Journey to a Dream
Author Mary T. Lovel
Contributed to Make A Scene Magazine by Teresa Ascone
January 19, 2010
Before ATVs, snow machines or cell phones were common conveniences to ease the hardships of homesteading, the Lovel family—Clyde, his wife Mary and their four children—embarked upon the biggest challenge of their lives. Mary Lovel tells their incredible story in Journey to a Dream.
The mystique of the north lured the Lovel clan to test its mettle and tame the rugged wilderness. The prize would be an almost unbelievable reward: their own plot of land in the Land of the Midnight Sun.
Mary plunges right into the meat of the chronicle as she details the journey up the Alcan Highway—that is, after a rough start of bogging down in the soft driveway, then wedging the trailer between two trees. Eventually, though, the intrepid travelers reach the highway and head north to Alaska.
It’s 1963. The six are crammed into a 1949 Ford ¾ ton truck fitted with Clyde’s homemade plywood camper shell, hauling a 41-foot house trailer with all their possessions inside. This conglomeration would be their home all the way from Missouri as the family endures the bumpy, dusty ride to Alaska.
Even in the best of times, bolstered with plenty of money and top equipment, homesteading in Alaska was an undertaking fraught with peril and discouragement. For the Lovels, hardworking but poor, the barriers seemed impossible to overcome.  However, Clyde and Mary took each day as it came, working through problems, bad luck, and bad weather.  They were tough. Even the great Alaska Earthquake did not deter them from their goal.
Reading the passages praising Alaska’s beauty makes us realize that the hardship was worth the reward. Spectacular northern lights, blankets of pristine, fluffy snow, endless summer days, and steadfast friends—especially the ever-dependable Alaska Railroad--added the necessary sweetening so the family could carry on. While Clyde worked hard in town to make enough to support them, Mary tirelessly performed the duties needed to eke out a home in the woods: seamstress, mechanic, home schooling teacher, farmer, fisherwoman, protector, cook, and cheerleader—all the while maintaining an optimism and dogged determination that encouraged the team to keep going. Clyde, too, worked constantly and had his hands full whenever he was able to come to the homestead: hunting, clearing land by hand, planting, and building the shelters vital to the family’s survival.
The amazing fulfillment of this family’s dream inspires and uplifts the soul. Mary Lovel’s story is testament to the pioneering spirit that still endures today in Alaska.