Moving to Fairbanks Alaska area. Thoughts?

Ok,i guess I'll give a little more info. The town is approx. 100 miles south of Fairbanks with population of 900. Temps. Down to -60 at times, can't begin to comprehend that. But the chance to live in Alaska has always been a dream of mine. The contract is 3 years i have to stay for expenses to be paid.

Any GLPers in Fairbanks?

100 miles south? On the Parks highway? If so, that's south of Nenana, but north of the coal mine/Denali Park and "Glitter Gulch"

Forget all your winter gear, it won't protect you. Bite the bullet and buy *good arctic gear* here. Decades ago, that used to be Big Ray's, but I don't know what they have in Fairbanks these days.

You need bunny boots (the originals, not knock offs), knee length parka, head socks or quiviut, several weights of gloves and mittens, heavily insulated snow pants (snow machine weight will work, with long johns underneath).

Prep your car before you arrive, if at all possible. You need a pan heater, battery blanket, and so on....and that may not be enough, for which you need at least a 45,000 btu diesel space heater and some large diameter galvanized stove pipe to get the heat under your engine block.

Anything you "can't live without" that's heavy, *stock up and ship with household goods*. Can't stress this enough.

Grew up at Usibelli Coal Mine, lived in Fairbanks. There are other Alaskans on here, be patient!

They use heated power suits nowadays, you fool.

Purchase a Geiger counter

let us know if the fallout from fukushima

is as horrible as they say it is

Many cold, drunk Indians.

I live in AK. Which town you moving to? What company are you working for if you don't mind me asking. Are you coming up with wife and kids? Alaska can be rough. Especially for family.

Probably a very safe place to be.

lotta people disappear up there

It's rude as hell

bring guns

Find out which size pantyhose fit you....we sent many pairs to our son and his friends in Alaska when they were stationed there....says they kept him warm with full mobility

+1

Big mistake. Try to get out of it.

You'll never make 3 full years in these conditions.

Be wary of vampires

You will pay 2 or 3 x the price of everything up there. It sounds like you have some money, so spend $5,000 or so on food, booze, smokes, OTC meds, decent clothing, standard auto parts, soap, ink cartridges for your computer. I mean everything.

I was just in Anchorage in August visiting my brother. EVERYTHING is expensive. It was over 100 degrees when I left KC. It was in the 40s and 50s there.

It's beautiful around Anchorage. Didn't get to Fairbanks. I don't think I could handle the cold, dark winters.

I'd like to go back again but you really need to have some money if you are going to live there

Feet suffer the most. Use cayanne pepper to make feet hot. Easy to overdo.

How old are your kids?

Yeah, right.

Craziness has been canceled. Trump won.

You're going to freeze your spurs off, bro.



Last Edited by The Comedian :D on 01/07/2017 04:36 PM

Yeah but they reappear in the spring.

OP, sounds like you're moving to Delta Junction. I'd find out if they have a mosquito problem first.

[link to www.pinterest.com (secure)]

i'd visit first. it is easy to romanticize Alaska. You will find a lot of poverty, alcoholism, crime and craziness. I wont speak to the beauty and the pros, since those are a given. But seriously, it can get nutty.

I think this might be true. You know.

I lived there for two years. The mosquito should be the state bird. It will be an adventure for you, OP. Good advise here, so far. Just remember that if your company isn't paying COLA, you are going to hammered with expense like you cannot imagine.

I lived in Fairbanks in the late nineties. I really hated it, but you have a lot of people there who really like it, weirdos.

It is normal to not have running water there. The first time I saw the comet Halle bop was on a trip to the outhouse. I'll admit that the northern lights and the comet together were an awesome sight.

It gets so cold there that people leave their cars running while grocery shopping or running errands. One must plug one's car in over nigh if nor heated garage. The inversion effect tends to keep the exhaust close to the ground. This can make parking lots nasty in the cold. I remember it not getting warmer than 40 below for two weeks straight. When it gets above zero, people wear shorts.

The thing with Alaska, is that any where you go there is a lot of violent crime. Alcohol is a huge problem, as is general craziness. We also lived in crazy Anchorage and left partially because of the insane crime.

I used to live up there. It is STUPID expensive.Alaska is full of itself and the crime/drug/gang rate is increasing.

I knew a few long haul truckers and we would talk about the expense of having goods come in on barges up there. They said they had had similar discussions amongst themselves and that a lot of the 'goods' expense was 'padding' clear and simple.There IS COSTCO which helps somewhat and Fred Myers-I lived in Palmer and years later tried Juneau-HATED it,real low lifes after the tourists leave end of season. If you like x-cons and drunk Natives that's the place for you.

A whole lot of trailer trash moved to Alaska for the 'permanent fund'--I personally never signed up-not why I moved there-It is a state where cons both jail type and government type are. It is drop dead BEAUTIFUL. I always said that it would be the PERFECT state if-- there weren't any people there.I still miss the wildlife-not the two legged type, and the beauty, but Montana is similar.There was someone a few months back on glp who laid out PERFECTLY the real deal on Alaska..having lived there I agreed completely. Everyone wants to go live there remote-you can be 15 minutes out of Anchorage and find remote. I was disgusted there was no $Tree up there. When I lived in Juneau the local drug store charged $6.00 for 1 toothbrush.

If you follow thru and go, the advice to take everything with you or have containered up there is VERY GOOD ADVICE. There is also a store that sells Arctic clothing called Wiggys you might look into.Alaska is an acquired taste,mine was bittersweet, and I didn't find it warm and fuzzy.Spiritually it will TEST you,there is a lot of darkness and I don't mean the season.It is ruled by Capricorn and the low end at that.I talked to some wonderful old timers when I first moved there and they said the kind of Alaska I had wanted started disappearing in the 70's. The kind of place where neighbor helped neighbor,a person was good for their word,etc. There are TONS of BARS,there is a large underground base around Brooks Range,and many strange happenings, and as someone said A LOT of people just DISAPPEAR. I am a New England native,no wimp, chop wood carry water,and have lived in Montana,Colorado Rockies,etc. it wasn't the weather or 'nature' I couldn't deal with---it was the very heavy Satanic energy,and so many you meet are drunks addicts,hustlers,excons.

There is a word used in Alaska,SOURDOUGH--on the ferry I met someone also moving out who had lived there for years. His father put a twist on the term which means a long time Alaskan who has 'weathered' Alaska. He said they were moving because his father was SOUR on Alaska and it had broken him,he was out of DOUGH...FUNNY but truth there.Good luck.