If you relocated to Alaska, how did you do it? (house, buy)

[Glitch]

Originally Posted by riceme

Same here, but I sold everything that didn't fit into the back of my Tacoma (skipped the trailer), I did not have a job lined up but found a terrible job right after I got here, a great one 8 months later, and I'd arranged to rent my cousin's dry cabin before I came up. Single, was 41, no dependents, and had figured out that they weren't going to hire me until I'd spent a winter here. So I did.

I echo Glitch's sentiments. I do not recommend my high-risk plan to everyone. Or anyone, for that matter. Things could have gone very badly, and my crappy job was an extremely crappy job and that made last winter really tough for me. Because the pay at the crappy job was so bad (really bad), I had unplanned expenses, and I had the crap job much longer than expected (or hoped), I had trouble making ends meet last winter... to the tune of not having food much of the time, literally living off of only black beans when I did have food, running out of heating fuel and firewood several times. It was tough. I think someone less stubborn than me might have given up. And yes, I do have family here, but I have never known how to ask for help when I need it. It is a flaw.

I also agree with Glitch that only someone bound and determined to make it should come up here. I was, and through all the tough times last winter... when I had to ration half cup portions of beans to myself, the warmest it got in my cabin in three days was 20-degrees, GVEA was leaving shut off notices on the door, I only had 1/4 tank of fuel in my truck and rent was due the next week... I never once thought of going back to the Lower 48. I never once asked myself why I came up here. I just kept applying to jobs, I kept my chin up, and I tried not to let my terrible job get me down, which was difficult.

The job I have now is great. I am lucky. They do not give jobs like mine away, and I am grateful every day.

I moved to Alaska intending to live in the bush (~20 miles up the Talkeetna River from the Susitna River confluence) for 365.25 days - only. I did not want to live in the bush permanently. I just wanted to put my outdoor skills to what I considered "the ultimate test."

These were the days before the World Wide Web existed, so my research resources were much more limited than they are today. However, I did know someone who ran the bulk fuel business in Talkeetna and was willing to provide advice.

One of the biggest, and dumbest, mistakes I made when planning the venture was to buy all my food and gear in the lower-48, and then haul it in that one-ton trailer all the way from Los Angeles to Alaska. It had not even occurred to me that I could buy 95% of what I needed in Alaska and pay much less after factoring in my transportation costs.

To make a long story short, I was unable to meet the milestones I established to ensure that I could survive the winter. Therefore, it became necessary to fall back to Plan B: Move to Anchorage, get a job and a place to live.

I was very fortunate to find work with Alyeska shortly after moving to Anchorage. I stayed in a motel for a week until I was able to find a furnished apartment.

That was 23.5 years ago, and I have no intention of ever leaving Alaska.

[riceme]

Originally Posted by Glitch

I moved to Alaska intending to live in the bush (~20 miles up the Talkeetna River from the Susitna River confluence) for 365.25 days - only. I did not want to live in the bush permanently. I just wanted to put my outdoor skills to what I considered "the ultimate test."

These were the days before the World Wide Web existed, so my research resources were much more limited than they are today. However, I did know someone who ran the bulk fuel business in Talkeetna and was willing to provide advice.

One of the biggest, and dumbest, mistakes I made when planning the venture was to buy all my food and gear in the lower-48, and then haul it in that one-ton trailer all the way from Los Angeles to Alaska. It had not even occurred to me that I could buy 95% of what I needed in Alaska and pay much less after factoring in my transportation costs.

To make a long story short, I was unable to meet the milestones I established to ensure that I could survive the winter. Therefore, it became necessary to fall back to Plan B: Move to Anchorage, get a job and a place to live.

I was very fortunate to find work with Alyeska shortly after moving to Anchorage. I stayed in a motel for a week until I was able to find a furnished apartment.

That was 23.5 years ago, and I have no intention of ever leaving Alaska.

Funny, I was going to ask you what you hauled up on that trailer... a single guy and all!

I moved up from my home town of Tehachapi, which you may be familiar with, and was escaping a bad wind turbine market... Tehachapi is the little place in the mountains with all the wind turbines. I got out of the industry just in time... GE announced the closure of my factory there in May, and it closes two weeks from tomorrow. Pretty sad.

I already told you my good luck/bad luck story from my high-risk move, and now I see yours was sort of similar. Actually, you might win the dumbarse award, although it sounds like I came up with less money. I think the take-away for anyone reading this should be that you and I were remarkably lucky. I don't know about you but, I can say for myself that I am not only exceptionally qualified for my job, but -- in my manager's words -- I am more qualified than both her and her manager combined for *their* jobs. My point in saying that is to drive home the point to anyone reading and possibly thinking they're just going to roll on up to Alaska and live the good life that good jobs are extremely hard to find up here.

