Where to go, where to go.
02-18-2009, 07:09 AM
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JK Freak
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Where to go, where to go.
Hey guys, seems this state is pretty dead on the forum but i thought id ask anyway =D
I have been dying to move to alaska for the longest time mainly due to the wildlife. I live down here in florida :( Anyway im planning on flying up there in 6 month to try out for a Alaska wildlife trooper position and if i did get it (would be awesome) I would have to put in for a certain city and i dont know where i would like to go. I want to live in the middle of nowhere pretty much. i dont wanna be 100% away from people of course, but i want to live in a (compared to florida) small town where there is actually wildlife and wild territory around. Is there any cities that stand out for trails( for jeeps =D) and wildlife? What are they?
Also, do you guys like alaska? Most people here only say bad things about it because its cold and dark etc... but im looking for much different things than them. What do you guys think of alaska?
Hope to hear from you soon. Feel free to post any pics you have!!
Thanks guys.
Zack
I have been dying to move to alaska for the longest time mainly due to the wildlife. I live down here in florida :( Anyway im planning on flying up there in 6 month to try out for a Alaska wildlife trooper position and if i did get it (would be awesome) I would have to put in for a certain city and i dont know where i would like to go. I want to live in the middle of nowhere pretty much. i dont wanna be 100% away from people of course, but i want to live in a (compared to florida) small town where there is actually wildlife and wild territory around. Is there any cities that stand out for trails( for jeeps =D) and wildlife? What are they?
Also, do you guys like alaska? Most people here only say bad things about it because its cold and dark etc... but im looking for much different things than them. What do you guys think of alaska?
Hope to hear from you soon. Feel free to post any pics you have!!
Thanks guys.
Zack
02-18-2009, 07:24 AM
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JK Junkie
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Hey P Nasty,
Alaska is one of those places you either love or hate...there's no inbetween. Most of the guys I know that hate it up here also get manicures and carry thier wife's purse that contains a chihuahua
I moved up here for the same reasons you want to come up here....I lived in the Southwest for 11 years and 1 year in FL before that. My wife has lived off and on up here for about 8 years.
I live in Anchorage and am happy here. Sounds like you might want to be a little more away from it all. I can't speak for some of the other places like Nome, Homer, Kenai but they're a little away from it all and Fairbanks is in the interior and is in the middle of BFE. You really want to suffer and be isolated look into Barrow or the Slope (google will help you out a lot)
As far as wildlife, I can only tell you this...we move down the foodchain and it's nothing to see bear and moose in your backyard any give day. There are tons of places to go wheeling, camping, hiking, etc. It is a little more expensive to live up here so that is something to take into consideration.
I can go on and on all day and hopefully some of the Alaska lurkers here will chime in. The Last Frontier Area is a little quiet but it'll wake up once more people hear about this Forum, which is what I'm working on.
I'll dig through some pics and get them up here for you. In the meantime, head to Walden Books or Borders and pick up a copy of a book called "the Milepost"
Alaska is one of those places you either love or hate...there's no inbetween. Most of the guys I know that hate it up here also get manicures and carry thier wife's purse that contains a chihuahua
I moved up here for the same reasons you want to come up here....I lived in the Southwest for 11 years and 1 year in FL before that. My wife has lived off and on up here for about 8 years.
I live in Anchorage and am happy here. Sounds like you might want to be a little more away from it all. I can't speak for some of the other places like Nome, Homer, Kenai but they're a little away from it all and Fairbanks is in the interior and is in the middle of BFE. You really want to suffer and be isolated look into Barrow or the Slope (google will help you out a lot)
As far as wildlife, I can only tell you this...we move down the foodchain and it's nothing to see bear and moose in your backyard any give day. There are tons of places to go wheeling, camping, hiking, etc. It is a little more expensive to live up here so that is something to take into consideration.
I can go on and on all day and hopefully some of the Alaska lurkers here will chime in. The Last Frontier Area is a little quiet but it'll wake up once more people hear about this Forum, which is what I'm working on.
I'll dig through some pics and get them up here for you. In the meantime, head to Walden Books or Borders and pick up a copy of a book called "the Milepost"
02-18-2009, 10:15 AM
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Hey P Nasty,
Alaska is one of those places you either love or hate...there's no inbetween. Most of the guys I know that hate it up here also get manicures and carry thier wife's purse that contains a chihuahua
I moved up here for the same reasons you want to come up here....I lived in the Southwest for 11 years and 1 year in FL before that. My wife has lived off and on up here for about 8 years.
