For as long as I could remember I've always wanted a motorcycle. In June of 2009 that dream became a reality when I picked up my brand new DL650 VStrom at the local Suzuki dealer. Mere moments later I'd get off that same bike in a vacant lot and just stare it wondering what I'd let myself in for. "I'm not a motorcycle rider!" Well, over 20,000kms later I guess I am a bit of a motorcycle rider.

There have been numerous influences that got me to the point where I finally bought a bike. Some are friends and some famous people who I've read or watched in various forms of media. Some relatives and some just my own imagination dreaming of what it might be like. To say the reality lived up to the dream would be an understatement. I suppose the evidence of that is the 20,000kms on the bike in less than a year.

Something else I've always wanted to do was to drive across Canada. My sister Laura and I had once loosely planned a drive from Vancouver to Toronto as she was moving back from B.C. Due to schedules and timing the trip never happened. I've seen a lot of the USA but not much of my own country. This trip still needed to be done. As a Canadian I'm extremely fortunate to live the way I do in the place I do it. It's time to see it kilometer by kilometer by bike.

In various conversations about the trip I decided that I could do some good here as I enjoyed crossing my country. I could raise some money for a charity. There are so many noble charities each as deserving of attention and financial aid as the next. I decided to focus on something that really spoke to me.

I found one through the adventures of others and really believe in what they do. Riders for Health uses motorcycles to deliver medicine and medical aid to remote locations in Africa. The terrain is tough and in so many cases impassable by car or truck. The motorbikes go where four wheeled vehicles simply can't. These are places that otherwise would never see any kind of help at all. As walking is the most common method of transportation so many simply cannot get to where the help is. Riders for Health uses motorcycles to bring the aid to the people.

Riders for Health reaches over 10 million people several African countries. Potentially life saving test results that would normally take months are now returned by Riders for Health in just a few days. This gives more people a better chance at a better life. For example, the work Riders for Health does reduces the chances of a Mother passing aids on to her unborn child from 40% to just 2% by delivering test results and effective medical aid.