The Schullo’s Personal Blog

July 11, 2006 day 31 of what one friend called our great escape.

Since many of you have been asking how we are doing I thought we should update the blog. Sorry we have not been really good at communicating, but we have been working quite hard to get settled and back to work. So, since most of you last heard from us, here is the scoop!

We spent about a week and a half in a hotel room trying to find a place to rent. In the middle of that time we decide to try a place with a kitchenette that said they would take dogs. It was $600 a week, but that was better than the $150 a night with no kitchen, or so we thought!?@! It was one very long and memorable night as Scott and I slept on a day bed with a trundle bed under it above a carpet that had been soaked with cleaning fluid and required a fan going at high speed so we could breathe. We thought we could handle that and the fact that the place was a pig sty, but once we determined that the shower did not work either, we decided to move back to the Comfort Inn. That was about day 22.

We continued to try to find a place to rent. We even threatened to return to Florida, after all we were still packed and we still have a house to go back to. Needless to say we are still here. As we continued to look for places we tried a triplex that was recently bought by a UAF faculty member. He was planning on fixing it up to rent and we thought maybe Scott could help and we could live in during the renovations. Unfortunately, I do not think I would have even let Thor live there and someone had decided to squat there anyway. The experience did get Scott a job though. He is helping the contractor fix the place up and will have a job for the next month or two doing that. The extra money is a real relief.

After the bad triplex experience we decided to bite the bullet and rent the place we had talked to that wanted $3300 a month with out a lease. At least that way we could move as soon as the house sold. Well, that plan fell through as it had been rented the day before we made this decision. That seems to be the way the renter market is going in Fairbanks right now. Everything is really expensive, very run down and you do not even get to call on the once in the paper before they are already rented. So, back to plan A!

Remember when we left Florida we were thinking about a camp trailer and a camp ground fro a few months? Well, that is where we ended up. Even with this we had problems, but we also got real lucky. On the fourth of July we found a trailer we wanted and the lady running the place just happened to stop in. We did the paper work and crossed our fingers that the banks would give us a loan with our current situation.

For the rest of the fourth we took a break from finding a place to live and went to Pioneer Park which was right around the corner from the hotel and allowed your walk around with your dog. There were of course festivities going on and we thought we would try the Salmon Bake they were advertising. Anyway, because Thor is such an outgoing and interesting dog, we met a friendly couple. He was the president/CEO of a local credit union here and she is a hair dresser. They were quite nice and we had a very good conversation. We told them about our situation and he said that the credit union looks at not just the money situation people are in, but also their potential and can be creative sometimes. He said if we needed help when we found what we wanted to come see him and he would see if he could help make it happen.

It just so happens that that was the first financial institution that was tried for the trailer load and the loan was denied. That was until we went to see our new friend. All is well that ends well right? We are now the proud owners of a new trailer, have a plce to park it month to month that is quite nice and are moving on with our lives.

I have been back to work for three days now and Scott started back on Monday. Things are looking up and we are doing well. In fact, I am sitting outside the trailer on a very beautiful evening with bright blue sunny skies. Thor is sleeping quietly here beside me as I wore him out with a long walk along the river. Scott is at a meeting about the new Gas Pipeline and all is well in our world.

My only complaint right now is that the park we are in does not have wireless internet. They have a connection in the building, but it is not always open. I have been working a deal with them though. I gave them my wireless router and made the park wireless. Unfortunately it does not quite reach where we are. I plan to try a repeater and see if I can get a decent connection, but that will have to wait until I can find a repeater to extend the signal.

Well, I have work to do for my class and the St. Pete project, so I better sign off. Scott can add more later if he feels up to it.

You are all in our thoughts! – S&S

On day 16 we started our hunt for a place to live. I had started trying to find a place to rent from Florida about 6 weeks ago with little success. We are finding that success is no better in person. Today is day 20 and we are still in the Comfort Inn. We have had a bit more success today thanks to the help of the ladies at CDE (where I will be working). We have a couple of good prospects now, but the journey once we got to Fairbanks has been quite stressful on all of us. Thor has also been quite stressed with a great deal of separation anxiety setting in. He has had a tough time adjusting, but he seems to be doing much better today. I will write more late about the last few days, but for now know we are safe in Fairbanks and still homeless.