I live in Anchorage and am happy here. Sounds like you might want to be a little more away from it all. I can't speak for some of the other places like Nome, Homer, Kenai but they're a little away from it all and Fairbanks is in the interior and is in the middle of BFE. You really want to suffer and be isolated look into Barrow or the Slope (google will help you out a lot)
As far as wildlife, I can only tell you this...we move down the foodchain and it's nothing to see bear and moose in your backyard any give day. There are tons of places to go wheeling, camping, hiking, etc. It is a little more expensive to live up here so that is something to take into consideration.
I can go on and on all day and hopefully some of the Alaska lurkers here will chime in. The Last Frontier Area is a little quiet but it'll wake up once more people hear about this Forum, which is what I'm working on.
I'll dig through some pics and get them up here for you. In the meantime, head to Walden Books or Borders and pick up a copy of a book called "the Milepost"
Alaska is one of those places you either love or hate...there's no inbetween. Most of the guys I know that hate it up here also get manicures and carry thier wife's purse that contains a chihuahua
I moved up here for the same reasons you want to come up here....I lived in the Southwest for 11 years and 1 year in FL before that. My wife has lived off and on up here for about 8 years.
I live in Anchorage and am happy here. Sounds like you might want to be a little more away from it all. I can't speak for some of the other places like Nome, Homer, Kenai but they're a little away from it all and Fairbanks is in the interior and is in the middle of BFE. You really want to suffer and be isolated look into Barrow or the Slope (google will help you out a lot)
As far as wildlife, I can only tell you this...we move down the foodchain and it's nothing to see bear and moose in your backyard any give day. There are tons of places to go wheeling, camping, hiking, etc. It is a little more expensive to live up here so that is something to take into consideration.
I can go on and on all day and hopefully some of the Alaska lurkers here will chime in. The Last Frontier Area is a little quiet but it'll wake up once more people hear about this Forum, which is what I'm working on.
I'll dig through some pics and get them up here for you. In the meantime, head to Walden Books or Borders and pick up a copy of a book called "the Milepost"
Took me forever to get the old dual exhaust off...that was my first time 
Thanks for the information!! Those pictures look great! Anchorage looks a little to city like for me though, im looking for more BFE like you said haha.
What do you do for a living up there? i have been told before that the cost of living is much more which is why im worried about being a FWC officer. Not much cash there... But it would be an amazing job... What else could i do that would take me there? My dad is an Air traffic controller and he said they have a tower up there so i already to the FAA exam to see if i could be a controller up there(good money) and i did pass, but i have yet to hear about them picking me up so i dont know about all that.
I know for sure i wanna be there, im all about the true outdoors and wildlife the world still has to offer, but i dont know what will take me there and where to go lol.
more pics~!
Do you have any pictures of the kinds of trails and things for jeepin up there? I was wondering if its more like florida in that you really dont need a crazy rig to do most of it, or if its like Calif where you have to have a beast crawler to do anything.
Thanks for all the great info man!! Once im done with the exhaust im gonna look up those places you linked me.
I have hated florida since i moved here when i was like 4 lol. Came from memphis TN and i have wanted mountains and wildlife ever since. Of course, Boca Grand is quite different than Jacksonville haha. If i lived in boca i think i would be set for life. But i believe the Cost of living is higher there than in AK hahaha.(on the island that is)
02-19-2009, 06:44 AM
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JK Junkie
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You'll have to let me know your impressions of the Rancho exhaust.
Right now I'm on terminal leave after 11 years in the Air Force....pretty much I'm a bum but my wife has a decent job with the Guard so she's my suger momma for now
For the time being I'm going to concentrate on finishing my degree for Technology Management.
As far as there being a tower up here, yes and they seem to always be hiring for ATCs. Two other sites for your viewing pleasure are faa.gov and usajobs.com My cousin, by marriage, just came back from Oklahoma City for her training for ATC and is starting off making decent money with some good pay raises periodically. What you may not like is the tower is here in Anchorage.
And the cost of living is higher up here but it's not rediculous. Places like Miami or LA would probably be worse and most of the federal jobs give you COLA (cost of livinng allowance) upwards of 24% of your base pay. It also depends on location. $300K will buy a nice little house with a good backyard here in Anchorage whereas the same amount can get you 40 acres and a cabin on a lake near Wasilla.
I don't really have much more pictures but offroading here would be more comparable to FL then Cali. A stock rig will be fine but there's always going to be somewhere where a bigger rig would be nice. I would worry more about having a winch for all the mud. And let me be the first to say---never go anywhere alone! You think that would be common sense but bears are a reality and they do eat people on occasion.
