Lessons in packing 1

So the valuable lessons learned thus far in packing:
1. Rubbermaid totes are your friend!  The 18 gallon ones can actually hold quite a bit.
2. Space bags while helpful can also be a complete pain.  They tend to malfunction in ways that you didn't know possible. 
3. Priority flatrate boxes are awesome for really heavy stuff!  You'd be surprised how many tools you can actually fit in one of the large boxes.
4. Cats LOVE to curl up in the box that you are trying to pack in.
5. Dogs and parrots really don't like the vacuum that is used to suck the air out of the space bags (can we say much Tylenol is needed)
6. My living room is really not as big as I thought it was!  There are only about 1/3 of the totes in there at this point and there is not much more room (good thing we are downsizing!)

~Jocelyn

Running Around Flying

Ok so the packing is the easy part about getting to Alaska.  The most difficult thing so far has been getting the flights coordinated to include our dogs.  I spent several hours last night on the phone and another several hours tonight on the phone to get this coordinated.  First I was sent on a labyrinthical chase to ship Amos only to not be able to understand the first person that I spoke with and then get so frustrated that all I could do was reach for a beer (only because it was the only thing that made sense at the moment, how funny is that?).  So after "clearing my head" a bit, I called back and talked to someone who I could actually make out what they were saying and got some very valuable information.  Then today I searched more flight options and talked to more airlines about the procedures of flying with dogs.  While talking to the one lady with Alaska Air, we started talking about our dogs.  It turns out she has a lemon beagle.  Sometimes life is small that way and I at least got to hear some good stories about her dog.  So I decided after the information that she gave me and the reviews I heard of others that Alaska Air is one of the airlines I would be flying with.  That got me from Minneapolis to Fairbanks, now how to get to Minneapolis?  Well after some interesting technical issues I finally found a flight that Amos could go with us on through Frontier.  Now you may be asking "What about Rupert?"  Well he was the easy one, cause he goes in the cabin with us.  So after some more phone calling (and several Tylenol later) I was finally able to get this done. 

We will be officially leaving PA on August 2 and will arrive in AK on August 3, with only 4 separate flights to do so (and that doesn't include the one to get to from Fairbanks to Fort Yukon).  Hopefully all goes without a hitch and we all get to AK as one group.  In the meantime we have much to pack and do.  Keep posted for more of the adventure.

~Jocelyn

Packing

It's amazing how much stuff one can accumulate in just a few short years.  I had slimmed down what I owned when I moved into my Grandmother's after coming back from England.  Now I have a whole houseful of stuff (a good bit of which is my husband's too) that a lot of which I have no idea where it came from or why we have it!  So now with this move it has been a lot of purging of stuff.  So it's time for sorting: stuff we need, stuff we don't need, stuff we want and well other stuff we can't figure out what to do with but know that we can't get rid of it for one reason or another.  We began with our clothes, sorting what we think we need to take and what is not good enough to be given precious shipping room.  This was an easy task compared to some of the other things I have tried to sort to this point.  Next we begin on the kitchen.  There are so many things that I want to take but that I don't have room for and that I probably don't need.  Then there are the crafts that both Andrew and I do.  We know that we want to take these as we are going to have a lot of free time come winter to do them (we won't be able to be outside exploring after about October/November).  We are trying to decide what crafts to take and of those crafts what really needs to go.  Wow do we have a lot of hobbies!  Well that's another on the list for this week.  We will see how it all goes this evening.

~ Jocelyn

New Beginnings

It's amazing how quickly life can change.  When I started out in the process of looking for school counseling positions last year, I had no idea I would end up looking seriously into Alaska.  At the PERC fair last year I spoke with a representative from Lake & Peninsula District and then jokingly talked to Andrew about this.  He laughed and said it would be quite the adventure.  We didn't think much further about the idea till around the beginning of this year when I began to look into school counseling positions again and all of the sudden Alaska was everywhere we seemed to turn.  So we looked further and really researched what it would mean to be working in a bush school district.  The more we learned, the more we wanted to go.  So I again began the search process and met with a district while at the PERC fair this year.  I interviewed with them and they wanted to hire me but after much searching they could not find housing for us.  So then I began to look at other districts and found Yukon Flats.  I interviewed and well I guess you have figured out from the post that I was offered the job.  I accepted on Friday and here we are.

So as of August 2011, Andrew and I will be residents of Fort Yukon, Alaska. 

There are so many things to think about and do.  It is an almost overwhelming process.  Our blog is starting with the process of moving and what this means when it is to bush Alaska. 

Once we have arrived in Fort Yukon, I will begin my photo journal as part of this blog. 

So here's to New Beginnings!