Alaska Fly
 |
US $12.99
By the time I was 18 years old we had lived in 21 different places, so my wanderlust comes naturally. Which means it wasn't a complete surprise to my family when my wife and I decided to sell our house and move our family of four into a travel trailer so we could see what was over the next hill (and the one after that, too).
The trailer we ended up with is 26' long with 208 square feet - a far cry from the 3,800 square feet on five acres that we started with. Why get such a small trailer - especially when our kids are teens and not toddlers? Simple. It came down to our desire not to incur any more debt. We could afford to pay cash for the trailer we ended up with and "no payments" was worth the smaller size. If you can afford a larger size, go for it. But don't let that be a reason why you can't hit the road if that's your dream.
We went from the house to the trailer in stages, almost by accident, but the way it turned out is now the way I'd recommend if at all possible. We had no way to know how long it would take to sell our house so we got that moving as soon as possible - and then when it sold we weren't quite ready to hit the road since it was the middle of winter in Alaska.
We rented two storage units for most of our things and found a small furnished apartment, about 750 square feet. Over the next several months we started going through boxes and putting things in three categories:
- Get Rid Of (Garage Sale or Donate)
- Take With Us
- Put In Long-Term Storage
We actually ended up with a fourth category, "What Do We Do With This?" but things didn't stay in that one for too long before they got shuffled to one of the main categories.
By the time spring came to Alaska we had enough stuff for a killer garage sale. We held it for two weekends and things that didn't sell got hauled to the Salvation Army thrift store - no saving them for another time. We emptied the largest of the storage units and put the long-term storage items (keepsakes, photo albums, etc.) in a small storage unit.
Now we were down to just the stuff to take with us and at that point my wife and daughter decided to fly out of Alaska and visit with relatives for a few months while my son and I finished things and drove down in the pickup. Nice plan, but when we got ready to go I realized everything we had left was still too much - there's no way we could fit it all in a travel trailer.
So one more round of going through everything got us to the point where we could actually get going, buy the trailer and move in. Although once again we had to load the trailer and whatever didn't fit had to be taken care of.
The moral of the story is, no matter how much you think you've downsized already, do it some more! Be more brutal in deciding what you can live without, because no matter how much you think you need X, Y, and Z, there's only going to be enough room for X.
Jay Jennings is a programmer who lives everywhere in the USA with his wife and kids. He's been working from home since 1999 and loves it. If you'd like to follow the adventures of his family on the road and find out more information on how you can do it, too, see http://OurFirstYear.com
|
|
Fly Fisherman, Alaska $19.99 Fly Fisherman, Alaska - Premium Poster |
|
|
Fly Fisherman, Dawson, Alaska $19.99 Fly Fisherman, Dawson, Alaska - Premium Poster |
|
|
Fly Fisherman, Ketchikan, Alaska $19.99 Fly Fisherman, Ketchikan, Alaska - Premium Poster |
|
|
Fly Fisherman, Wrangell, Alaska $19.99 Fly Fisherman, Wrangell, Alaska - Premium Poster |
