Quite a ride...

Cooper Landing, Alaska
August, 2008

                


Have I mentioned how much I miss Alaska?  How much I'm dying, aching, itching, literally chomping at the bit to get there?

Yeah.  I'm sure I've mentioned it.  Once or twice.  I know of more than one person who's sick of hearing about it.

Last time (actually, the only time) I was in Cooper Landing was kind of funny.  The lady who owned the B&B that I stayed at in Seward said there was a guy up there who had horses, and I should look him up if I wanted to ride.  So a few days later as I was leaving Homer, I gave him a call.  It went something like this:

Dude: "Oh yeah, I've got horses.  When do you want to ride?"

Me: "Uhh, whenever.  Tomorrow?"

Dude: "OK, yeah.  Can you come in the morning, at like eleven?"

Me: "Sure.  I'll drive up there tonight.  Where should I stay?"

Dude: "There's a place up the road, another one down the street.  I rent rooms here at the ranch, too."

So basically I said oh great, I'll just get a room from you, I'll be there in about four or five hours.  He said fine, someone should be there, give me your number just in case.  A couple of hours later, I get a phone call:

Dude: "Hey, I've got to go up to Anchorage tonight, be back in the morning.  Just come on over here to my place, the house is all yours, I'll leave the back door unlocked.  You can take the side room, the one with the purple bedspread.  Help yourself to anything you'd like, the fridge is fully stocked for pretty much whatever you need."

Are you fucking kidding me?  Dude.  You don't even fucking know me.

Yeah, so I'm a City Girl.  Whatever.  It blew my mind that somebody who DIDN'T EVEN KNOW ME was willing to leave their home unlocked for me to wander into and sleep in.  Plus he left a kitchen full of bacon, eggs, and reindeer sausage for breakfast?


I'm glad he did.  It was a full day, and a hard ride...

        



The best was when he asked me to help him hook up his new television the next afternoon.  That was the whole reason he'd driven up to Anchorage the night before, was to buy a big new, fancy television for the living room.  Only problem was, he didn't know how to hook the fucking thing up.  You're asking me?

Oh honey.  You picked the wrong girl.

I did my best.  Which wasn't very good.  Poor darlin'.  He was still on the phone with customer service as I pulled away.  I'll have to pay him a visit if (when) I get up there this summer.  See if he ever got off hold, at least...