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June 16 through June 25
Karl and Kristan Move to Alaska
Kristan and Karl have driven up the Alcan Highway and have picked up on the foundation work.
Here is a log of our journey and subsequent progress.
June 16
We started out on our journey with goodbyes for Kent and Leann. It has been a great blessing to have a home while we were selling ours. God's care for us through our supporters is amazing!

June 17
With our trailer load, the trailer would start fish tailing below the speed limit. In Williams Lake BC we had a weight distribution hitch installed. This, combined with some trailer rated tires we had installed in Quesnel, allowed us to just barely travel stably at the legal limit. This provided us with comfort even if those behind us found the speed limit to be lacking.

June 18
After a night's rest in Hudson's Hope, we started the day with hot showers and a hot meal before heading back out on the road.

Mosquitos became much more invasive. Here Kristan proudly display's the remains of a cab invader.

The wildlife is also becoming more remarkable. Here are some mountain goats and some buffalo that we saw near Liard River.

June 19
During the night we stopped at the signpost forest in Watson Lake before continuing on to a mosquito infested pullout for a night's rest. The maintained Canadian gravel roads actually were preferrable to some of the Alaskan mid re-construction roads we traveled.

Many of the views on the way through Northern Canada were completely breathtaking but we were glad, though a little weary, when we made it to the Alaska border.

Once we got into Alaska we had renewed determination. Braving torn up pavement, we travelled down the Glenn Highway past georgeous sunset/sunrise lit scenes of glaciers, mountains and raging rivers, to arrive in Houston at 5:00 AM Tuesday morning.

June 20
This day had a lot of progress. Here is our new place with a conspicuous target for the PolyJohn that we ordered to shorten the midnight visits. Also once Rob arrived we were able to ramp out the snowmobiles and the last remaining motorcycle to free up room in the semi-trailer so that we can unpack the truck. AND.....(drum roll please) WE WERE ABLE TO PICKUP THE FORMS!!! While I may not understand God's timing, it is a sure thing that He has provided and it is time to get working.


June 21
Lots of unloading and preparation before we could start laying out the first layer.

June 22nd and 23rd
We don't have pictures from either of these days. The 22nd was spent shopping, making arrangements with the power company and delivering Kristan's brother unexpectedly to the airport. The 23rd started with an inspection from our foam form expert. While we hadn't messed anything up with our initial layout, the first layer is the most critical layer in this construction process. We spent close to 10 hours truing up the surfaces and anchoring in the first layer.
June 24
This was a day full of foam blocks. We got layers 2 through 4 installed. You can see the awkward bridge that we built to allow us to get into the basement as the walls go up. In the evening we ran some errands at Home Depot including purchasing a small roll-around scaffold so we could work the higher layers.

While attention to minutia may not be one of my strong points, accurate measurements and cuts will keep the walls square and prevent blowouts.

June 25
Starting after church and working at a slower pace due to the height, we got the 5th layer in before Karl had to return to Washington.

Other various updates: We have found that wells that pump only 1 or 2 gallons a minute are very common for this area. Sunday morning we were able to get a functional network connection to our cabin so future updates will be less of an ordeal. We also were able to get both a washer and a dryer to work in the studio building so that we can keep reasonably fresh without loosing hours on trips to the laundromat in town. As you can see in the picture below, Dave was faithfully purging our well onto our "lawn" while we were gone and it looks hopeful that we may be able to keep the dust and the mud under control in our little area.