I love it here and I don't ever plan on leaving. My cousin in the lower 48 asked me when I was coming back and I told her, "Never." But not everyone loves long, dark, cold winters. Clearly, I am broken. There is something wrong with me, and I am okay with that. I accept my faults and weaknesses of which, Alaska is one.

So Glitch, I gotta ask, knowing what you know now, what would you advise 20-something year old you back in the day?

[Glitch]

Originally Posted by riceme

Funny, I was going to ask you what you hauled up on that trailer... a single guy and all!

I moved up from my home town of Tehachapi, which you may be familiar with, and was escaping a bad wind turbine market... Tehachapi is the little place in the mountains with all the wind turbines. I got out of the industry just in time... GE announced the closure of my factory there in May, and it closes two weeks from tomorrow. Pretty sad.

I already told you my good luck/bad luck story from my high-risk move, and now I see yours was sort of similar. Actually, you might win the dumbarse award, although it sounds like I came up with less money. I think the take-away for anyone reading this should be that you and I were remarkably lucky. I don't know about you but, I can say for myself that I am not only exceptionally qualified for my job, but -- in my manager's words -- I am more qualified than both her and her manager combined for *their* jobs. My point in saying that is to drive home the point to anyone reading and possibly thinking they're just going to roll on up to Alaska and live the good life that good jobs are extremely hard to find up here.

I love it here and I don't ever plan on leaving. My cousin in the lower 48 asked me when I was coming back and I told her, "Never." But not everyone loves long, dark, cold winters. Clearly, I am broken. There is something wrong with me, and I am okay with that. I accept my faults and weaknesses of which, Alaska is one.

So Glitch, I gotta ask, knowing what you know now, what would you advise 20-something year old you back in the day?

Yea, I think I should definitely get the "dumbarse award." I have never heard of anyone doing anything quite so stupid.

I was 37 when I moved to Alaska in 1991. There is something adventurous and appealing about going into "terra incognita" with only the equipment you have with you and your wits to see you through any problems that may arise.

I would definitely do things differently today. For one thing, instead of hauling all that food and gear up river via boat, and then manually moving it off the river to the camp site, I would either fly my food and gear out via helicopter, or haul it out during the winter via snow machine. It would cost more, but I would have all my food and gear at the site in a couple of days, instead of a couple of weeks moving it by hand.

My biggest problem was that I did not have enough time. I could not get up the Talkeetna River until late May because the river was too low for boat travel. I needed to build a cache for my food almost immediately, or have my food raided by all manner of pesky critters. I also needed to have a garden planted by mid-June at the latest in order to see any kind of harvest by fall. Then there was the matter of building a small cabin and collecting at least 9 cords of wood before October, and catching as much salmon as I possibly could. There was just too much to do for one person.

Anyone who wants to do what I tried, and failed, to accomplish would be better served to split the work across at least two summers and a winter before attempting to stay a full year in the bush. Have a good plan, with drop-dead milestone dates, and a backup plan in case Plan A fails. At least I got that part right.

I clearly bit off much more than I could chew, but I still enjoyed the failed attempt. It taught me a lot about Alaska.

I informed my relatives in the lower-48 that if they ever expected me to attend their funeral, they had better die in Alaska, because I was not leaving.

[riceme]

That sounds like a great adventure and learning experience, and it's good to hear that you enjoyed the "failed" attempt... but I don't call that a failure. That sounds like a success to me, if you follow my meaning. How long did you end up spending out there?

I was teasing when I said you got the dumbarse award, by the way. I sometimes forget that humor does not always convey well in writing. :/

[Glitch]

Originally Posted by riceme

That sounds like a great adventure and learning experience, and it's good to hear that you enjoyed the "failed" attempt... but I don't call that a failure. That sounds like a success to me, if you follow my meaning. How long did you end up spending out there?

I was teasing when I said you got the dumbarse award, by the way. I sometimes forget that humor does not always convey well in writing. :/

I had planned two trips up river with Mahay's Riverboat Service. On the first trip I would find a suitable site, bringing along the chainsaw, fuel, and other equipment I needed to build a cache, while I stored my food and the rest of my gear in Talkeetna.

This was also before GPS' became popular, so all I had was a compass. Once I was away from the river I was only able to sight in on a tree or bush maybe 20 to 30 feet in the direction I wanted to travel. The terrain was nothing but fern pods, packed so closely you could not see the ground in between them. It reminded me of the egg pods in the movie Alien.

