The Journey Continues

We arrived in Prince Rupert on Sunday August the 26th around 4:30, having had driven over 1000 miles since leaving Seattle. We stayed in a older overpriced hotel not too far from the ferry terminal. Since the ferry was leaving at 7:15 we had to get up at 3:45 to check in. This amounted to little more than waiting in line, in the car for over two hours. We had enjoyed the drive through British Columbia but next time I would rather sit on the ferry for two days. We were a little exhausted by the time we got on the ferry so we tried to get a little more sleep in the lounge area.

Collin moved to the corner and put on his ear phones, Connor slept on either I or Maren. I leaned my head against Maren's seat and slept until my arms went numb. When I awoke I looked out the window to see a barge being pulled by a tug. The green and yellow containers were unmistakable those of Alaska Marine Lines. We had passed our belongings in the inland passage!

We arrived in Ketchikan a little after 12:30. We got off and went immediately to the address printed on the 1 year lease I had signed but we had not yet seen. (no pictures yet)

We arranged to have our container delivered to the house, ate lunch and met with the landlord to get the keys. We are now officially residents of Ketchikan. Well not entirely. We stopped by the high school to get Collin registered, since Tuesday was to be Freshman orientation. I turned into the high school to face an insurmountable amount of on coming traffic. One man started yelling at me and telling me to turn around. I had entered a one-way street the wrong way. As a struggled to turn the car around and get out of every one's way he commented after taking one look at the back end of the car, "You must be from Arizona?" Now I really felt like I had just gotten off of the ferry.

Many Questions

Aug. 28, 2007
We sit in a small motel room in Burns Lake British Columbia on our way to Prince Rupert to catch a ferry. Our ulitmate destination, Ketchikan Alaska. Over the last several months the most common question that I have been asked is 'why are you moving to Alaska'? This is a question I can't easily answer. But I will try.

I have wanted to move to Alaska for many years, but since getting married and having children, this made it impractical. But in recent years I have become increasingly disillusioned with my job and my career, I was reaching burnout. As my interest in writing continues to develop I am seeking a quiet, slower pace in which to write. These coupled with the traffic and over population of Pheonix helped solidify my decision. Maren and I have been wanting to move from the Phoenix area for some time but couldn't decide on a place. So when I found the job in Ketchikan I convinced my family to give it a try.

So now we are on our way to a new adventure. For those of you who want to move to Alaska, it is no easy task. The move is more than normal and alot of planning has gone into it.






After spending Sunday evening and Monday until nearly three in the afternoon heat loading our 16 foot Budget truck with our belongings. We left Phoenix on Monday the 20th and headed for my sister's house in Monrovia. After spending the night we caught I-5 headed for Seattle. After a stop Tuesday in Yrueka, CA we reached Seattle on Wednesday. Thursday we moved the contents of our truck into a 20 foot shipping container that was to be loaded on a barge and leave for Southwest Alaska on Friday.
On Friday we struck out for Canada and entered the country sometime in the afternoon. We drove through a beautiful canyon called Hell's gate on Hwy 1 until we reached Hwy 97 in Cache Creek and spent the night in Williams Lake. The drive from Williams Lake to Burns Lake is some of the most beautiful land I have ever seen.


We have been busy for the last six days moving and driving so I haven't taken many pictures. I will try to change that in the future.

Tomorrow on to Prince Rupert and then to Ketchikan.