Bail-Dog's Blog: Seattle – The Halfway Point

Before we left Coeur D'Alene I spent the morning fiddling with the brakes, bleeding them and making sure all was well before hitting the highway. Word to the wise: don't repair your brakes shirtless in the hot Idaho sun.

We finally left Coeur D'Alene around 4 p.m. It was supposed to be a relatively short drive to Seattle, but it proved to be a daunting one. First off, the brakes did not work very well at all. I figured there must have been some air left in the line. Secondly, the Snoqualmie Pass was a force to be reckoned with, especially when your brakes don't work very well. The drive proved to be more worrisome than dangerous. With the weather conspiring against us we made it safely to Seattle and found a room for the night.

In the morning we headed to the rental car facility to secure a vehicle for Dean Bean for the remainder of his trip. We would part ways here in Seattle. He would head south toward Santa Fe, NM and I would head north to Alaska with my buddy Jacob as my copilot/on-board mechanic. Jacob arrived on an 11:30 a.m. flight from Tennessee and met us at the rental area. Dean Bean dropped Neeners off downtown and met up with me and Jacob at my brother Duglas and his girlfriend Hazel's place.

Duglas and Hazel are amazing and wonderful people and I only wish we had more time to spend with them. I look forward to visiting with them in the years to come and making up for time lost. Before Dean Bean headed south we went out for a delicious lunch at a place called the Square Knot. After that Hazel showed us around her incredible shop where she does her amazing metal work. This is also where Jacob and I would attempt to fix the brake problem on the van once and for all. Jacob, being the virtuoso of mechanical devices that he is, was able to isolate the problem with the brakes and get them working properly. Bravo Jacob, you are the man!

It was very sad to say goodbye to my Uncle Dean Bean. We had a great time on the road. I always enjoyed the times we had together, but we had never done anything like this before. I feel closer to him than ever and I know now that we will continue to share a special bond that we otherwise never would have had. Here's to Uncle Dean Bean!

That night, Duglas took me and Jacob to the city center in Seattle for the final night of the Folk Life Festival. It was a lot like the Girdwood Forest Fair that we do back home only much, much bigger. There was plenty of live music, dancing, food, craft vendors and so on. I really enjoyed the scene and just spending time with my big brother. On our way back to the loft we picked up some fantastic Peruvian food and spent the evening chatting, laughing and goofing off as if we had done so for years.

It was such a pleasure to spend time with Duglas and Hazel and I look forward to many more such occasions in the not-too-distant future. I see so much of our father in Duglas, and I feel so blessed to have him as an influence in my life.