Right now I'm on terminal leave after 11 years in the Air Force....pretty much I'm a bum but my wife has a decent job with the Guard so she's my suger momma for now
For the time being I'm going to concentrate on finishing my degree for Technology Management.As far as there being a tower up here, yes and they seem to always be hiring for ATCs. Two other sites for your viewing pleasure are faa.gov and usajobs.com My cousin, by marriage, just came back from Oklahoma City for her training for ATC and is starting off making decent money with some good pay raises periodically. What you may not like is the tower is here in Anchorage.
And the cost of living is higher up here but it's not rediculous. Places like Miami or LA would probably be worse and most of the federal jobs give you COLA (cost of livinng allowance) upwards of 24% of your base pay. It also depends on location. $300K will buy a nice little house with a good backyard here in Anchorage whereas the same amount can get you 40 acres and a cabin on a lake near Wasilla.
I don't really have much more pictures but offroading here would be more comparable to FL then Cali. A stock rig will be fine but there's always going to be somewhere where a bigger rig would be nice. I would worry more about having a winch for all the mud. And let me be the first to say---never go anywhere alone! You think that would be common sense but bears are a reality and they do eat people on occasion.
02-19-2009, 07:49 AM
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JK Freak
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You'll have to let me know your impressions of the Rancho exhaust.
Right now I'm on terminal leave after 11 years in the Air Force....pretty much I'm a bum but my wife has a decent job with the Guard so she's my suger momma for now For the time being I'm going to concentrate on finishing my degree for Technology Management.
As far as there being a tower up here, yes and they seem to always be hiring for ATCs. Two other sites for your viewing pleasure are faa.gov and usajobs.com My cousin, by marriage, just came back from Oklahoma City for her training for ATC and is starting off making decent money with some good pay raises periodically. What you may not like is the tower is here in Anchorage.
And the cost of living is higher up here but it's not rediculous. Places like Miami or LA would probably be worse and most of the federal jobs give you COLA (cost of livinng allowance) upwards of 24% of your base pay. It also depends on location. $300K will buy a nice little house with a good backyard here in Anchorage whereas the same amount can get you 40 acres and a cabin on a lake near Wasilla.
I don't really have much more pictures but offroading here would be more comparable to FL then Cali. A stock rig will be fine but there's always going to be somewhere where a bigger rig would be nice. I would worry more about having a winch for all the mud. And let me be the first to say---never go anywhere alone! You think that would be common sense but bears are a reality and they do eat people on occasion.
Right now I'm on terminal leave after 11 years in the Air Force....pretty much I'm a bum but my wife has a decent job with the Guard so she's my suger momma for now
For the time being I'm going to concentrate on finishing my degree for Technology Management.As far as there being a tower up here, yes and they seem to always be hiring for ATCs. Two other sites for your viewing pleasure are faa.gov and usajobs.com My cousin, by marriage, just came back from Oklahoma City for her training for ATC and is starting off making decent money with some good pay raises periodically. What you may not like is the tower is here in Anchorage.
And the cost of living is higher up here but it's not rediculous. Places like Miami or LA would probably be worse and most of the federal jobs give you COLA (cost of livinng allowance) upwards of 24% of your base pay. It also depends on location. $300K will buy a nice little house with a good backyard here in Anchorage whereas the same amount can get you 40 acres and a cabin on a lake near Wasilla.
I don't really have much more pictures but offroading here would be more comparable to FL then Cali. A stock rig will be fine but there's always going to be somewhere where a bigger rig would be nice. I would worry more about having a winch for all the mud. And let me be the first to say---never go anywhere alone! You think that would be common sense but bears are a reality and they do eat people on occasion.
sounds like Wasilla is where i need to be :P So from what i have been reading the troopers start at about 49k a year up there. Is that enough to life comfy in a small town like wasila? My wife will work as well, but as of now she is not done with school...
How did you like the airforce? I was actually thinking of trying to become a pilot once done with my 4 year. Pilot is 100% what i wanna do but i dont wanna be in the military lol.
My rancho exhaust is on...and DANG i love it! My old dual exhaust was nice, but it was just a little to loud/ricer. The rancho is much quieter but at the same time is a deeper truer sound that compliments the jeep more. And its all tucked under the jeep so thats awesome!
I love it!Like i said i already took the ATC exam and passed it and have ust been waiting for word. I put alaska as my #1 choice because my dad said they hire people there like its noting because noone wants to go, but since its a tower they get paid alot less than the en route center like we have here. And they rate it on the amount of traffic. So i really wouldnt make that much more there doing that then i would being a trooper which i think would be more fun.
So why did you get released from the AIrforce? Did you like it while you were in?
