After years of yearning for a slower pace, Olivia Jones, her husband and their four children decided to leave their home in St. Louis, Missouri, behind to move to the small town of Eagle, Alaska. The family now spends their days mushing, skiing and sledding. Constantly surrounded by nature, the family is enjoying their new adventure. Olivia says that while moving to the remote village — which has less 100 residents — has its upsides, it also comes with a slew of challenges. From having to do immense planning to make sure they don’t run out of food to constantly battling -50ยบ temperatures, life in Alaska is far from a walk in the park. Olivia says the hardest part for her is having to travel nine hours to the nearest Costco when they want to stock up on food. The road leading to and from their town closes for the winter, which means they’re basically on their own until spring. When they do go shopping, they take a 14-foot trailer loaded with coolers and tubs to buy what they need for the months ahead. They can, however, order groceries from the supermarket chain Fred Meyer, which is then delivered by plane. They pay 78¢ per pound for the food to be flown in. The closest medical facility is a small clinic staffed by a health aide who is capable of handling typical urgent care situations, but major health concerns require calling a medevac, which is a plane or helicopter based out of Fairbanks, an hour away by air. One medevac flight can cost $60,000, which is why the Jones family carries supplemental air ambulance insurance, which costs them $200 a year. In the end, the Joneses say moving to Alaska was the right decision for them, as it has made them much more intentional about how they spend their time.
