OMG, that's me with Ben!  Thank you so much for posting this pic!!!! I did not know it existed

Ben and I got to fly on a training mission with the crew of an MH-53 helicopter over to Wales. They let us shoot the various machine guns at ground targets while wearing night vision goggles!  

I miss you Ben :'( Can't believe you are gone.

This was across the street from the 2016 Seattle to Portland ride finish at Holladay Park. We had an amazing ride from our Day 1 stop in Longview, Washington - one major highlight was crossing the Columbia River on the Lewis and Clark Bridge. 

Most of the ride that day was rolling terrain along the Columbia on US Route 30. I was playing mostly 1990s alternative/grunge on my speaker (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, etc.) as Ben said that would be most popular for our group. Ben was hard charging up most of the hills, and it really was a fun day as we rolled into and through Portland together.

One of my favorite moments was when my family joined us at the finish line party. I mentioned to my 5-year-old daughter, Alice, that we needed to do a Voodoo Doughnut excursion. She got a ravenous look on her face, and exclaimed "yeaaaaaah!" Ben laughed hysterically. That's how I will always remember him.

Love and miss you, big guy!

First time I met Ben was Summer of 2011.  He was providing help in my region with inspections to help keep up the 3 yr rotation.  I was just back from Afghanistan and he asked me to meet him in central Washington to shadow my sites while he inspected.  I met him in Othello at a site and he was already doing his inspection.  I walked up and introduced myself and he was quick to show me his EPA credentials as he was sitting next to a turbine sump.  I kinda laughed and told him that I'm on his side and I know who you are.  "You don't have to show me that, I'm with you man."  It was a funny first meeting and I know he was so proud to show that credential to me.  He laughed as well and we started talking military.  A friendship was made that day and has grown ever since.  We've spent many years after that discussing our different programs and tried hard to keep a great working relationship between WA and EPA.  We think it has been successful.  We also kept a great friendship outside of work.  We were looking so forward to keeping all of that continuous.  We will miss you very much pal.

BTW - that inspection did not turn out so great for the owner.