First of all, the airline is not Alaskan (there is no "n" in its name). Miles earned on Delta, Air France, American and Alaska can be earned in Alaska Mileage Plan. This provides you with quite a few opportunities for using miles earned on four different airlines.

I started out many years ago like you, but I did not shed any programs. Since then I have accumulated in excess of 4 million miles in the various accounts. (I presently have in excess of 1.5 million available for my use). Be sure to monitor your accounts and complete transactions as necessary to prevent the miles from expiring and being lost.

My suggestion, if you are credit worthy, apply for the Alaska Airlines Credit card from Bank of America. It presently provides 25000 miles after first purchase. Yes, it costs $75 per year that is not waived, but one cannot buy that many miles for the price. I actually applied for a second card and was approved in order to reach my goal (then) of 2 tickets in Business Class to Buenos Aires. Recently American had some very attractive offers for their card as well, but credit card miles are only usable on the issuing airline. Points.com IMO is a complete rip off.

Check the Emirates plan, you may be able to use the miles for magazines which at least have some value to you. My advice is never to let miles expire, there are thousands of ways to add miles to your account to keep it alive.

Set your expectations at a reasonable level. Being stuck in a small town with only one airline option can be problematic, but if one is willing to drive to an airport with more options, the possibilities increase exponentially.