10/27/20 – Friends to the Rescue

The first piece of the fox/chicken was finding someone in Seattle to drop off me and Sunride at SeaTac Airport. The first person I asked was my friend Eric Hess, a solar architect I’d done projects with who moved to Seattle a few years ago. He said, “Yes.” It was such a big ask. I would be driving my pick-up to his house in Seattle. He would then drive me and Sunride to the airport, drop us off, store my truck at his home for two weeks, then come and get me at 6:30 a.m. on the morning of my return.  

Beyond that, another friend in Portland, Cary Solberg who read my 10/20 blog said he planned to be in Seattle on the day of my return and would be happy to pick me up at the airport if I needed help on the back end. Wow! What a generous offer. 

Later I talked to Eric on the phone to nail down the timing. Turns out he and his family had an unexpected trip to Blaine, Washington, two hours north of Seattle at the Canadian border. He was willing to come back to Seattle just to take me to the airport. Doing the math, it’s a half hour from his home in Seattle to SeaTac, so he initially agreed to take an hour out of his very busy schedule to help me out; but now, traveling all the way from Blaine, in effect he’d be adding four more hours, five hours total! This is from a man whose professional time is worth hundreds of dollars per hour. I was humbled beyond measure that he would do such a favor. 

I told Eric I would be happy for him to use my truck while I’m gone if he had any need for hauling. “Hum,” he said, “maybe I’ll go pick up some pavers I need for landscaping.” Please do, Eric, and thank you, Cary. 

The expression, “make new friends and keep the old, one is silver, the other gold,” is so true. Sunride has made many new friends across the country and friends like Eric and Cary are truly golden.