On the road a little later today. Old Faithful here we come.

Day 3 - Mount Rushmore (06/29/2009)

We got on the road at 9:25 a.m. We covered 535 miles in a little over nine hours today. We started in the lush green rolling plains of South Dakota, which slowly faded into the Badlands of Wyoming. The Badlands are still spectacular and as we drove through them, Nina and I wondered how the early settlers cross them in covered wagons. We had more two lane roads today as we drove to Mount Rushmore and then towards Old Faithful. Mount Rushmore was a lot more commercial than I figured it would be. We left Mount Rushmore with a little over a half of tank of gas on our way to Casper, WO. Nina started getting worried when the next town was 29 miles away and the on board message system showed we had 35 miles of gas left. Gas stations are few-and-far-between in this part of the country. The low fuel warning light came on just as we were pulling into a Conoco Station. The clerk in the Conoco Station was from Douglasville, Georgia, small world. Maybe I will try to keep it above a half tank from now on. This area is still open range, cows grazing and hay fields stretched as far as you can see. I cannot understand how there are any bugs left in SD from the look of our car’s front end. It is almost black with little bugs (our car’s real color is white). In addition to all the bugs, we saw many antelopes grazing, drinking, and roaming around. We also saw beefalos and buffalos. We stopped in Casper, Wyoming and went to stay a 3rd night in a Holiday Inn Express. Needless to say, we did not stay there. They wanted $133 @ night so we went (literally) on the other side of the parking lot to the Courtyard by Marriott and they gave us a room for $70! This hotel was also much nicer than the Holiday Inn Express so we will definitely try to stay in another tomorrow night wherever we decide to stop.

On the road day 3 to Alaska

Still on the road – Day 2 (06/27/2009)

Up and on the road today at 9:00 a.m. CT after a good night sleep. We drove 575 miles today in a little over nine hours. We have listened to two books on CD so far, they really help pass the time. We stopped at Cabela’s in Kansas City; it was a letdown no better than a Bass Pro Shop. South Dakota surprised us; the rolling plains were lush and green. Looks like it will be a good year for E85, there was corn as far as the eye could see. Additionally, I like the 75 mph speed limit. We stopped at Mitchell, SD tonight much nicer Holiday Inn Express tonight. Tomorrow we are planning on stopping by Mount Rushmore and then heading towards Old Faithful. The one picture is a longhorn steer’s head made out of metal with flowers and Indians all around it.

On the road Day 1 (06/27/2009)

We left Suwanee, Georgia today at 9:00 a.m. and drove for 688 miles in 11 hours and 30 minutes to Columbia, MO. Our girls wrote Empty Nesters on the back window and Alaska Bound on the front windshield. As people passed us, they would wave and smile and when we stopped at rest stops, it was a conversation starter. We went through part of Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, and Missouri. The weather was good all day and the traffic was light. We got a good view of the arch in St. Louis and enjoyed the rest of the scenery along the way. Our next planned stop is at Mount Rushmore. I do not think we will make it tomorrow but you never know after all we are staying at a Holiday Inn Express tonight. We have changed our route so we can go by Old Faithful and then head up into Canada and across the Alaskan Highway.

Well the adventure begins. After a one week postponement Bob and Nina are on their way to Alaska. 06/26/2009

Getting ready for the road trip (06/24/2009)

Nina is reading a book titled Guide to the Alaska Highway to get ready for our trip. I hope it is a worst-case scenario. At least I guess forewarned is forearmed. Permafrost, dust storms, gravel roads, construction, fires, and wildlife all provide unique driving experiences. It does have some great warnings and suggestions in it to make the trip more enjoyable and safe. I like the one that says keep the camera and binoculars close by so you do not miss the bear or moose that walks in front of you. We are really looking forward to the scenery along the way. We have seen some of the Midwest and Canada but not all the areas we will be traveling through.

