As I woke up this morning, the realization that my life is about to change VERY drastically. Our house is now sold, we have already shipped all of our household goods that we want to have in Alaska to a UHaul storage location in Palmer, AK, and are currently residing with my wife’s parents until we start driving North To Alaska (I couldn’t resist).

Work

My wife has spoken with several of her superiors above her to discuss options for staying with her company, and** due to COVID-19, the idea of telecommuting is a daily reality. We now have proof that, no matter where you are located, you can still perform many of the daily tasks required from an office job, particularly in my wife’s case. She has intermittently worked from home for almost a decade, and with the current world situation, she now has positive proof that it does not matter where she sits to get her job done, as long as she has internet access and a phone line.
So, in trying to understand the reasoning behind the Global Pandemic, it may be that the universe wants to help us maintain a decent income until we get established in Alaska…because, at least for us, that is definitely a positive result of this world-changing event.

My business is currently being transitioned into the hands of its new Owner/Operator, I have only be the assistant for almost 6 months now while I have been training my replacement. In seeking out someone that I trust to carry on in my absence, in the manner I would like to see it done, it turns out that the answer was in front of me the whole time. My business has been growing for 15 years, and I am just as overprotective of it as I am of my daughters…ironic, as one of my daughters, along with my “Future Ex Son-In-Law”, will be taking the reins. I only have daughters, and I believed that none had much interest in doing what I do for a living. I think that it is a wonderful opportunity for someone with the right set of skills and drive, so this makes me very happy. It was a career move for myself, allowing me to shelter and feed my family for 15 years, so let me put this out here, Thank you, Hank, for helping me to help myself succeed.

Travel

We are driving our 6 year old Honda Pilot, as it is a very comfortable ride, spacious, reliable, and All-Wheel drive. Oh, and the wife wants to keep it, so I suppose that should also be sort of important. I am actually looking forward to driving across this great country to see things I’ve never seen in person before.

Part of our plans revolve around tourist sites, like Mt Rushmore. But what REALLY excites me is getting a week long, cross country tour of America’s local food, particularly the barbecue! Memphis and Kansas City are going to be two of our more anticipated stops, but having been stationed in Omaha in the early 90’s, I look forward to revisiting that fun town, only this time not as a penniless Airman on food stamps. A local restaurant that opened just before I arrived there in `88, Nettie’s, is a definite must-see for me, since they are still open! It really isn’t just about us getting to our destination of Alaska, the journey really does excite both myself and my wife.

Originally, we were going to drive through Canada on the ALCAN, or the Alaskan Highway, constructed during World War II to connect the lower 48 to Alaska across Canada. We were excited to see some of Canadas wonders, and being a USAF veteran, I wanted to see the history behind the creation of the road first hand. As our plans progressed, we ran into a pretty significant stumbling block.

If you were not aware, part of my plans for living in Alaska is to hunt wild game for food. You cannot do that with spatulas or tennis rackets. So, yes, I have guns. Quite a few, in fact. (I also have several hammers, chainsaws, and shovels. Each is just a tool, and only as dangerous, or useful, as the person using it.) Canada has over a billion acres of wilderness, chock full of bears, moose, wolves, wolverines, and other things that would want to do you harm, as well as many forms of walking and flying protein to provide you food. However, by most US standards, their gun laws are rather draconian, and I would have had many problems and excessive expenses in order to get my firearms and ammo across their lovely land.

So, instead, we are going to keep our money in our own country. (Do the math – 200 miles is 4-5 days of driving gas, lodging, food, and the worst part, all the tourist trinkets would would just HAVE to purchase.) Instead of the ALCAN, we are taking the Alaska Marine Highway System, a state-run ferry that services many of Alaska’s coastal towns. We are driving to Bellingham, WA to catch the M/V Kennicott, drive our car onto the vehicle deck of that ship, walk up to the passenger deck to our outside (windowed!) room for what is effectively a 5 day, low-budget, no frills Alaskan cruise.

It is a bit pricier than just driving, but allows us to bring whatever “tools” (guns+ammo) we want for our future hunting adventures. And we get to watch the world pass by as we leisurely cruise up the inside passage, and soak up the wonders of the Pacific Northwest. This part of our trip will take us to the tiny Alaskan town of Whittier, a town we have already visited, and if you are ever in Alaska yourself, you really should make the trip there. They offer a day cruise, “26 Glaciers” that was something I shall never forget. And the end of our ferry ride is also very near the end of our journey – Whittier is a mere 2 hours drive away from what is soon to be what we call home.