02-19-2009, 10:15 AM
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49K a year will be good and if your wife is bringing some cash home you'll be that much better. Wasilla is close enough to Anchorage but far enough to be away from it all. A couple of other places you might want to check out is Seward and Kenai. Juneau is the capital and there's some more smaller cities over in that area.
I love the AF but I had to priortize my home life and chose to get out. I got to see the world but was always living where I didn't want to be, ie Clovis NM, Korea twice and Las Vegas. Along with being married for 4 years I lived with my wife for all of 1 and a half years of that. So in the end we both got out and she's full time Guard up here.
Let me tell you this tho, if you want to fly this is the place. I don't know what you want to fly but there is a huge demand for bush pilots and what better way to see Alaska then fly all over the place. I don't know how young/old you are, but an option is to come up, get your trooper job and live somewhere for a few years while you evaluate your goals and future and go from there. Nothing says you have to be a trooper for 20 years.
I know me and my wife won't live in Anchorage forever but its part of our 5 year plan. Alaska is where we will stay but I know we'll move somewhere quieter and "away from it all" when the time is right.
I love the AF but I had to priortize my home life and chose to get out. I got to see the world but was always living where I didn't want to be, ie Clovis NM, Korea twice and Las Vegas. Along with being married for 4 years I lived with my wife for all of 1 and a half years of that. So in the end we both got out and she's full time Guard up here.
Let me tell you this tho, if you want to fly this is the place. I don't know what you want to fly but there is a huge demand for bush pilots and what better way to see Alaska then fly all over the place. I don't know how young/old you are, but an option is to come up, get your trooper job and live somewhere for a few years while you evaluate your goals and future and go from there. Nothing says you have to be a trooper for 20 years.
I know me and my wife won't live in Anchorage forever but its part of our 5 year plan. Alaska is where we will stay but I know we'll move somewhere quieter and "away from it all" when the time is right.
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02-19-2009, 10:17 AM
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I love it tho
02-19-2009, 05:20 PM
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JK Freak
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I dont wanna rush up there to soon and get off on the right foot. My mom is making sure when i move out everything will be set right so i dont end up having problems..
49K a year will be good and if your wife is bringing some cash home you'll be that much better. Wasilla is close enough to Anchorage but far enough to be away from it all. A couple of other places you might want to check out is Seward and Kenai. Juneau is the capital and there's some more smaller cities over in that area.
I love the AF but I had to priortize my home life and chose to get out. I got to see the world but was always living where I didn't want to be, ie Clovis NM, Korea twice and Las Vegas. Along with being married for 4 years I lived with my wife for all of 1 and a half years of that. So in the end we both got out and she's full time Guard up here.
Let me tell you this tho, if you want to fly this is the place. I don't know what you want to fly but there is a huge demand for bush pilots and what better way to see Alaska then fly all over the place. I don't know how young/old you are, but an option is to come up, get your trooper job and live somewhere for a few years while you evaluate your goals and future and go from there. Nothing says you have to be a trooper for 20 years.
I know me and my wife won't live in Anchorage forever but its part of our 5 year plan. Alaska is where we will stay but I know we'll move somewhere quieter and "away from it all" when the time is right.
I love the AF but I had to priortize my home life and chose to get out. I got to see the world but was always living where I didn't want to be, ie Clovis NM, Korea twice and Las Vegas. Along with being married for 4 years I lived with my wife for all of 1 and a half years of that. So in the end we both got out and she's full time Guard up here.
Let me tell you this tho, if you want to fly this is the place. I don't know what you want to fly but there is a huge demand for bush pilots and what better way to see Alaska then fly all over the place. I don't know how young/old you are, but an option is to come up, get your trooper job and live somewhere for a few years while you evaluate your goals and future and go from there. Nothing says you have to be a trooper for 20 years.
I know me and my wife won't live in Anchorage forever but its part of our 5 year plan. Alaska is where we will stay but I know we'll move somewhere quieter and "away from it all" when the time is right.
Thats the same exact thing i was worried about!! Family is my #1 priority as well.(hence the me being married at 18 :P) But i really dont want to join the military but i really want to fly...
As for cities. I think that would be good to live near anchorage but still in the boonies, but at the same time i wanna make sure i live close to the coast. Or as close as possible. I cant be land locked :P I need my coast line =D
So..im 19 now but i turn 20 next month. I was thinking about going ahead and getting my pilots license... It just kinda seems like it would be a waste... How exactly do i find out more about flying in alaska? I guess i could always become a trooper and then go to school to be a pilot while im being a trooper. How could i find out more about that? It would be great to find out i can fly up there...A dream come true actually lol.