Hey Swamp, my friends call me Ray, but I'm changing the names of everyone else involved.

We lived in Texas until last year when we moved to Alaska.

There isn't much I can say about my job without giving away the company, but my time is spent

outdoors.

Two years ago my wife, Haley, was involved in an accident and we fell on some hard times.

We also have two kids, so it seemed like we were being offered an opportunity to get back

on track.

I could hardly say no.

While we didn't expect to love it out here, we thought it would be bearable long enough

to pay off some debt.

But no research could have prepared us for this place.

It took over a year for my wife to physically recover from the car crash.

She still has PTSD, working from home and not traveling on interstates fit into our new

lifestyle nicely, though there are plenty of downsides.

The fact that Ocean now separates us from the rest of our family bothers me the most.

The kids didn't want to leave their friends, but luckily they haven't hit their teen years

yet, or the resistance would have been much worse.

Jason is only 10 and Jenny is 7.

Surprisingly, they've adjusted better than we could have ever dreamed.

The strange day and night cycles aren't split into 6 month cycles as we had always heard.

There are a couple of occasions where it's one or the other, but it's mostly just long

summer days and winter nights.

...