Trip Schedule

06/24/2009
Car checked out well, it is ready for the 4200 (+) trip. We will need to get the oil changed along the way; I guess the folks in Canada will be able to change it. No need to subscribe to satellite radio, it does not work in Alaska and would cost extra in Canada. We are stocking up on books on CDs. Updated the Garmin to include Canada and Alaska, hopefully it will work the whole way. Now to edit the route so we can see some of the sights along the way. Snacks are ready to go into the car, cooler is ready, just not stocked. Figure we will get hotels that include breakfast, carry lunchmeat, bread, and chips for lunch, and have dinner when we stop for the night. Looks like we will be departing 06/27/2009, this should put us into Delta Junction around 07/06/2009. Hard to believe we will be on the road to Alaska in three days.

All packed up and nowhere to go

Everything seemed to come together at once. We sold our house after a year and a half on the market. We now had 30 days to move. We started getting the house together. Everything out of the attic, it is amazing the amount of junk we have moved around the country with us. Two garage sales later and several trips to Goodwill we have dropped 30 years of junk and many memories. We made the decision to have some stuff shipped instead of renting a U-Haul truck. The packers came and it seemed to go well but this was the worst experience so far. They took $180.00 out of Nina’s purse; underestimated the weight, quoted the wrong cost per pound, etc. It was horrendous. We left Centerville and went to Suwanee to spend a week with our daughters before we left. During this week, we found an apartment to move into, but it will not be ready until the second week of July and then the arrival of our household goods was delayed until the second or third week of July. So much for plans, we had planned to be there for the Fourth of July, but instead we will wait another week to leave. On Tuesday (06/23/09) we are told the apartment we put a security deposit on will not be available at all. So we go with a more expensive second choice on a monthly option. The monthly option falls through also, so now it looks like a bed and breakfast may be our only option for a while (if there are any rooms left ~ or we might have to stay in Fairbanks, 90 miles away, for a little while). The summer is a bad time to try to rent. Summer workers on the highway and pipeline do short term rentals for high rent, so it may be until August or after before we find a place to rent.

Finally a contract

My conference call with the high school staff was scheduled for Tuesday but it was postponed until Thursday the following week because the position had not actually been listed and the staff was concerned about losing their principal. It was a long week but the conference call finally came and went. I felt it went well and I immediately sent out my thank you notes for the interview and assured them I was the perfect choice for the position. Within thirty minutes the phone rang again, it was from Delta Greely, are they going to offer me a contract now, let us hope so. No, no contract just a follow-up question. The superintendent told me the interview went well and that she would be back in touch next week. The waiting game again, this is killing me. During this wait, there was a problem with getting in touch with some of my references but I provided additional references and I guess they got in touch with them because the superintendent called and offered me a contract. It was faxed to me the next day. I accepted the contract after a couple of corrections. Then it was the waiting game again because the board would not meet for two weeks to approve my contract. The board meeting came and I was approved for a one year contract as Principal of Delta High School.

