ERE City (US)

[theanimal]

@theanimal What are the schools like? Do most people homeschool? I assume there is a hospital in Fairbanks?

There are Fairbanks Memorial Hospital and Chief Andrew Issac Medical Center (serving natives) in town along with a number of clinics and urgent care facilities. From my understanding, there are almost always jobs available. Depending on your specialty, there is also short term/seasonal travel work out to the villages off the road system(which generally don't have much in the way of medical services) that is a lot more lucrative.

Most people in town attend regular schools. Homeschooling is more common than other states (in my experience) but is not the norm. Pearl Creek elementary is the school for the Goldstream Valley and regularly places in the top 10% of schools in test scores within the state. If you choose to homeschool, the state has programs where they provide learning resources and funding for some materials.

That being said, it's worth noting that there is not a large drive to increase education funding here. There was just a borough proposition vote two weeks ago that overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to increase funding for education through increased taxes (property, liquor, marijuana, occupancy etc). A few years ago, the state cut funding to the educational system, including the universities. Although from my understanding, core departments (STEM) did not see much decrease or get cut.

There is a farmers market in the summer 1 mile away from our house in front of the community center on Thursdays. There is also a community garden, park, and playground there as well. The main farmers market is ~7 miles, 15 minute drive away on the west end of town, twice weekly throughout the summer. There is also another farmers market in the nearby community of Ester (15-20 minute drive) on Tuesdays. You probably will also find of interest that beekeeping can be done here and there are small groups who help each other out in making that work in this climate.

And finally, one of our favorite businesses in town is The Roaming Root, which sells only Alaskan made foods, goods and housewares. Something like roasted coffee and candles from some new Alaskans would probably be a hit .

[Frita]

@theanimal
My SIL and BIL were long-time Fairbanks residents with an outback summer cabin. About 10 years ago they moved to the western lower 48. They both struggled to adjust, more so him, and then moved to the PNW. More of the same, ending with his fatal heart attack as she was packing up her stuff to leave him, perhaps of a broken heart? I will always wonder if staying in that community would have made a difference.

Alaska, especially Fairbanks, has a hold for some people. (My spouse lived there and Anchorage. He struggled with the darkness and cloudiness. It can certainly affect mood in some people, though I suspect genetic disposition and familial conditioned-response.)

Just out of curiosity, do you need to haul water? What’s the sanitation situation? Getting used to that lifestyle (and maintaining it) can be a challenge.

[Ego]

I arrived full of questions (@theanimal can vouch for that)! He and Mrs Animal where very gracious and patient with my mountain of questions.

So yeah... I am full stoke on Fairbanks/Goldstream and I think the ERE potential is high despite the known challenges (winter darkness, winter temperatures, and a handful of weeks of intense mosquitos). Whos next?!

* The community has a couple dimensions. Part is the fierce independence/mind your own business of the people in AK, combined with a strong sense of "We understand the challenges of life here, We've got you" if you need help is important.

Mistakes when moving to rural Alaska can be deadly in ways that moving to Chicagoland or the PNW are not. At this point, would it be useful to discuss the responsibilities of those who decide to relocate?

It may be useful to recount my experience helping several people navigate the complex process of obtaining Italian citizenship. The first person I helped took the outline I presented, ran with it and were successful without much help. When they hit a wall, they asked if I knew of any resources where they might find a solution. They did the work. The second person turned to me when they encountered difficulties. I helped them solve a few problems and explained how I did it. I stopped helping when they continued to come back with similar problems that they were able to solve themselves. Finally they realized that they needed professional help. The third never read the outline and asked a series of basic questions which I referred back to the outline. Rather than solve their own problems, they turned to me for solutions and gave up when they realized I would not do the grunt work. While there was much more to it than those few sentences reveal, the broad brushstrokes stand.

When North Americans wish to relocate to Italy they often experience bureaucratic and logistical hurdles. One Catch-22 style problem I find amusing is that non-citizens cannot rent a home without a bank account, cannot get a bank account without a long-term visa and cannot get a visa without proof of a lease.

Resourceful people who used trial and error to find ways around these hurdles for themselves went on to found companies to help those who do not want to do the legwork.

Back to those relocating to Alaska. Would the Confucius quote that @Jacob likes be a good guiding principle? “If I raise one corner for someone and he cannot come back with the other three, I do not go on.”

Alternatively, the @theanimals both used trial and error to solve the hard problems Alaska presents. If their area of rural Alaska becomes EREland, they will likely encounter something similar to what I experienced helping others with Italian citizenship. Perhaps they might consider starting the Rural Alaska Relocation Company to help relocators solve the other "three corners" problems.

The other option is to cross the bridge when it comes.

[theanimal]

We're up to 3* in the Goldstream (Fairbanks, AK). Who's next?

*See @AxelHeyst's journal for more detail on his new directions. viewtopic.php?p=292077#p292077
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Since my original posts, I've joined the local tool library, which could be added to the mix of area pros. It has just about everything you need for building or tool intensive projects/hobbies. You can search through their inventory here.

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@Ego brings up some good points in his post above. There are some things that are very different from the conventional lifestyle in the lower 48 that require more thinking/strategizing for those of us living here. That said, we still are in the US, so you can have a conventional home setup/life as elsewhere if you'd like. But it can come at a significant premium.

[sodatrain]

Hey Folks - Long overdue for a quick update about ERE City Fairbanks after spending almost a month there in August/September before heading to EREFest at QH!

It all started with a more expensive and much longer (in time) drive from Minnesota, thru Colorado, and to Fairbanks. I'll post about that in my journal later.

