Mindy Leary, Nederland. There’s something adventurous and unique about Brandon Ralph and his betrothed, Liz Tanner, and it shows in their choice of engagement ring. Instead of the traditional diamond, Ralph and Tanner chose a stunning blue-green tourmaline ring accented with diamonds in white gold. 

When asked how they met, Ralph said, “Liz and I met when I was looking for a house cleaner to take care of my Airbnb. I was renting out of my basement after I finished building my house. Or maybe I was just using that as an excuse to meet her. I initially reached out to her a year before we started dating, when I rode my motorcycle to California. She had crossed my mind a handful of times and we would casually talk online. When I returned from California nine months later, I was persistent on getting a date with her. Every week I’d say something online, until finally, she bit. We have a lot in common, from being self-employed to being musicians and artists.”

Liz Tanner, also of Nederland, is a talented singer with formal training in opera and a phenomenal oil painter. Brandon is a former studio drummer and producer. They have a love for the outdoors and constant adventuring like 4,000 mile motorcycle trips, ripping the Polaris RZR, camping, and sailing.

They have similar personalities and political views, are self-motivated and driven people, and push each other in terms of their professional and physical lives. They have been together for just under a year. Ralph proposed to her in their favorite place and home-away-from-home: Oceanside, California. They are going on another 4,000 mile motorcycle trip in May. 

“I knew she was the one when she powered through a 130 degree heat blanket doing 100 mph through Glamis Sand Dunes in southern California in early August when it was on fire. It was insane. On that trip, we rode through hailstorms, wildfire, extreme heat, etc. She says she likes how I don’t crack under pressure and don’t take nonsense from anyone. Go figure!” said Ralph.

Tanner declared, “I am the luckiest woman in the world to have Brandon. To this day I still get butterflies being around him. He brings out the best in me and I couldn’t ask for a better man. Even just the simplest things are fun with him. Drives down to the city to grab some Taco Bell, snuggling on the couch watching scary movies or our little weekend trips to get a change of scenery. Every day is a beautiful day with Brandon.”

“We understand each other with the pressures, trials and tribulations of being self-employed. We have each other, though not only the ups and downs of our relationship, but of what comes along with the adversity of running our own businesses (the ugly parts no one sees but us),” Ralph confided.

He surmised, “We are just riding the wave and enjoying the ride.”

Ralph has been in Nederland since 2007, by way of Boulder in 2005, where he would play open mics underage. Tanner has been here seven years, after driving all over the country and car-camping, finally rooting down in the area. Her business is Peak to Peak House Cleaning and Ralph’s is Dig Excavation Inc. They both play in other people’s crap for a living and enjoy coming home to an extra large barrel of Cheese Balls and a minimum two-star horror movie. They currently live together in the Nederland area.

(Originally published in the February 11, 2021, edition of The Mountain-Ear.)