It took me two days before I even made it off the river, having taken a wrong turn and hiked about 2 miles parallel to the river before realizing my mistake.

I found a suitable sight, even though it was littered with Devil's Club (I was prepared for that because my adviser in Talkeetna had informed me about Devil's Club while I was still living in Los Angeles). There was even an old run-down cabin already at the site I had chosen. It would need a lot of work to make it livable, but it was still better than starting from scratch. There were also lots of large spruce nearby, so I would not have to move the logs far.

I was in the process of building a cache near the run-down cabin when I occurred to me that I would never be able to get my custom-made 500-pound 3/16" steel-plate wood stove off the river.

I was only scheduled to be up river for 5 days on the first trip, but Mahay's riverboat had blown a rod and it took an extra day before they were able to pick me up.

When I got back to Talkeetna I realized that I would not be able to accomplish what I had planned. At least not in a single summer.

I crossed into Alaska on May 4, 1991, and had to wait until May 23, 1991, before I could make it up the Talkeetna River. It was May 29, 1991 when I made it back to Talkeetna, and June 1, 1991 when I moved to Anchorage.

All my bulk food ended up going to Bean's Cafe in Anchorage. I used that wood stove for the next 12 years before it finally warped and broke a weld.

I got your meaning about the "dumbarse award" and knew it was in jest, but deservedly so. It was by far the biggest bonehead mistake that I made on the entire adventure. I even hauled up dog food from Los Angeles to Alaska. As if Alaska does not have dogs.

The only explanation I have for such stupidity is that I was so wrapped up in all the planning and preparation, collecting all the equipment I thought I would need, that it just never occurred to me that I could buy almost everything I needed in Alaska.

My poor dog was even less prepared for Alaska than I. One evening when I was camping out on the banks of the Talkeetna River a beaver wandered into the camp just to see what was going on. My dumb dog took off after the beaver, who just slid back down the bank into the river. That did not stop my dog, however. She dove straight into the river after the beaver. The current carried her about a quarter mile down river before she was able to climb back out.

[riceme]

...the woodstove, oh my god. Hey, you get points for realizing early that you had a flawed plan. A lot of guys would have let pride or ego get in the way and kept after it until they got into a situation they couldn't get out of.

[grandma4mom5]

And at least you actually left and made the effort to do something! If I could go back and redo stuff, it would be to get rid of more stuff before coming up, come up sooner, dropped the guy sooner... but now I have a story to tell of warning. And if I could go back, I'd go back to third grade and made better choices all along, but then the same thing, now I have a warning story of choices. And in my future, will try to make better choices. And I came up to Alaska in my 40's with a child in tow. It is a great place to raise a child. We have gone back for a couple of brief visits with family for funerals & medical, but a week or so is long enough to be gone from home.

[Glitch]

Originally Posted by riceme

...the woodstove, oh my god. Hey, you get points for realizing early that you had a flawed plan. A lot of guys would have let pride or ego get in the way and kept after it until they got into a situation they couldn't get out of.

I wanted the wood stove to not only heat the cabin but also cook my meals. I had copper piping with holes drilled into them welding inside the steel box to allow airflow from the outside, and it was lined with firebrick to retain the heat and protect the steel walls. It was a great little stove that would have served its purpose better than I could have hoped, but it was heavy as hell.

It had crossed my mind to stick it out, despite not being able to meet my predetermined milestones, but there is a difference between being gung-ho and being terminally stupid. I may waste a lot of money doing stupid things like hauling a lot of crap that I did not need to Alaska, but I am not about to risk my life when it is not necessary.

[Glitch]

Originally Posted by grandma4mom5

And at least you actually left and made the effort to do something! If I could go back and redo stuff, it would be to get rid of more stuff before coming up, come up sooner, dropped the guy sooner... but now I have a story to tell of warning. And if I could go back, I'd go back to third grade and made better choices all along, but then the same thing, now I have a warning story of choices. And in my future, will try to make better choices. And I came up to Alaska in my 40's with a child in tow. It is a great place to raise a child. We have gone back for a couple of brief visits with family for funerals & medical, but a week or so is long enough to be gone from home.

I would only want to go back and do things over again if I could take my 60 year-old brain with me, otherwise I would just make the same mistakes all over again. So what would be the point?

I agree, at least for me, I would have loved growing up in Alaska. Which is probably just as well that I did not. I would never have visited the places and experience the world that I did, or make the choices I made, if I grew up in Alaska.

I have always been looking for a place like Alaska, I just did not know it existed until the day I arrived.

[Metlakatla]

Alaska was always there for me; I was born in Oregon, but I had so much family there that it didn't really feel like moving when I went to live there full time. I was really young.