By The Numbers

With only 99 days left that only gives us 13 more weekends.
To put it in gardeners terms, if we were to plant pumpkins today…they wouldn’t be harvestable until after we left…if we hustle and get Brussel sprouts in the ground by the end of this weekend, we may be able to pick then as we load the car to leave…
For the dog lovers, if we had a dog bred today, we may just have time for the pups to be born and maybe weaned of the mother. Maybe.
For my USAF brothers, my basic training and tech school took about 100 days, turning a snot-nosed, know-it-all punk into a future upright citizen.

Time really does march on.

Peace,
db

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This will be the Cliff Notes version of our Plan. and act as a Table of Contents for each segment of our Adventure. As it evolves, I will update links here.

1. June 2020 Leave Jensen Beach
   
2. Drive 5000 miles
   
3. Rent/squat/cohabitate in Wasilla with our Friends, MammaK and Turtle. They offered, and we appreciate it! We will stay there for about a year, as we get our lives re established, and adjust to the new, well, everything.
   
4. Liz will continue her current job, telecommuting. She (mostly) enjoys the work (but it IS work), and many of her coworkers have become close friends of ours. Continuing her employment means we keep in daily contact with dear friends, a bonus. Add in she is GOOD at what she does and takes great pride in her work, and that gives her a sense of satisfaction. I’d keep my job if I cou…no, just kidding…no way. 🙂
   
5. I will start cutting firewood. I would like to have our firewood ready before I do anything else. And LOTS of it. Liz gets cold here in July. I expect her to learn to love a wood stove. I will find a paying job doing something, I’m somewhat handy, I’m told.
   
6. As we acclimate, we plan on looking for some land.
   Land Search Criteria:
   * No less than 2 acres, but 5 or so would be better. Close to, if not touching state land.
   * Some form of water running thru or bordering it.
   * A four season road.
   * Within 30 minutes of Three Bears (a grocery store) in Wasilla. This is close enough to our landing address without giving too much up. (OpSec vs Blogging….always a tough choice) and keeps us close to our friends.
   * North and/or West of Wasilla
   * Not lowlands, or at least not all of it.
   * Less than $20,000, unless it offers some SERIOUS amenities we cant find ever again.
   
7. Plant a garden
   
8. Hunt. Small game for the first year, as we won’t be “residents” for quite a while…like 18 or so months if I understand it correctly, due to our June arrival. Non resident licenses are pricey…and in all honesty, I won’t have a damned clue about anything other than shooting squirrels, rabbit, and grouse – all things I’ve done many many times. Moose, bear, caribou…there is quite a list..wolves, wolverines, bobcat, coyote…buffalo, muskox…we could be here a while…sheep, can’t forget them (for the Tundra Talk guys)
   …you get my point. a LOT to learn about Alaskan big game hunting..pretty sure that is part of the reason for the time it takes to be considered a resident.
   
9. Fish. Oddly enough, Salmon are far from my first thought when I start getting excited about Alaska fishing. Halibut, burbot(!), and pike are what tickle my fancy first.
   
10. Forage. Yeah, walk around in the woods and pick up food. Free, natural, healthy, unprocessed food. Sounds horrible….in fact if I heard “free, natural, healthy, unprocessed”, I would think “KALE! RUN!”

Fiddleheads are among the dozen or so wild edible plants found in Alaska. There over a dozen wild berry varieties. And you can find over a dozen edible wild mushroom varieties (worth eating). I am well versed in finding and preparing many of the the Alaskan foragables, and we will easily incorporate them into our diet. I also look forward to learning about those unfamiliar to me, and then adding them to our diet too.

===============================================================

Simply put, there is a LOT to do, to learn, and, dammit…, to enjoy! We are leaving Florida – the whole damned state is a tourist trap in one way or another. Florida is a FUN place to live…

….but, we believe, so is Alaska. Only bigger. And different. And new.

And we want to enjoy it.

Hope you continue following us
Gonna be an interesting adventure…

Peace,
db

So we have decided to move to Alaska. As we start to tell those closest to us, working our way further out into our circle of friends and family, we’ve had two basic responses – A mixture of excitement and envy…or complete disbelief that we will go through with it, sometimes coupled with all the reasons why it won’t work or why we will hate it…

…and of course, no surprise here, the most frequent reason for our imminent failure, or at least concern, is some version of, “It is so cold there!”

Several we have spoken to regarding the move either asked us if we were going to visit there in winter before we move permanently, or suggest that we do just that, mostly in order to gauge if the long, cold nights of winter are going to be manageable for us. While we agree, it would probably be a fairly good idea, our well-meaning friends and family seem to be missing a very simple truth.

