Hello there... Been lurking for awhile, a link to Halffast's novel brought me here, and I figured it's about time I actually joined. I live in somewhat remote Alaska, and have been off the grid for almost a year now- not done yet, but on the way. Also in the National Guard, and as a recent graduate of SERE (Survival Evasion Resistance and Escape) school in Spokane, WA, I started taking survival a little more seriously. I figured I may be able to gain some pointers from you guys, and maybe offer a little from my experience
Welcome Akheloce. Thanks for joining us. We'll look forward to learning from your experiences. When I was younger, I wanted to live the live you describe so I'm anxious to hear more.
Welcome to the board, I think many of us here would like to live the life you are living in Alaska, please share more with us, your set up for off the grid living, etc.
Thanks for the welcome... yeah, I'm pretty lucky in the way things worked out for me. Alaska wasn't something I planned on, but I sure am happy about it. As a member of the National Guard, I travel an awful lot, but when I'm back in AK, I spend about 60% of my time out at the cabin/house. Mostly to work on it. I still rely too much on gas to run the generator, but that's mostly to run the power tools, since I'm still constructing. I also have a small sawmill that runs on gas, so I'm hauling a lot of fuel on every trip. Also, I'm still relying on propane for hot water and my stove/oven, however, later down the road I plan on a wood fired hot water system, and of course cooking will be no problem with wood... just don't need to yet. I really lucked out in that there is a year-round natural spring about 1/4 mile from my property, so I have an RV style water tank that I fill up, and drain when I leave. As far as electricity goes, I don't have any major appliances running off electricity, just convenience lighting and my TV, computer, and radios. For that I have 2 AGM golf cart batteries running in series powering a pair of 2500 watt inverters. I have a 60 watt solar array and charge controller I got from Northern Tool which basically just keeps them topped off when I'm gone. I use a regular battery charger with the generator when I need to really recharge them (about once a week under normal conditions). Eventually, I plan on installing a wind generator, but that's financially a little down the road. So far, including the purchase price of the land, I'm into it for about $20-25K. I got a screaming deal on the land though, and doubt it could be done again for that price. Just 2 months after I bought the raw property, I got offered 4 times what I paid for it As far as the jealousy goes, again I feel lucky, just just remember, when it's -15 outside at 0600 in the AM, it's not a lot of fun to have to go outside and fire up the snowmachine to ride 6 miles to the truck- load it in the truck, and drive another 45 minutes into town just to go to work But it's worth it to me.
Welcome to the Monkey.... I'm sure we will benefit from your experience up there. You anywhere near Wasilla?
Hehe... lived there for about a year... now I live about 300 miles south. Given the current publicity, man I hope it doesn't rejuvenate a desire for many to move up here. We have enough people already.
Welcome aboard from another new guy. And props man. My goal is to do the same, disappear off the grid... _____________________________________ "Civilize the mind, but make savage the body."
