Fast Forward to July

To make a long story short and pick up from the last post, I wrote lots of letters and scuffled around with some results but not a temporary job or other options to make my wished-for trip happen. Instead, I decided I was going to do it anyway and went out on a long and slightly shaky limb. I booked a flight from El Paso to Anchorage a couple of months in advance to get the best rates. That was when things began to fall into place.

Maybe there really is good karma. Several years ago when I lived briefly in the Silver City, NM area, I was active on a site/group called Freecycle. They have local groups all over and connect people with things to give away and people who need things they cannot really pay for. It's definitely win-win. I had used it in Arizona as I prepared to leave my long-time home there and am still using it.

Anyway, I made some amazing friends that way. One I have stayed in touch with and visited while I was in Colorado and since I moved back to New Mexico. We've done favors for each other along the line. When Constance heard about my plan to go to Alaska, she put me in touch with her ex-sister-in-law with whom she is still friends. Gail has a big house near Wasilla and maybe I could use her home as a base camp.

Well, it worked and I did, even doing her a small favor by kind of house-sitting and keeping tabs on her two teens while she flew to Las Vegas to arrange for her upcoming October wedding to her current partner. That's just one example. I also found a very economical hostel accommodation in Fairbanks and booked a stay there for a week. The only huge cost was rental cars--yowza but they were dear. But I still cannot get over how things fell into place for me! I am convinced this trip was meant to be and that my planned book is too!

Sure, I maxed out two credit cards and spent every spare dime, but I have no regrets. This turned out to be a feasibility and fact finding trip; I had so very much to learn and far too much to see, even in three weeks. But I did realize my long term dream of actually setting foot in Alaska and also determined that my project book was not only possible but received quiet a lot of enthusiasm. That's why I've set up a "go fund me"  site to solicit help in making the future trips that I need to make to do my project the way it needs to be done. Here is that link if you are moved to help out! http://www.gofundme.com/df04r0

Anyway, on July 30, I got on a plane in El Paso and my adventure began! I'll go back and copy several posts from my trip over to this blog next. Meanwhile here is my first "selfie" from Alaska, taken July 31st in my hostess's front yard on a lovely little lake north of Wasilla and the house in which I stayed. Needless to say, I fell in love with Alaska!


I wore that purple shirt-jacket everywhere--it was just right for the moderate summer temperatures. I also soon exchanged my Hurley, NM cap for one that read "Iditarod--The Last Great Race." I wear a cap a lot to shade my nose after having a small skin cancer removed a few years ago and to try to tame my fly-away hair.