Thanks for all the info (Anchorage, Fairbanks: sale, rent, sex offenders)

[lovinCarl]

My husband and I have read soooo many threads on the pros and cons, do and do nots of moving to Alaska we feel we are more prepared

We'll more than likely move there w/o jobs unless the hubby can hit it lucky and someone gives him a chance (I've been having him put on his cover letters "will relocate at own expense) but we're making sure we are coming w/at THE LEAST 10K to tide us until jobs are obtained

We'd like to move now but w/Montana winter about to hit and AK winter we'd staying here until April/beginning of May.

We've also started selling little items on Ebay to get rid of them and make more money for our move and are preparing for a HUGE garage sale when spring hits to get rid of a bulk of our HH goods.

We'll keep mattresses, flat screen TV, linens, etc.. things that we'd need right away but couch, dressers etc will be sold.. (yup.. been reading this board LOL)

I own outright a 2002 Mustang that we are going to sell and we also have a 2005 Chevy Malibu Maxx that would make the trip but it won't tow a small Uhaul trailer some come spring we're going to see about trading that and getting a SUV.

We've also purchased Milepost 2008. We have the forms for our rifles going through Canada and we know about health certs and shots for our 3 cats LOL.

Anything we are missing?

(btw.. we don't want to live in Anchorage as it is WAYYYY too big for us (we are coming from a town of 7400 in MT) but we're going to live there first to get our feet wet, find jobs and obtain a AK mailing address so it will look better on resume (We're partial to Eagle River, Homer, Juneau)

[JavaPhil]

Starting off in Anchorage, you might be able to relocate to Homer relatively cheaply and easily. Eagle River is about 10 miles outside of downtown Anchorage. Relocating to Juneau is an entirely different proposition. SE Alaska is primarily reached via plane or ferry, Haines being an exception. These are coastal or island communities without road access to the outside (picture the movie town of Mystery, AK, but real) Homer and Eagle River are on the road system. Juneau is not.

Just thought you might want to know before you settled in.

[lovinCarl]

Originally Posted by JavaPhil

Starting off in Anchorage, you might be able to relocate to Homer relatively cheaply and easily. Eagle River is about 10 miles outside of downtown Anchorage. Relocating to Juneau is an entirely different proposition. SE Alaska is primarily reached via plane or ferry, Haines being an exception. These are coastal or island communities without road access to the outside (picture the movie town of Mystery, AK, but real) Homer and Eagle River are on the road system. Juneau is not.

Just thought you might want to know before you settled in.

Oh we knew that about Juneau, etc. That was a huge plus in our eyes. But we were looking at the cost of rent in Juneau in their newspaper and it was bit pricy for people just starting out in AK. We also looked at Fairbanks and North Pole as from what I was reading NP was pretty close to Fairbanks and a small place more to our suiting but my friend (who is also moving to AK) said NP is full of sex offenders LOL.

We'll be okay starting out in Anchorage we just don't want to make it our permanent home there. It's just a starting point for us.

(btw. Mystery, AK is one of my fave movies.. just watched it again a week ago)

[megensmom]

Even with the forms you are subject to a very deep search at the boarders with guns and also you have all the extra fees. Why not just mail them up in pieces via USPS and insure them. It is totally legal if you don't try and send the full gun.

[akck]

[quote=lovinCarl;6364698] Anything we are missing?[quote]

Passports will be needed if you're delayed and come up in June.

[lovinCarl]

[quote=akck;6377316][quote=lovinCarl;6364698] Anything we are missing?

Passports will be needed if you're delayed and come up in June.

Already have those. We got ours a year ago. We're just working on my MILs now.

[lovinCarl]

Well got the Milepost. It's ALOT bigger than we thought or what it looks like online.. good reading material through the winter LOL..

[warptman]

Originally Posted by lovinCarl

Well got the Milepost. It's ALOT bigger than we thought or what it looks like online.. good reading material through the winter LOL..

Read up on it, there will be a test on Monday.

[Glitch]

Wow! I'm seriously impressed. You have indeed been reading this forum and are very well prepared. I congratulate you on your diligence.

Other small communities you might want to consider are Seward, Whittier, Sterling, Soldotna, and Kenai on the Peninsula, or Palmer, Wasilla, Sutton, Houston, Willow, Trapper Creek, and Talkeetna in the Mat-Su Valley.

A lot of people move to Alaska from lower-48 cities, and that is why we usually recommend that they start out in Anchorage first to get their feet wet before moving to one of the smaller communities. It is quite a culture shock for most people to move from a city with a million or more residents to a town with only a few thousand people. But since you are coming from a town of 7,400 you won't have the same misperceptions as city critters.

[akck]

Originally Posted by lovinCarl

Well got the Milepost. It's ALOT bigger than we thought or what it looks like online.. good reading material through the winter LOL..

Since you be using the entire book for your trip, one thing I did was to use Post-It flags for the section of roads we'd be traveling. It made it easier to find each section as we were driving.