|
|
Fly Fisherman, Petersburg, Alaska $19.99 Fly Fisherman, Petersburg, Alaska - Premium Poster |
|
|
Fly Fisherman, Juneau, Alaska $19.99 Fly Fisherman, Juneau, Alaska - Premium Poster |
|
|
Fly Fisherman, Skagway, Alaska $19.99 Fly Fisherman, Skagway, Alaska - Premium Poster |
|
|
Fly Fisherman, Cordova, Alaska $19.99 Fly Fisherman, Cordova, Alaska - Premium Poster |
|
|
Fly Fisherman, Valdez, Alaska $19.99 Fly Fisherman, Valdez, Alaska - Premium Poster |
|
|
Fly Fisherman, Latouche, Alaska $19.99 Fly Fisherman, Latouche, Alaska - Premium Poster |
|
|
Fly Fisherman, Seward, Alaska $19.99 Fly Fisherman, Seward, Alaska - Premium Poster |
|
|
Fly Fisherman, Katmai, Alaska $19.99 Fly Fisherman, Katmai, Alaska - Premium Poster |
|
|
Fly Fisherman, Anchorage, Alaska $19.99 Fly Fisherman, Anchorage, Alaska - Premium Poster |
|
|
Fly Fisherman, Fairbanks, Alaska $19.99 Fly Fisherman, Fairbanks, Alaska - Premium Poster |
|
|
Fly Fisherman, Curry, Alaska $19.99 Fly Fisherman, Curry, Alaska - Premium Poster |
|
|
Fly Fisherman, Sitka, Alaska $19.99 Fly Fisherman, Sitka, Alaska - Premium Poster |
|
|
Fly Fisherman, Yukon, Alaska $19.99 Fly Fisherman, Yukon, Alaska - Premium Poster |
|
|
Alaska - Fly Fishing Scene $19.99 Alaska - Fly Fishing Scene - Premium Poster |
|
|
Bunchberry and Fly Agaric, Alaska $34.99 Rich Reid Bunchberry and Fly Agaric, Alaska - Photographic Print |
|
|
Women Fly Fishing, Katmai, Alaska $19.99 Women Fly Fishing, Katmai, Alaska - Premium Poster |
|
|
Women Fly Fishing, Anchorage, Alaska $19.99 Women Fly Fishing, Anchorage, Alaska - Premium Poster |
|
|
Women Fly Fishing, Fairbanks, Alaska $19.99 Women Fly Fishing, Fairbanks, Alaska - Premium Poster |
|
|
Women Fly Fishing, Curry, Alaska $19.99 Women Fly Fishing, Curry, Alaska - Premium Poster |
|
|
Women Fly Fishing, Sitka, Alaska $19.99 Women Fly Fishing, Sitka, Alaska - Premium Poster |
|
|
Women Fly Fishing, Yukon, Alaska $19.99 Women Fly Fishing, Yukon, Alaska - Premium Poster |
|
|
Women Fly Fishing, Dawson, Alaska $19.99 Women Fly Fishing, Dawson, Alaska - Premium Poster |
|
|
Women Fly Fishing, Ketchikan, Alaska $19.99 Women Fly Fishing, Ketchikan, Alaska - Premium Poster |
|
|
Women Fly Fishing, Wrangell, Alaska $19.99 Women Fly Fishing, Wrangell, Alaska - Premium Poster |
|
|
Women Fly Fishing, Petersburg, Alaska $19.99 Women Fly Fishing, Petersburg, Alaska - Premium Poster |
|
|
Women Fly Fishing, Skagway, Alaska $19.99 Women Fly Fishing, Skagway, Alaska - Premium Poster |
|
|
Women Fly Fishing, Cordova, Alaska $19.99 Women Fly Fishing, Cordova, Alaska - Premium Poster |
|
|
Women Fly Fishing, Valdez, Alaska $19.99 Women Fly Fishing, Valdez, Alaska - Premium Poster |
|
|
Women Fly Fishing, Latouche, Alaska $19.99 Women Fly Fishing, Latouche, Alaska - Premium Poster |
|
|
Women Fly Fishing, Seward, Alaska $19.99 Women Fly Fishing, Seward, Alaska - Premium Poster |
|
|
Fly Fishing Scene, Dawson, Alaska $19.99 Fly Fishing Scene, Dawson, Alaska - Premium Poster |
|
|
Fly Fishing Scene, Ketchikan, Alaska $19.99 Fly Fishing Scene, Ketchikan, Alaska - Premium Poster |
|
|
Fly Fishing Scene, Wrangell, Alaska $19.99 Fly Fishing Scene, Wrangell, Alaska - Premium Poster |
|
|
Fly Fishing Scene, Petersburg, Alaska $19.99 Fly Fishing Scene, Petersburg, Alaska - Premium Poster |
|
|
Fly Fishing Scene, Juneau, Alaska $19.99 Fly Fishing Scene, Juneau, Alaska - Premium Poster |
|
|
Fly Fishing Scene, Skagway, Alaska $19.99 Fly Fishing Scene, Skagway, Alaska - Premium Poster |