I was going to spend about 6 weeks in Fairbanks with DP joining me for about the last 10 days before EREFest24. It ended up being closer to 3 weeks due to the longer than expected journey to Fairbanks. Overall it was an excellent and exciting/optimism generating experience. It was quite possibly peak Fairbanks weather/season with the leaves changing, some perfect blue sky days, beautiful northern lights and cool evenings. DP and I stayed in my converted cargo trailer and to both our surprise, she loved it more than expected! She loved life the trailer, she loved Fairbanks, she loved @theanimals, she loved the vision for life in a small off grid home as part of a charming and interesting community just outside of town etc. etc.

This visit was sort of a trial to see how she would like it. It's drastically different than Guatemala - while there are still some interesting parallels! It was a smashing success. Alaska here we come! The plan is be in AK a big chunk of the year and not there for good chunks of winter. The not in AK time might be visiting Guatemala or it might be hauling my trailer around visiting national parks or friends/family in other parts of the world.

We left feeling the love for sure. @theanimals make for the basically the perfect neighbors and introduction to the rest of the community. We are drawn to the incredible natural beauty as well as all the freedoms found like lack of building codes. It feels like a great spot to be and be able to actually *live life* - not work. The friends that we've met there are all *living* so much (vs working in the corporate/consumer lifestyle). We are looking forward to growing food, learning to hunt, building a house, spending time the way we want - not chasing modern life. She recently got the book How To Survive The Modern World - and it seems fitting. I read the first and last parts - already wanting to depart the modern world.

Slight tangent... I was listening to Sam Harris and Yuval Noah Harari talk about AI and they were making the point that we are at a point of divergence. Those who will embrace all this tech and want the Nueuralink path... and those that don't. It seems obvious now that it was pointed out. I think it's true. And we are both squarely in the "no thank you" part of that bifurcation. The podcast then went on to point out that we had a moment similar to this in the past. Some cultures/groups embraced the written word and others eschewed it. Those groups that did not embrace writing have largely died off. I feel like that should bother me, clearly wanting to be without a Neuralink type connection, but it doesn't.

Back to our experience. It was fantastic. We are aware that we may have had the most perfect weather and that some of the glow will likely wear off. But... we feel we see a path to lots of goodness. The day after we left, a neighbor installed some gravel to complete the pre-existing driveway and to give us a building pad to hold a small home. It will settle over winter and I'll be back in the spring to start building what is likely to be a 20x24 small home. We think often about Alaska and can't wait to get going on the next steps. It's decent timing to have the building pad settling over winter and to give us a few months to transition gracefully.

Some other highlights from my/our time in AK:

* One of the goals of the trip was to build an outhouse (and shower) before DP arrived. It has a composting toilet. Showers at the laundromat are available...but we are gonna need one at the land. It was more or less complete when she arrived. Needed a battery for the pump as part of the camp shower setup. We stained it together before leaving. Step 1 was to build some sawhorses. Nice thing about building your own, beyond the big $ savings, is you can make em to your desired height. These are some tall saw horses!
* One of our favorite things was to lay in bed with the back gate of the trailer down and just watch the leaves fall. It's also a lovely spot for morning coffee. Or a late lunch. Truck/Trailer on the land.
* I/We saw @theanimals several times, was fed their/the best home made pizza around with a seriously impressive melange of toppings, including freshly sniped quail and several vegetables from their garden. I successfully charmed Baby Animal, which I am quite happy about!
* There were dozens and dozens (hundreds?) of wild mushrooms fruiting on the land
* I got my second lesson on how to use a chainsaw from Mrs Animal. This was a great hands on and practical/in the field lesson to complement the into EREFest23 intro. I fell a couple small trees - and failed at my first real size tree. Mrs Animal came to the rescue - whew.
* We went Raspberry picking at a u-pick place a few minutes from our homesteads. Wild blueberry picking is on the agenda for next year for sure. There are wild Raspberry and High-bush Cranberries growing on my property already! Mrs Animal made the best blueberry muffin I've ever eaten. The wild berries made a huge difference!
* DP and I took a mini road trip to visit [urlhttps://imgur.com/0yLabx8]Denali[/url] which was powerful to see, even from 50-ish miles away, eat the pizza that inspired @theanimal to learn to make pizza, and drive the Denali Highway. The Denali highway drive, at sunset, is spectacular 1 2 3. We pulled over to gawk at the scenery so many times. Stunning. We stayed at a rustic and charming hunting lodge along the way. Saw rivers, lakes, moose, porcupines, glaciers, mountains, bald eagle, etc. Almost like a fairy tale.
* We visited the UAF Large Animal Research Station and saw Musk Ox, Bison, and reindeer.
* We managed some pretty decent meals cooking in my trailer - managed to feed some familiar and some new faces. Thanks to @theanimals for hosting/arranging. Veg Black Bean soup and Esquites.
* DP had her first Sour Patch Kids candy!
* Visited North Pole, AK and posed for pictures on their candy cane street light posts.
* We started DP's time in Fairbanks the first morning with a brunch at the local watering hold - Ivory Jacks. OK food, but a great Bloody Mary with bacon wrapped pickled egg. It was great to be able to walk there. Ivory Jacks also happens to be the local liquor store. And I don't know exactly what it was, but working outdoors on small construction projects made me want a beer at the end of the day for the first time. $25 for a 12 pack of Pacifico didn't feel very ERE - but dang was it enjoyable to sit outside in the afternoon after working and kick back with a beer. Thankfully I'm not a big drinker so it one or two was (usually!) enough.
* Visited the Museum of the North at UAF. It was quite nice - better than expected. Nice short films on things like the northern lights. Interesting exhibits.
* View of driving into town
* It was great to cross paths briefly with @AH while there too!

That's enough for now...