While I was growing up in Salem, WV, my 6th grade class was given an assignment to write an essay that we would have to stand on the stage in our auditorium and read out loud to the entire school. The subject was “My Most Admired and Respected Individual”

My typical low-grade glossophobia aside, I had a tough decision to make – Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, Jim Bridger, or some other of their class of exploring frontiersman that helped form this great nation.

I ended up doing my speech on Davy Crockett, simply because our library’s meager offerings had the most available writings about Crockett. I walked out singing the theme song from the Disney tv show while wearing a coonskin cap on my head.

The details of how it went over have long since faded from memory, but I learned the value of using written material to research a subject, and I ended up starting myself down a path of learning about many of the great men of the type that I mentioned above, as well as building a rather respectable collection of the lives, times, and most importantly the skills these men used to not only survive, but to thrive as the carved out paths that far lesser men now travel.

I have carried many of these skills into adulthood, most of them fading from memory, or as a minimum, growing very rusty in their non-use. My drive to move back to West Virginia in my late 30’s and early 40’s were partly an attempt of relocating myself to a place where I could enjoy things like trapping, hunting (NOT in the heat!), hiking and camping in hills, blacksmithing, chopping firewood, and coopering (yeah, I said that), as well as simply enjoying different seasons (snowbird, hurricane, and lovebug are NOT REAL seasons!).

And this drive is still with me….along with the realization that I am 50 years old.

• That’s old enough to have to REALLY start thinking about retirement.
• It’s old enough to exert yourself physically in some simple task, only to almost end up in traction as you try to recover from forgetting you are no longer 17.
• It is old enough to have grandkids. I have 2!
• and it’s old enough to have the wisdom to, well, think you are wise!

It made me realize being “comfortable” isn’t exciting, and that if I wanted excitement in my life, I’d better hurry if I wanted to be able to actively participate. Mid-life crisis? Maybe. But I’ve wanted to live in Alaska, or someplace just like it, for decades.

Elizabeth, “Liz”, has a friend, “Momma K”, that she has known since they were both 3 years old. Momma K and her husband Turtle (I don’t make ’em up, I just report ’em!) moved out to Wasilla, AK to house sit long-term for Turtle’s brother. They moved from Fl to AK, living in the brother’s house until the decided to buy land nearby and build their own place. Almost 20 years later, they still monitor the house, and use it for the very infrequent friends and family that come to visit them.

Liz and I spent two weeks staying in the spare house and visiting Momma K and Turtle in Aug/Sept 2019. From the moment I put my feet on the ground in Alaska, I knew I’d be wanting to come back. This was Liz’s second trip out to visit, the prior trip was in 2004. Being church-mouse poor at the time, I stayed behind with our two daughters, missing out on all the fun.

Why do I ramble on about these things?

Two reasons:

1. Liz’d BEST friend lives there, and is well established. They miss each other dearly.
2. There is an empty house available for us, if only until we find jobs and a place of our own (more on both of those in a future post)

Having a safety net AND a place to land that doesn’t crowd our gracious hosts are both very significant details in our favor, should we ever want to visit for an extended period…like a summer, or say, the rest of our lives.

I wanted to go to Alaska because I grew up in the woods. Alaska is an incredible outdoor playground. I was sold.

Liz wanted to go because she misses her friend. And Liz also likes outdoor activities, but many of the things she and I like to do outside are less than enjoyable in the Florida heat.

We both want to enjoy our lives together, while we simplify them as much as we can. Alaska provides a location for us to enjoy many of the things we have avoided due to Florida’s heat, humidity, or simply lack of seasons. Or hills and mountains.

Ultimately, we agree that life is too short to simply live. We want adventure, and we feel Alaska will give us that.

We sure hope we are right about that!

Peace,
db

Who

What

Relocating our immediate family across the continent. Permanently.

When

Roughly June 2021, but shortly after Emily, our youngest, graduates high school.

Where

Moving from Jensen Beach, FL to Wasilla, AK

And …… Why???

It is not possible to give a GOOD short answer to this, since there are many different reasons that have compiled themselves into the drive to actually do something crazy like relocate mostly because we simply want to do this.

Peace,
db

The first of you to read this will know me personally. If I continue to write, and my exposure (hopefully!) increases, some of you will not know me….but read on, and you will have some idea of the source of the madness flowing down my arms, into this keyboard, and eventually into your eye and affecting your brain. And if I do a fair job of telling our story, hopefully that affection in your brain becomes an infection as my ideas spread. Until then, feel free to read about my West Virginia to Florida transition at Floridahillbilly.com

Peace,
db