Strange Way to Meet an Old Friend

The internet is a weird and wonderful thing. It has made our lives easier in ways, and complicated it in other ways. My life as a pilot is much easier because of it, flight planning, weather forecasting and setting up customs has made my life much easier. Keeping track of what my 12 year old daughter does on the internet is another story.

So where am I going with this.......www.advrider.com. Wonderful website, filled with all kinds of adventure ride reports, and endless information on bikes, gear, places to see, etc. Last month I am reading a ride report about a couple that rode from British Columbia to South America. Accompanying them on part of their journey were their friends Matt and Robin. So as I am scrolling through the pictures a familiar face appears. Shit, I know that guy, it's Matt, my simulator partner from my days at Westjet. We met when I joined in July of 2004, and basically spent 6 weeks together training on the Boeing 737, and then we teamed up again 6 months later for our recurrent training. Matt is a great guy and we got along really well. After I left Westjet a year later, I lost touch with Matt. So I sent a message to the author of the ride report with my email address and asked her to pass it along to him. A week later an email from Matt shows up in my inbox. Is that a small world or what?

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=873101

http://southamericanadventuredotme.wordpress.com/

Pictures are from the above linked website. Matt and Robin in Utah

Matt is the guy on the left

This week I was lucky enough to get a work trip out to Vancouver. I sent Matt a text and we were able to meet up for supper at The Flying Beaver. It's a restaurant out by the airport, located on the water right above Harbour Air's floatplane operation. The beaver refers to the famous Canadian floatplane the DeHavilland Beaver, not the furry dam building beaver, or the other beaver you're thinking about.

View from the The Flying Beaver. Not Beavers, but Turbo Otters.

 I finally was able to meet Matt's lovely wife Robin, any girl that loves to ride her 800GS and windsurf is pretty cool in my books, Matt's a lucky guy. It was really good to catch up and hear about their riding adventures. I can't believe it's been 7 years. They both want to do some riding on the east coast, so hopefully one of these days we can all schedule some time to ride together.