The Good Life

Leland and Donetta's cabin on the Tanana The last week has been  something else . After our first night in Tok, Leland and Donetta continued to be incredibly welcoming and kind to us. They had us over for dinner a few nights, took us to their cabin so we could see the Tanana River, and found a local teacher to buy the Volvo. We befriended their cat Dusty and dog Toughie, and they are just the cutest pair. Trouble makers We bought tickets on the Interior Alaska Bus Line to Fairbanks leaving Tok on Wednesday, and by the time Donetta dropped us off at the stop, I was a little sad to be leaving. They had welcomed us into their home, fed us, made sure we had a plan and would be safe, and treated us like family. I truly hope we're able to stay in contact with them for years to come. Without them we wouldn't have been able to leave Alaska as stress-free and easily as we did. When we bought our bus and plane tickets, we decided we didn't want to spend four hours o...

The adventure begins Today I woke up at 8:30 am, finished loading the car, and drove out of Anchorage for the last time. After months of talking and planning, it’s here, we’re finally leaving Alaska. It’s a bitter-sweet feeling for me, I truly love this state, but I’m so ready to live near my family again. We drove 300 miles from Anchorage to Tok in our little red Volvo and about 50 miles outside of Tok we started smelling something burning. We pulled over and found that engine oil had started leaking from the oil cap. While we were stopped a couple drove by, asked if we were okay, and got out to take a look at the Volvo. They live in Tok and were heading back, so they offered to follow us in to make sure we made it okay. When we got in to town they introduced themselves as Leland and Donetta, and had us take the car to their house to take a look at it. Leland and Dustin spent a while tooling around on the car, and came to the conclusion that it would probably make it to Haines, ...