In 2017 our family made the move to Alaska with a dream and a plan. Our story is not like most that we have heard. Daryl and I had never set foot in the state of Alaska. Living here was a childhood dream of mine, and later became Daryls. Then our son and our future daughter in law got on board as well.
The house stayed on the market a very long time, and eventually we went ahead and moved here leaving an empty house and everything that did not fit in the cargo trailer behind.
The following year, we made the choice to let the house go back to the bank after all that time of it not selling, even with a new remodel and three different realtors.
I don’t share that with you to make you feel sorry for us, I say that because a lot of people don’t speak of these things when things go sideways, regardless of where you have decided to call home.
We hear and see many good people who are able to sell their homes and turn a profit to have a debt free life and money to either build or buy their dream land with a house or cabin. That was our plan too, but it didn’t happen that way for us in the beginning of our Alaskan journey. We didn’t understand why that didn’t happen, and neither did the realtors… but those were the cards that we were dealt.
In 2019 the house we are currently in came up for rent, and Daryl and I pounced. We moved in and felt at home right away. Our landlord assured us that she had no interest in selling this place, at that time. After having to leave this area for Valdez in the dead of winter of 2018 for work, we were just grateful to be back in the Copper River Basin. We knew this area was home from the moment we got here and to be back was exciting to say the least.
The kids were still living and working in Valdez, but the idea for the original gameplan of homesteading was still the goal. Two of us were back here and could now start waiting patiently for something to come up for sale that wasn’t going to go on the main market.
In 2020 Daryls truck was shut down during the time the whole world was in a scene like that of the Twilight Zone, but somehow some land came up for sale at a price we could afford. We bought it and started making plans to clear the trash off the land, tearing down the old house that mother nature had taken over, and start building while we continued to rent here.
Fast forward to 2021, our landlord called me and told me she was thinking about selling this place to us if we were interested. Without hesitation, or asking questions, I said yes. She asked that I talk to Daryl about it first, but we had already talked about it before in case she ever did change her mind. I did talk with him again, however, and called her back and the details were worked out.
For the next year, we continued to rent as we exhausted every resource we had, other than selling that other land, to come up with the down payment.
A full year later, in 2022 that happened… and at the same time changes were also happening with the kids. We all decided to come back together and see where this journey would take us. At the time, we figured that they would be the ones to build their own house on this property, or we would all clean up the other place and build there. In 2022, just shy of 5 years after arriving here, we were signing the paperwork to make this place ours, after working out the payment agreements, which were, and still are beyond fair.
Living in Alaska has taught me one valuable lesson. I am not in control of literally anything. Turns out that’s not such a bad thing…
Before Thanksgiving of the same year, our son got word that the property behind us was for sale. It was also part of the original homestead that the family who owned this place had. As fate would have it, with everything in it’s own timing, that’s what the other property that we got in 2020 would be used to get this additional acreage. We sold that and purchased this land behind us.
The original game plan always stayed the same for the most part, but everything in between has been somewhat all over the place, until that moment in time. That’s when everything just seemed to line up!
In the summer of 2023 we all hatched out a couple plans to build a cabin for them, then it changed to one for us instead, and we started clearing a spot for a cabin on the new property behind us.
Fall came in the blink of an eye and we had to come together for a family discussion. It hurt our son and his wife to tell us what they were thinking about as much as it did for us to hear it. They were so crossed as to what to do, but were dreading another winter here in the colder climate. It’s one thing to come up and visit from Valdez, it’s another to live it.
At the end of the day, we all just want each other to be happy, and everything happens for a reason.
At the time of updating this it’s February of 2024. The kids will be taking off in 3 short months, and Daryl and I will be empty nesters, for real this time.
The summer of 2024 will mark 7 full years for Daryl and I living here, in what we feel, is the best place on earth. Many changes are coming and we are just going to live, without making too many plans at this point, ha-ha.
Here’s to new beginnings!
We hope that our story will inspire you to follow your dreams and to never give up. Remember, you are never too old, and you are never too far gone.