So close yet so far away

In an effort to title all my blog posts with cliches, I thought so close yet so far away seemed appropriate for this morning.

After an "epic 10 mile ride" through bainbridge Island (the locals are not very polite here), our trusty Zumo 550 pulled us straight to the garage of our good friends Ian, Leah, and their new baby, Chiara.

After some 2 million years, Leah has finally finished her medical schooling and got a job as an interventional radiologist in Bremerton. At the same time, they popped out a little girl which meant that Ian had to stop being a full time landscape architect (of which he was all too happy to oblige) and move on out to a gorgeous old two story square house right on the water.

They invited us to come check out their place and as a first destination, this seemed perfect. It is about 1 hour out our place in Seattle (including a ferry ride) so we could leave late and still get here with plenty of time. No pressure to get up early and make miles between seattle and the next stop.

With expectations of leaving Seattle at 3, stopping off at Touratech to say goodbye the guys over there (they hooked us up with some gear and plugged us into a great community of adventure riders) and catch a afternoon ferry. Reality set in when we were frantically cleaning our condo at 3 trying so hard to get it into shape for our friends Forrest, Nuria, and Sofia to move into. 5:00 came and went and there was no going to Touratech. But we did leave at 7:00 or so and got out here around 8:00.

And so with some ungodly amount of miles ahead of us, we spent a great evening with some good friends. I even held a baby for what seems like the first time. It isn't as easy as a lot of people make it look. I mean, what if I drop her?