Pasta and entrepreneurs

Pasta putenesca: Yumm! Dessert: Scott's bike cleaning business: Scott & Aaron hard at work.

Ride day #3 found the tribe winding along the Methow River, up the valley to Winthrop. Not too hard of a day: slight climb, some head wind. Acres and acres of orchards: apples, peaches, cherries & apricots. Through the little towns of Methow and Twisp and into Winthrop. The brew pub is closed on Tuesdays: of course! Plenty of time for R&R gearing up for the big Kahuna tomorrow. It is a big one: a few worried riders, but they'll be fine! The climb is not that long and only 6% grade: the downhill is about 40 miles! It will be a fabulous day.

Dinner tonight was caesar salad with cherry tomato medley, chicken fettucini with roasted peppers, white bean putanesca with pasta, sauteed zucchini and pound cake with fresh rhubarb sauce and fresh raspberry sauce right out of garden! Top it all off with hand whipped cream! I'm too cheap to buy a mixer: the boys need the exercise anyway! A few of the tribe said this was the best dinner ever: wait till they get to Bay View in 2 days for the seafood feast!

I have, my whole life, been quite creative in the art of earning money. As far back as I can remember I was peddling veggies from Mom's garden in my little red wagon, selling seeds from a catalogue, hocking yoyos at middle school, helping my sister in law make neck ties and pawning them off on my 8th grade teachers, mowing lawns, babysitting, restaurants, hotels, catering, and look where I am now! A pretty unique, odd way to make a living: feeding a tribe of peddle pushers decked out in the latest, greatest spandex they can find! And, this talent has rubbed off on my boys!

Scott's latest capital venture is cleaning bikes on the tours. He started 2 years ago in Montana. He does quite well with it now, and he does a good job! His first attempt at a career was at the age of about 5: it involved his big wheel trike and a few bottles of beer. He would tootle around camp and deliver beers to the tribes tents. I know: not the greatest thing to have a 5 year old doing, but it was cute. He tried the tent setting up business for awhile, then on to a snow cone machine. Didn't do too well there, but he made a great friend and customer with Karl from Virginia. Karl has since retired to Wyoming and still stays in touch! As I have said: we make such great friends on these tours!

So, Seth did meet up with us today. Provided the tribe with a few bottles of wine to compliment dinner. His wife sent me a great package of fresh avocados from their ranch. Did you know that to ripen green avocados you put them in a box or paper bag with banana peels and they should be ripe in a few days! I would never have guessed! Thanks you two for the goodies! I hope to serve them soon.

So: tomorrow's the big one. I'll let you know how it goes!