I decided to continue the interview process since that is what I came for and I was not really sold on the bush school. I started interviews at 9:00 a.m. and finished up around 5:00 p.m. The second interview was with the system I wanted, it is on the road system.
I completed the interview and they told me it would be a week until they contacted me again. I was a little dejected because I thought the interview went well. There was a twist; instead of one principal opening the system had two. I completed more interviews and went back to my hotel room where I noticed I could see the superintendent of the system I wanted sitting in her room conducting more interviews. I was get getting ready to change and walk around Anchorage when the current principal of the school I wanted called and wanted to meet again, one week sure did pass quickly. I meet with the principal and he gave me some additional information about the second principal position they opened up. He told me I was the number one for the high school principal position and that they would like to do a staff interview by phone next week. I left the interview very positive attitude, but concerned about not having a contract in hand when I left Alaska. I went back to my room, changed, and went to dinner. When I returned from dinner, I had a message on my room phone telling me they wanted to meet again tomorrow morning at 7:30 a.m. I must admit I was thinking they had a contract ready for me. I had interviews scheduled for the next day, but they were later.
At 7:30 a.m. Sunday, last day of the job fair, I walked into the job fair area to met with current principal. We sat at a table in the area where all the systems were set up and started talking when another guy walked up. The high school principal introduced us and told us that I was number one for the high school and he was number one for the Cyber School and they wanted to see how we got along because if everything worked out we would be working together. The Superintendent came up and told us we had interviewed back-to-back and if she did not know better she would swear we knew each other. We were both from the south, had been principals of large schools, answered many of the questions the same way, and had similar philosophies. Additionally, she gave us a pay scale and talked to us about other perks of the area then they left us alone to see how we got along. While we were talking, another superintendent came up and talked to us about positions and how he could offer more money, it was very tempting but I decided to wait and do the staff interview the following week. I went to a couple more interviews with positive results and then decided I really did not want to interview anymore, I wanted Delta Greely and I figured it would be worth the wait. I went upstairs, changed into my jeans, and went back downstairs to meet with the person that was up for the other principal position. While I was riding down in the elevator, a superintendent scheduled a follow-up interview and told me not to change that, they had already seen me in my suit. I had a quick lunch and walked around awhile. I stopped back by the Delta Greely booth to pick up some information. While I was at the booth, they gave me a stuffed brown bear to give to my wife and invited me to have dinner with them. I went back to the hotel lobby and meet with the other person to kill some time. I asked him if he had been invited to dinner and when he said no, we went back to the booth and they invited him. We were both feeling very positive about the likelihood of getting a principal position with Delta Greely. I went to my last scheduled interview with a different system and then went to dinner with the Delta Greely staff. After dinner I went to the airport to catch a 1 a.m. flight out. My flight boarded at 12:30 a.m. and departed at right around 1 a.m. fifteen hours later I was back home.

Well we made the decision; I am going to Anchorage, Alaska for the Alaskan Teacher Placement Job Fair. Flight reservations were made going through Seattle, Washington on the way to Anchorage and through Salt Lake City on the way home. The return flight leaves at 1:00 a.m. what an awful time. This would be no vacation, since I was flying in on Thursday and leaving Sunday morning. I went to Suwanee Wednesday night and stayed with my daughter so I could catch MARTA (rail system) early Thursday morning. Up at 4:00 a.m. and out the door at 5:00 a.m. catch MARTA at 5:45 a.m. to the airport by 6:30 a.m. to check in for a 9:00 a.m. flight. Flight was uneventful; the mountain range coming into Anchorage was absolutely gorgeous. Grabbed a cab to the hotel with another job fair attendee, only problem is we were going to two different hotels, less than a block apart, when the driver told us he could be fined for making two stops. No problem I told him, I will walk but he made the two stops anyway. Checked into the hotel and then called the school system that had asked me to call when I got in. Ten minutes later, I meet with the superintendent and his staff. Forty-five minutes later, I had a contract in hand for a bush school. The money was fantastic, but the school only had 3 teachers and 35 students, it was in a very remote area and everything would have to be flown in by small airplane. I called my wife and slept on the offer, it did feel good to have an offer.

North to Alaska - Why

As a Southern Boy this move is going to be very interesting. It all started about a year ago. I was unemployed and decided to apply for a teaching position in Alaska after I received an email from Alaska Teacher Placement (ATP). Over the next year I had a few telephone interviews but nothing came of it. During the winter of 09 I continued to apply for administration positions. I received some more phone calls, some interviews, and positive comments. I spoke with one district that said it would be beneficial to complete an Alaska Statewide Application and apply for my administrative certification. Over the next week I did the Alaska Statewide Application and submitted my application for an administrative certificate. Also during this time my wife and I were reading blogs on the ATP website about the upcoming job fair in Anchorage, Alaska. Most of the blogs said if you wanted a contract, go to a job fair. I (my wife and I) made the decision that I would attend the Anchorage ATP job fair. My wife made up job fair packets for me, made reservations and got me ready to go. Also during this time I was talking with Delta Greely School District and Southwestern Arctic Borough School District. I had very positive telephone interviews with Southwestern and informed them I would be at the job fair and would like to meet with them. Additionally, I had a very positive email session going on with Delta Greely and made an appointment to meet with them when I came to the job fair. I was really feeling positive, I had two interviews scheduled and I had just made the decision to attend the job fair. Now it was time to schedule time off from work and get ready to go to Alaska.