Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep...

 The third step of the move: Finding a Home in Fairbanks

When we first arrived in town, it was with the intention of getting a third floor apartment in the Clarkson Apartments, one which would allow us to move in with Sunbeam and which came in fairily reasonable as far rent and included features for Fairbanks.  The apartment was theoretically availlable, but needed about a week's worth of repairs and rennovations before it could be moved in.

Fortunately, David and Marci Joseph had a room marked for our use in the Fairbanks Native Bible Church, and invited us to stay there for literally as long as we needed.   The church, a beautiful log structure built almost exclusively by the members of the church,  and their contacts, pulled together by God's grace in a way that left the church completed and standing with no debt, was a comfortable temporary home.  It  has a full kitchen, a shower, a porch and propane grill, and a beautiful lot to tromp around.  We began doing some odd-jobs around  the church to help pay for our keep, as it were.

Comfortable as the living situation was, apart from the gritty, sand-flecked water (blame an accident with the well during construciton and a stubborn water-softener), we were anxious to start getting established in an actual home here.  Too, we still had a U-haul sitting full of our stuff and we didn't relish the thought of unloadin the contents into temporary storage, returning the U-haul, then renting another and re-loading when it came time to finally move in to an apartment.  So, we'd arrived on Tuesday the 2nd and we had to return the trailer on Monday the 8th.  Word was, the apartment in Clarkson was going to be available on that Saturday, the 6th.  Whew!

Alas, when Saturday arrived, there was more work which needed done on that apartment than realized, and it turned out that it was going to take a week longer than projected.  We'd done some calling around to other apartment complexes in Fairbanks, and this was our only real option. Fortunately, there were some other apartments which would be available for almost immediate move-in.  We looked around and decided on the half-basement one we're now in (almost a pit-house!!).  It was in nice condition, and we thought it would probably be better for Meghan's bum knee if we weren't having to climb up to a third floor apartment in twenty below winter temps anyway.

So we came to terms with the apartments' owner, Kal, and signed our rental agreement that Saturday night.  Church on Sunday is at 1pm at FNBC, so we were able to unload our Blazer in the morning and then take the U-haul over after church.  Pastor David and Youth Leader Tim came over to help us unload, which was fortunate because they were able to help jimmy the door of the U-haul open (it had gotten jammed by our coffee table) and to more succesfully back the trailer up to the apartment than I would have been able.  With their backs in on the deal, we were done dumping the contents in to apartemnt in about forty-five minutes.

No need to dwell here on the laborious process of unpacking and getting settled.  That story will be told best through pictures in the appropriate part of the website.  Suffice it to say that our priorities were getting a working kitchen and getting our futon bed set up so that Meghan could get a good night's sleep and eat breakfast before her first day of work that next day.  The next week was spent mostly with unpacking boxes and re-assembling furniture and contacting the various utility companies to arrange for services, etc... And, now, we're done to just a small handful of boxes to finish unpacking and one item of furniture to finish re-assembling after we buy a missing part.

The Move, Day Seven

 Whitehorse (Yukon Territory) to Fairbanks, AK

We made good time, but several extended construction zones (i.e. torn up dirt roads with one lane of traffic running largely in the narrow-ish space between the mountain and the lake, or else on the switch-backs up and down before Tok, AK).

Pulled out of Hotel in Whitehorse: 7:00 (Mountain)

Pulled into Fairbanks, AK: 7:30 (Mountain, 6:30 Alaska)

Travel time: ~ 12.5 hours

Avg. MPG: 19

Small but well-provisioned.  Very nice restaurant.

Pulled into Fairbanks Native Bible Church to stay the night: 8:00 (Alaska)

The Move, Day Six

 Watson Lake to Whitehorse (Yukon Territory)

We hit the second half of the split leg even shorter...

Pulled out of hotel in Watson Lake: ~ 8:30 (Mountain)

Checked into hotel / convention center in Whitehorse: ~ 3:00  (Mountain)

Travel time: ~ 5.5 hours

Avg. MPG: 19

Last night's lodgings? Spacious, but not especially comfortable.  Several large bugs in the room, to say nothing of mildew on the ceilings and the dirt sidewalk provided and the impossible phone system.

The Move, Day Five

 Fort Nelson (B.C.) to Watson Lake

We decided to split this leg of the trip into two days to better allow us time for sight-seeing through the Canadian rockies, and also to give us a couple of days trael.

Pulled out of Travelodge in Fort Nelson, ~ 9:30 (Mountain)

Checked into hotel in Watson Lake: ~ 5:00 (Mountain)

Travel time: ~ 6.5 hours (lots of photo stops)

Avg. MPG: 19

Last night's lodgings? Pretty decent for the area.  Nice enough restaurant, big clean rooms.

The Move, Day Four

 Edmonton to Fort Nelson (B.C.)