Good night!
S&S

Our last day started off with a good breakfast and conversation with people from other places. Breakfast came with the package and consisted of blueberry pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausage (both reindeer and beef/pork), yogurt and fresh fruit.

At breakfast we talked with a couple from California who had just come from Fairbanks. They said that the road from Fairbanks to Tok was very rough, so we should expect bumps. This was after we told them that our trip to Tok had been quite bumpy. They were headed to Whitehorse. Boy were they in for a surprise if they thought the road from Fairbanks to Tok was rough … Our breakfast experience gave us a good start to our final day.

Our last day of travel was a bit rainy and uneventful. However, we were told that the day before they had flash floods and at least we did not get involved in that delay. The trip to Fairbanks was only a little bumpy and we were in Fairbanks by about 2:00 pm. We checked into the Comfort Inn at $150 per night!!! Hopefully we can find a place to live quickly!

After checking in at the hotel we went to have a late lunch at a restaurant suggested by the house keeping crew who were infatuated by Thor. The place was called Los Amigos and had a great buffet of American and Mexican foods.

Once we were done with lunch, we called our realtor and also Curt, my boss. The realtor gave us a big package of houses to look through to see if we wanted to drive by them. Curt invited us to dinner on Tuesday. After that, we kind of crashed for the rest of the day.

More later… S&S

Today we figured we would have a short trip to Tok (pronounced Toke) Alaska as it was only about 400 miles. However, we did not plan on having to go 35-40 miles per hour. The frost upheaval in this area was so bad that it limited our ability to drive at any higher speeds. Just as we thought we had a good stretch, a new bump would jump out and surprise us!

So, the going was quite slow and what should have been an easy day ended up rather long. The drive was also quite curvy as we were following the edge of the Kluane Lake and the Kluane River with the road between the water and a cliff most of the way.

The scenery was not nearly as pretty today as a lot of areas were covered in scrub brush and wide dry river bed. This made us think that the spring run off in these areas result in huge rivers flowing over the areas we saw as dry.

We crossed the border today back into the US. It was rather strange as we passed the Canadian border without having to stop. Then about 20 miles later we hit Port Alcan which is the US customs stop. It is like there is a no mans land in between the two custom stations. This is also where we changed over to Alaskan time which is one hour off of Pacific Time. I think we finally know what time it is  and our bodies are still trying to adjust.

Once we reached Tok, we found a nice bed and breakfast (The Cleft of the Rock) that consisted of cabins in the woods and unhooked the trailer so we could get some dinner in town. At dinner we shared our table with a nice local couple who told us much about the area.

The Cleft of the Rock was a very nice place to stay and we would suggest it to others. Good night! – S&S

Today we figured we would have a short trip to Tok (pronounced Toke) Alaska as it was only about 400 miles. However, we did not plan on having to go 35-40 miles per hour. The frost upheaval in this area was so bad that it limited our ability to drive at any higher speeds. Just as we thought we had a good stretch, a new bump would jump out and surprise us! So, the going was quite slow and what should have been an easy day ended up rather long. The drive was also quite curvy as we were following the edge of the Kluane Lake and the Kluane River with the road between the water and a cliff most of the way.

The scenery was not nearly as pretty today as a lot of areas were covered in scrub brush and wide dry river bed. This made us think that the spring run off in these areas result in huge rivers flowing over the areas we saw as dry.

We crossed the border today back into the US. It was rather strange as we passed the Canadian border without having to stop. Then about 20 miles later we hit Port Alcan which is the US customs stop. It is like there is a no mans land in between the two custom stations. This is also where we changed over to Alaskan time which is one hour off of Pacific Time. I think we finally know what time it is and our bodies are still trying to adjust.

Once we reached Tok, we found a nice bed and breakfast (The Cleft of the Rock) that consisted of cabins in the woods and unhooked the trailer so we could get some dinner in town. At dinner we shared our table with a nice local couple who told us much about the area.

The Cleft of the Rock was a very nice place to stay and we would suggest it to others. Good night! – S&S