More Stress & On the Road

Wednesday - Another stressful day. The buyers are having an engineer go through the house to identify any potential issues that they may want to be addressed before closing. Maybe I’m just a pessimist and shouldn’t worry so much…

Saturday - This morning, I started heading south. This is just a generic photo between Delta Junction and Tok. I’m having lunch at Fast Eddy’s in Tok as it’s sort of the last really good salad bar before hitting the Alaska Hwy. 

There was a line of RVs at the border so it was about half an hour. But no issues and I’m not in a real hurry on this trip. 

I stopped at Discovery Yukon as they had wall tents as well as RV sites. I’ve stayed here several times before and it is a nice location. Around 350 miles from Fairbanks. The next location is Haines Junction which is another 150 miles. Six weeks ago, I stayed in a rest area near Kluane Lake. Since the Jeep is packed to the roof, sleeping in the car really isn’t an option.

This is the closest I’ve been to “camping” in quite a while. No cell service but the office area has WiFi. Dinner was minimal since I had lunch at Fast Eddy’s. Tomorrow may be a longer drive as I would like to get to the northern end of the Cassiar. 

Misc…

Friday - I dropped a bunch more stuff at the transfer station mostly from the garage. On Wednesday, we dropped off quite a few boxes of kitchen stuff at Journey Church for distribution on Thursday. We have almost as much to drop off again next week. We have multiple piles of stuff headed for storage, transfer station, dumpster, churches, Literacy Council, Value Village, and to be hauled out in the Jeep. Bridget is trying to get hold of a local charity that is looking for furniture donations. 

Saturday - I think fall is here!

More stuff has left. Someone stopped by to pick up some Christmas decor and left with a lot more! Thank you Sara! 

Even the snowblower has been sold!

I got some good exercise helping a friend stack wood. I believe it was around two cords already split. 

Sunday - More evidence that fall has arrived. We are still sorting through stuff. All of the books are bagged up to go. Most of them are headed to Value Village. Plus a carload of stuff for the transfer station. 

Monday - More stuff dropped off today at multiple locations. And, we heard from the buyers that we can leave some things such as yard tools and a couple pieces of furniture. That was great news.

Tuesday - This morning after coffee, we met with some other RVers at the Fairbanks Food Bank to pack food boxes. We packed 72 boxes (two pallets) of boxes to be shipped out to individuals in northwest Alaska. 

New Tires for the Jeep

Monday - Time for new tires on the Jeep. Between being towed and driving, they have around 65,000 miles. I can’t complain about that. This is on the stock all-season tires. The new tires are all-terrain with a snow rating. And one size larger so the speedometer should be more accurate. Like every other car, it read a few percent high due to EU rules. I.e. the speedometer can read higher than actual but can not read lower. So manufacturers have them alway read above actual speed. As a side benefit for the manufacturer, the warranty will run out slightly faster!

I had originally ordered tires from Costco but when I went to my appointment to get them installed, I was told that Costco policy wouldn’t allow them to install them. The weight rating of the new tires were slightly less than the stock tires. So they gave me a refund. I bought the new tires from Alyeska Tire, the same shop that my son had worked at. I got a much better price than Costco.

Finding Our Someday

Thursday - We stopped at the visitors center near Portage Glacier. I drove by here three years ago when I got off the ferry with the Prius but didn’t stop then. It’s a nice, large visitor center with a good movie and lots of interactive displays. Portage Glacier is the one in the middle and it has receded a lot. Back in the early 80s, it was near where I’m standing. A lot of change.

In the evening, we went to a meetup arranged by an RV YouTube channel Finding Our Someday. We had briefly met them earlier in Tampa but there was quite a crowd then. The couple travel with their two teenage daughters and put out videos every week for years. 

They are now traveling in a beta class C motorhome from trailer RV manufacturer Grand Design. The 25’ RV is surprisingly large enough for their family. They are the middle four in this photo. 

Friday - We headed north before 8am as we needed to get back to Fairbanks to pick up the Jeep at the dealer. The recall was finished on Wednesday morning and they kept the Jeep in their fenced lot until we were able to pick it up today. 

Road Trip

Sunday - For the first time, the whole “empty the house” seems manageable. After emptying the shed with most of the stuff headed to the transfer station, I started pulling stuff from the “garage sale pile” and putting it into the transfer station pile. Stuff that nobody would buy but it’s still usable. Such as cheap ratchets or plumbing snakes. 

Tuesday - After coffee, we drove to Anchorage. It was raining for the first couple of hours and it started to clear up south of Cantwell. The rest of the drive was pleasant enough though there were a lot of people driving significantly under the speed limit. Not sure why…

Before coffee, I dropped the Jeep off at the dealer for a recall service. At almost 50K miles, we are getting a new clutch (flywheel, pressure plate, disc, throw out bearing, etc). It was supposed to be done today but they didn’t call so maybe they aren’t done yet.

Wednesday - After spending the night at our nephew’s home, we continued south towards Kenai. This is Turnagain Arm from the Seward Hwy. the tide is out but it wasn’t low tide. The last picture is a pano of the mouth of the Kenai River. Mt. Redoubt is the most prominent peak across the inlet  I hadn’t been to Kenai since the early 80s. 

Even More Junk...

Wednesday - After the rush and effort put into emptying the house for the listing photos, the remainder of yesterday was pretty laid back. I opted to not hang around for the photos. I kind of didn't want to hear the problems and shortcomings. This morning, we pulled out many bins of Legos and other toys out of the shed. There are also several Christmas trees, a couple of old tires, some furniture, a smoker, etc. A bunch of junk. Sigh...

Thursday - The shed is “empty”. I’m leaving the stuff like closet doors and screen doors that were removed over the years. Almost everything ended up at the transfer station i.e. trash.

Friday - Another damp day with a high temperature of only 60°F. The “For Sale” sign went up today and listing goes active on Sunday. There is still a lot more cleanup to do. The garage still has the yard sale stuff plus things that are going down in the Jeep. I need to start sorting out the things that are never going to sell and just take them down to the recycle area at the transfer station.

Saturday - Train rides were free today At Alaskaland Pioneer Park. We just happened to be there today as Bridget was dropping things off that she sold. 

Not a super exciting ride but the price was right. We went around the park twice. 

 

More Stuff…

Thursday - Morning coffee with friends at Alaska Coffee Roasters Company. One of the things I miss when gone from Fairbanks. After coffee, I head to storage to pick up the electric chain saw. One of the tools that I want to bring back to the RV. I don’t see a need for it in Alaska and it’s hard to transport on a plane. 

I started stacking things that would be in the Jeep on a shelf in the garage. There isn’t much room in the Jeep but I think the pile of stuff will be modest. I need to start looking for a bicycle rack as I want to bring my old bicycle down to TX. The e-bike is fine but it's not the same.

Friday - It's feeling like Fall is just around the corner. The temperature at 1pm is only 51°F.

Sunday - a not-rainy day for the first time in almost a week. I finished painting the old frame of the front porch. I’m calling it “done”. I also moved the swing back to the rear deck as the eyelets it is currently hanging from were designed for hanging plants not a swing. 

Tuesday - A photographer came by this morning to take pictures of the house for the listing. I left and went to coffee just to avoid hearing something or me saying something about the whole sale process. I'm kind of burned out by all of this. And still sore from mowing the grass and using the string trimmer along the road and driveway. And today, I need to start emptying out the shed. So much junk...