a couple of hundred more than you'd spend in a commercial store but the quality is sooo much better. (Plus I would rather give him the business then a big box store) We have a complete extra wheel and rim for both the car and trailer bolted to the trailer and got him a Garmin GPS that has maps all the way to Alaska. Of course he has his milepost! We have a 76 year old retired teacher friend that lived up the road from us. He and his wife have an RV and have been driving to Alaska and back again every summer for the last 10 years at least. This year he got a new pacemaker and off they went. They gave J the best route to go from here. We plan on meeting up with them some time after we get up there this summer. It will take J longer to get up there because of the small car and big load. I was going to go with him but as it turns out I have to stay here for a while, so the cat and I will fly up later. We weren't able to sell the house so we went to plan B and are renting it for a year and hopefully the market will be better next spring. We lucked out and found a nice couple to rent and care for the place.
I AM OFFICIALLY RETIRED AS IF JUNE 26TH & . Excited to go on to our new adventure, sad to leave my students, K-4th. You can do silly, imaginative, fun things with Children in an elementary art room that you can't get away with easily with grown ups. Grown ups can be so inhibited-they forget how to play, pretend and use their imaginations. Sigh, I know I will have to find children to work with in Anchorge. When you are used to teaching 470 students per week you can't just cold turkey teaching .
I'm hopeing I can fly up by the latter part of July, but I will have to wait and see. My 88 year old mother spent 2 weeks in the hospital and my siblings and I are trying to help my dad adjust to her new care now that she is home. They never cease to amaze me, they are the most devoted, loving couple and have been married 62 years.
I have been reading posts but have been going in too many directions to write until now. I'll try and comment on J's trip as it progresses.
Here's to taking chances and having new adventures!

Sounds like you have it under control with a lot on the plate every which way you turn! I can hear you going several directions in your post, now that you are closer to leaving. You will be fine, and pictures would be cool, then maybe we can find the one from the LT thread of the car loaded to give you a laugh, we in Alaska know how to play...

[mal_flisk]

Congrats on your upcoming move. Keep your feelings positive and the minor inconveniences will be just that. Hope you wind up here before the good weather decides to wander back to where ever it came from. Bon voyage, happy trails, and all that, but have a great time coming to your new home.

[stiffnecked]

Do you have pictures of the car? Sounds very overloaded while also very organized. Was any duct tape used?

[gman6974]

Holy geez. A Geo pulling a trailer with all that cargo to Alaska? Wow, that car barely has enough power and torque to turn the drive axle. That should be a sight! Good luck!

[stiffnecked]

I think the OP has a Geo Tracker not a Geo Metro.

[gman6974]

Originally Posted by stiffnecked

I think the OP has a Geo Tracker not a Geo Metro.

lol, not a big difference there but yea the Tracker will be a little better at pulling.

[akdreamin]

Originally Posted by gman6974

Holy geez. A Geo pulling a trailer with all that cargo to Alaska? Wow, that car barely has enough power and torque to turn the drive axle. That should be a sight! Good luck!

Oh my, I can picture a metro pulling that stuff up a steep incline and just sliding right back down. haha.

I do hope its not a metro!

[JD2AK&ME]

The car is a Geo Prism, they were built with Toyota insides. If J has trouble getting over the mountains we have a harness for the dog, he can help pull!

[Alaskapat528]

Originally Posted by JD2AK&ME

The car is a Geo Prism, they were built with Toyota insides. If J has trouble getting over the mountains we have a harness for the dog, he can help pull!

What town of upstate NY are you leaving from?