We met our goal, and just about in time after incredible delays (nearly 90 minutes)  getting fuel in the morning and finding Highway 43 once we were out of town..

Pulled out of Travelodge in Edmonton: 8:07 (Mountain)

Checked into Travelodge in Fort Nelson, 9:30 (Mountain, 8:30 Pacific, which we're now on).

Travel time: ~ 13 hours
Travel miles: ~ 660

Avg. MPG: 18

Last night's lodgings? Not real great (over-priced, bad service).

The Move, Day Three

 Yorkton (Sask.) to Edmonton

We again met our goal with some time delays from stormy weather and difficulty locating our hotel..

Pulled out of Comfort Inn in Yorkton: 9:15 (Mountain)

Checked into Travelodge in Edmonton: 8:15 (Mountain)

Travel time: ~ 11 hours
Travel miles: ~ 570

Avg. MPG, Sask. and Alberta: 18 MPG

Last night's lodgings? Good (though parking's tight).

The Move, Day Two

 St. Cloud to Yorkton (Sask.)

We again met our goal, but again we didn't get here as early as we intended.  Customs took a little longer than we thought it would.

Pulled out of Motel 6 in St. Cloud: 9:30am (Central)

Checked into Comfort Inn in Yorkton: 10:30pm (Central, 9:30 Mountain, which we're now on).

Travel time: ~ 13 hours
Travel miles: ~ 640

Avg. MPG, Minnesota: 12
Avg. MPG, North Dakota: 9.6
Avg. MPG, Manitoba: 18.5
Avg. MPG, Saskatchewan: 18.5

Last night's lodgings?  Very poor (shabby).

The Move, Day One

 Alex to St. Cloud

(We met our goal for Day One, though on a different time scale than anticipated . . . )

Pulled out of Alexandria Homestead: 9:15am (Central)

Checked into Motel 6 of St. Cloud: 11:30pm. (Central)

Travel time: ~ 14 hours
Travel miles: ~ 810

Avg. MPG, Indiana: 18
Avg. MPG, Illinois: 11.5
Avg. MPG, Wisconsin: 15
Avg. MPG, Minnesota: 13.8

Last night's lodgings? Best in the world!

I can see for miles and miles and miles and miles...

 The second step of the move: Itinerary

(We'll see how well we can endure these 12 hour+ driving days, but this gives us wiggle room if we want to cut a couple days shorter here and there to rest and enjoy the scenery or whatever...)

Day Three (~ 550 miles)
Yorkton: 16 (YELLOWHEAD ROUTE)
End in Edmonton
29 July 2005

Day Four (~ 650 miles)
Edmonton: 16 (YELLOWHEAD ROUTE)
Just after Stony Plain: 43
Valleyview: 34/43
Grande Prairie: 2/43
Dawson Creek: 97 (ALASKA HIGHWAY)
End at Fort Nelson
30 July 2005

Day Five (~ 600 miles)
Fort Nelson: 97 (ALASKA HIGHWAY)
Watson Lake: 1 (ALASKA HIGHWAY)
End at Whitehorse
31 July 2005

Day Six (~ 600 miles)
Whitehorse: 1 (ALASKA HIGHWAY)
Enter US: 2 (ALASKA HIGHWAY)
Near Delta Junction: 2 (RICHARDSON HIGHWAY)
End in Fairbanks
1 August 2005

The I-69 Corridor

 The first step of the move: FW to Alex

(BTW, Alex is pronounced, "Ellic," not, "Alex,' by the locals with roots in the area so if you visit and want to fit in . . . )

We tried to spread out our move out of the Willow Creek Crossing Apartment so that we wouldn't get rushed and overwhelmed, nor have to rent a trailer.  We had a couple of weekend loads for our Blazer and then a couple more major hauls -- one with the Blazer ("Mr. Green Truck"), Seth's van, and Dad C.'s S-10, and another with just the Blazer and the S-10 -- and a few more loads in the Blazer.  It's about a70 mile trip each direction, so that worked out to be a lot of gas.

The best part about  taking the approach we did is that, even though we have some more sorting to do, we got most of our packing already organized and have a pretty strong plan for what we're taking to Fairbanks and what we're storing back in the Hoosier State.   We also had several loads for Goodwill, a couple of items of furniture for friends, and a couple major deposits for the landfill / compost site.

So, at this point, we're living in Alexandria.  We have a bedroom on the second floor of  Nick's parents' house and share another 2nd floor room as a "sitting room" where Meghan has her computer ("Henry") set up on a desk and where Nick has his electric guitar and amp set up on the floor (with headphones).  Sunbeam has the run of the upstairs, and really could go downstairs too, but she prefers to keep her space from Poly unless they're playing chase-eachother games, so ordinary time is spent with her upstairs and Poly downstairs or in Dad C.'s office.

 And now we work on step two, Alex to Fairbanks...