2012 has been an interesting year...Leslie got a new job and is now working for BC Transplant as an Organ Donation Coordinator and Organ Donation Specialist.
Cheryl continues to do well in her police career and we got engaged. Wedding will be next August 2013. More info please read below.
Cheryl and I met in 1997 in Bellingham, Washington. We kept in touch over the year via the internet plus flying back and forth. Before we both knew it I moved all the way across the country to a new country no less in march 1998 and been here ever since. I, meaning Leslie grew up in New York on Long Island where her family still remains except my brother.
Went to College in upstate NY and grad school back on Long Island where I got my Masters Degree in Social Work. In 1999 I started working as an Intensive Care Unit Social Worker at St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver, BC and loved my job after all those years.
Cheryl grew up in the lower mainland of BC and many of her family members are here as well. Beautiful place to grow up and go to school. Throughout Cheryl's teenage years and adulthood she worked for her mother's family business. However, at the ripe old age of 35 she decided to embark upon a career in law enforcement which she has been enjoying for over 5 years. Cheryl has found a passion within the Police force working with kids in schools.
We have been together as partner's for 15 years and after Cheryl graduated Depot (Police Training) we both got motorcycles and our licenses. I grew up on bikes and Cheryl always wanted to learn to ride. Learning was easy for Cheryl and getting back on a bike for me just made sense. Cheryl thinks I am obsessed with bikes but to be honest once she is on the road I can't stop her.
Cheryl loves video games, I love wild life, Cheryl dreams about white sandy tropical beaches, I dream about seeing the polar bears in Hudson Bay, Manitoba.
Opposites attract and we both share a passion for adventure motorcycle touring. We learned this after buying our first 2010 BMW F650GS bikes. We travel well together making sure we are both taking care of ourselves. Cheryl is the brains, mechanic, navigator and packer, I am the organizer/planner.
Cheryl is the quiet one, I am the loud New Yorker. Cheryl loves video games, I love live web cams featuring Bald Eagles, Falcons, osprey's and Owls. In the end it seems to work.
Rode through hard, cold, jungle style rains between Jasper and Canmore on July 6. At one point the rain was so hard and the wind so strong we had to take shelter in one of the animal overpasses for 15 minutes (same storm spawned a tornado at Airdrie, AB). Only place that got wet was where water came up the pant to the top of the boot and my socks got thoroughly damp but not “wringing water” wet from going through the water puddles in the road ruts. If I had velcroed down the legs properly, even they would have stayed dry.
Through the Columbia glacier area it was pouring rain and the temperature was flashing under 3 degrees C. Turned the gerbing jacket up and remained toasty warm. Even with just shorts and poly long-johns on, the Klim Latitude gear kept me warm where I did not have electrics.
Really now need to find a decent waterproof glove that I like. During our trip we used the Aerostitch “Triple Digit Glove Covers” http://www.aerostich.com/aerostich-triple-digit-covers.html but they were not the best solution you had to take them off and on.
One key thing that i like about the Klim gear is that you do not have to get into changing or putting on rain gear over regular gear and then stripping it off again when the rain passes. My friend had a gortex rain gear and even though he kept mainly dry he was always having to switch up with the weather as we went through 1-2 hr showers every few days.
that is exactly why we like the KLIM gear too…no liners, no need to cover up the suit with rain gear…you ride into the storm and out…gets warm open vents etc…