ANCHORAGE - Nice hospitality Saturday night from my host
family, Rose and her husband John.
The pair work at Paramount Cycles in Anchorage. Rose hails
from El Roy, Wisconsin. "Yes, I
know (former Wis. governor) Tommy Thompson," said Rose. "His mother
was my teacher in grade school."
Rose came to Alaska more than seven years ago with her
husband, who was originally from Utah.
"You'll find a lot of Midwestern transplants up
here," she said.
I met Rose online while looking for a place to stay in
Anchorage. (I was discouraged by the drug -and-bedbug reviews I found while
researching the local youth hostels.)
Rose said they normally don't take in bikers, not a lot
anyway, but she felt comfortable with the Wisconsin connection and was
impressed with the tour's effort to raise money and awareness for Alzheimer's.
"My mom has Alzheimer's and she's the same age as your
dad," said Rose, having done some research on me by reading this blog.
"It's amazing what passes for memory care these
days," said Rose, frustrated.
"We're paying for hands-on care and activities and we're just not
getting it."
John and Rose live in a house at the corner of Apollo Court
and Apollo Drive. "We're the only house half-covered with siding and the
other with Tyvex," she laughed, referencing their ongoing fix-it project
that had taken over their lives.
"It all started with a mouse our cat chased into a
crack in the living room," said John. "I tore up the carpet and one
thing led to another and the floor buckled and we had to jack up the wall near
the foundation..."
Neither spoke negatively about the overwhelming construction;
both were patient, do-it-yourselfers that knew the project would get done when
they finished.
Casual conversation that evening at the kitchen table ran
the gamut - mostly about biking and adventure, bears, New Zealand, and family -
in no particular order.
Rose sat with a glass of red wine; John cooked.
His presentation was amazing. A simple salad with mixed
greens, halved grape tomatoes, thin wedges of avocado, fresh basil, chopped zucchini
and a couple spears of cucumber with a peanut oil dressing.
Dinner was a salmon wrap. The spices forced a teary-eyed
Rose to crack the window. The tight wrap was more than an inch thick and
included dark beans, rice, some random vegetables and chili spices.
"My mom was not a mac-and-cheese kind of person,"
said John.
Salad and an "IPA."
John... Dinner is served!
The next morning, over a hot cup of pressed coffee, John was
at it again making a breakfast omelet with cubed pieces of salmon topped with a
fan of avocado. There was a side of thin wheat toast and a spoon for the jar of
homemade blueberry jelly.
Rose spooning up some homemade blueberry jelly.
Day two of the tour would start with a 40-mile trek to
Girdwood.
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