Moving into my cabin in Talkeetna, Alaska

Well, it's adios Anchorage adios fast food restaurants, Starbucks, Wal-Mart, book stores, grocery stores, and hello Talkeetna. Today is move-in day.

I'll be driving up to Talkeetna shortly (a 2.5-3 hour drive), after one last stack of sourdough pancakes at the Downtown Deli.

On the way up I'm going to stop at the WalMart in Eagle River to pick up a few more items, but as I think about it, there isn't much room in the car, so it's just going to be very basic items like laundry detergent, soda, hmm, and a bag of Oreo cookies :).

I'm excited about unpacking the car, and settling down for a little while. Trying to find a place to live in a hurry is a nerve-wracking experience. I'll guess that I've sent 50 emails, made 20-30 phone calls, tried to work with local realtors, changed hotels five times, seen hotel rates go from $80/night to $160/night, and traveled a few hundred miles to get to this point, so yes, I'm ready to settle down for a while. Just knowing that I have a place to live has made the last few days more pleasant.

That being said I'm also nervous about this decision, and second-guessing myself. But that's okay, part of this venture is about trying to feel alive again, experience new things, and get away from so-called civilization, so I think this is the right thing.

Best sources of information for Alaska rentals

During this process the best leads I got were from craigslist, talking to realtors, the local Wasilla newspaper, and talking to various people in coffee shops and restaurants, in that order.

The Anchorage Daily News, the largest local newspaper, was surprisingly no help at all. Maybe because they focus on traditional classifieds and work mostly with apartment complexes and people looking to sell homes, they didn't have anything I was interested in.