Frequently Asked Questions, or "Just the faqs Ma'am"

Whenever someone finds out that I'm moving to Alaska, they tend to have a few questions. The queries range anywhere from the polite, to the nosy, but usually fall into a category I will call "genuinely curious." below are some of the more common questions, accompanied by my responses. (Some actual responses may or may not have been replaced with inner monologue.)

Q: Have you ever been there?

A: Yup. I've been for 3 one week visits. I've been once in April, once in July, and once in December. I think I've pretty much seen the different "seasons" Anchorage has to offer. On the other hand, I've only been to Anchorage and the surrounding areas, so I have no idea what it's like in Fairbanks, Juneau, or the Bush.

Q: You know it's dark there all the time, right?

A: Um, no, it's not. Even on the shortest day of the year in Anchorage you'll still have several hours of daylight, and during June, there are almost 24 hours of daylight

Q: So you're gonna live in a cabin... in the woods... in the middle of nowhere?

A: Anchorage is a pretty large city with a population of almost 280,000. That's bigger than Savannah (with a population of 132,400) or Amarillo (187,200). Anchorage is similar in size to Buffalo, NY, Saint Paul Minnesota, or Plano, TX.

A: How are you going to move all your stuff?

A; Whatever fits in the Element gets to go. Plus the USPS will help out a little. Everything else is being sold or given to charity. I got a quote from a moving company for $5000, but realistically, my furniture isn't even worth that much (not to mention, I don't have that kind of cash). Renting a uhaul would cost somewhere in the area of $3000 before the cost of fuel to drive it up there. Tagging things for the yard sale has been slightly emotional. I think this is God's object lesson for me in not being attached to material objects. I will put a luggage container on top of my car for extra storage space.

Speaking of bad ideas...

Right now, the plan to drive to Alaska is almost immediately followed by the plan to fly to California. Just for fun today, I was tossing around the idea of leaving Georgia a few days later, and driving to California (get this) ON MY WAY to Alaska. This is only slightly more preposterous than "Swinging by the Outer Banks" on the way to Atlanta.

Currently the trip is
... 4,566 miles
... 79 hours of driving
... approximately $530 in gasoline

Stopping in California would be
... 5,949 miles
... 102 hours of driving
... approximately $670 in gasoline

The cost of an airplane ticket?
... about $550

For anyone interested, here's the current route!


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Poor butterfly

Great Alaska Adventure CD exchange

Several years ago, I participated in a mixed CD exchange. With something like 80 hours of driving ahead of me, I figured it might be time for another one. here's the deal...

I will make a (hopefully) amazing road trip-themed mixed CD, and I will send it to everyone who makes a mixed CD to send to me. What should you put on a mixed CD? Anything! Music is awesome, but so is comedy. New stuff is cool, but so are old favorites. What keeps you going on long drives?

Need my mailing address? Send me an e-mail.

Elements of the Element

Here are some of my favorite features of the new element.

The "aux" port. I can listen to my ipod, or my phone while driving. There's also a handy power outlet and a little shelf where I can store everything.



The rear seats fold all the way down. Not to mention that they also fold up flat against the outside of the car for more storage space, or come out of the car completely.

The center console has a removable ice chest!!! I'm thrilled. Ice cold diet coke on road trips: check. When I'm not using it as an ice chest it will work fine as a regular center console thingy.

Look how wide those doors open! This makes it super-easy to gets things in and out of the back seat. It also reminds me of the mini van comercial from when minivans first started having backseat doors on both sides of the van. There was this van parked on an outcropping of rocks and an orca (may a dolphin, but I think it was a whale) totally lept out of the water, through the van and back into the water on the other side. If I ever have a chance to do that, I am totally going for it.

The Element

This is how I plan on getting there :-)

Gorgeous views from a Tennessee rest stop

Nick-a-Jack reservoir

Because I found it, and it's too cute to ignore

Champion, gold medal nappers

Photos from the Forest Gump Bench

First, we take the serious, posed photo...

next, we dig into the box of chocolates!

Ollie Otter

Here's a poster from the restroom at a Tennessee rest stop. I'm pretty lucky that there was no one else in there, or it might have gotten a bit awkward. I'm not sure what social ettiqutte rules say about photography in public restrooms.

Mastering the Art of Mobile Blogging

Dear Readers (both of you), please forgive me as I learn the ins and outs of posting directly from my phone. I'm sure over the course of the next couple of days, there will be some unintelligible dribble posted as I figure out what I'm doing. This is, of course, a necessary evil as I'm sure many of the interesting things that happen on the trip will not wait for me to boot up the computer.

I'm finishing up my Spring Break in Nashville now, and hope to make several travel-related posts as I make my way back home.