It was now or never thought Cody and Lori Zurn.
The couple, who met their senior year of high school and graduated from Rice Lake in 2014, had been talking about a life off the grid and were concerned their hesitation would prevent them from pursuing an adventure which they’d later regret.
In spring 2023 they left their lives in Wisconsin for the remote Alaskan wilderness and have been documenting each step on the way on Youtube. Lori (Shervey) has a degree in interior design and worked in computer-aided design for Menard’s corporate office, with Cody a network and server analyst also for Menard’s. Lori was getting tired of the office work, and Cody didn’t see himself in his role for much longer as well. They had been planning a new pursuit in life, and spontaneously they took the plunge and headed to The Last Frontier.
“We found this land, it popped up online,” Cody said. “We bought it within a week, just raw land, quit our jobs, sold our house and started driving.”
“In the back of our heads we were saying, ‘Maybe it will turn into something,’” Lori said. “We were joking about it, it’s never going to happen, and then kind of did really fast.”