Hi! I'm Jim Weller. I lived in Alaska for 25 years. My family of four moved to Seattle at the end of 2016. I have a 5 year old boy and a 2 year old girl that I love to take on adventures. I work in IT at REI in Kent. We live in Normandy Park (Burien-ish). I'm an outdoor enthusiast who loves to camp, hike, bike, boat and fish. I grew up off the grid on a homestead in the mountains of New Mexico. I love making stuff, fixing/breaking stuff, building, and learning new things.
I'm new to the area and overlanding. I've done a lot of subaru/truck treks that might qualify as overlanding, but now I'm getting serious. I'm working on building out my 2005 Chevy Silverado 2500HD Crew Cab (e.g Alaska station wagon) to be a self contained overland camping rig. No wall climbing or anything exotic. Just getting the family out and about to where the throngs dare not drive. I am looking to find friends and mentors in the PNW.
My current build projects are getting my recovery kit/mounts together, building a truck bed sleeper with drawers, and adding a second battery for truck bed house power.



Welcome to the site and area in general. What part of AK were you from? Looks like you have maybe another year of relatively easy commutes (~Burien to Kent) until REI moves to Bellevue, that won't be much fun
Hi John,
Thank you. I was mostly in Anchorage. Yeah, Bellevue commute ::sigh::. At least I can work from home 25 hours a week.
i know a few people that work on the Kent campus. Approximately 0% are happy about that move...
Welcome Jim! Glad you’re here. Hey, REI though, that seems like a great gig for a lover of the great outdoors!
Welcome aboard! I like your truck setup
Welcome. I see you are in IT with REI. My son dated a young lady who works there also. She is in web page design, into fly fishing big time. Nice young lady. Hope to meet up on the trail soon.
Welcome!