spoon boy is he touring the planet .

[jags]

is spoon boy gone on his world tour,haven't heard much from him in a while.
i would like to follow his tour ,see what crazy things he gets up to.
so where the hell are you spoonboy.

[spoon boy]

Bonjour mon amis 

It's a tale of sillyness, madness and sometimes some cool reviews

I bought the kit, sherpa, hilleberg nallo 2gt and every top of the range thing you could have thought of flew out to the midwest to a town called sturgis in south dakota and...they had the worst weather for 4 years and it lasted 2 months....snow drifts 4 feet tall..flooding in north dakota causing issues all the way down the midwest.. and I loved it

I was lucky, I got to meet a great person, who had good friends and great family and we went out regulary for me on a second hand marin bear valley se and this may sound a bit slushy but I found you don't have to spend a lot of money to have a good time.

We did a lot of short touring and mountain biking, went up to a town called spearfish and thier canyons, went to deadwood(didn't see doris day though), even went to mount rushmore. The midwest is a great mountain biking place

Downsides..America is vast and the midwest is so vast in the middle that it's by car or lorry or nothing and the roads reflect that. if they see a bike on the road they look at you as though your an alien and if you walk they think your a tramp 

Costs...Although petrol was $2 A GALLON American flights booked in America are hugely exspensive.. example..my flight from heathrow to minniapolis then onto rapid city and return..£444, book in america ONE WAY from rapid city to heathrow $1,140  how does that work? 

camping..plenty of places to camp in the midwest but big plains and open ranges mean very little protection..try touring camping in the summer time as the national parks are only open in the summer

All in all a real people trip.. in the end I sold all of the new kit..including the sherpa and have realised like most things you don't have to spend big money to have big memories

So now I've returned to the U.K. got 3 months work to build up the funds kitty and have a flight booked to turkey in 3 months..£87 single to start the middle east and africa leg.. cheap bike with good specs and a good tent fills the need

p.s. my sherpa money paid for a long weekend in San Francisco for 5 days in a 4 star hotel..man we giggled

[jags]

you know spoonboy ,reading your post i reckon  your the type of guy that would have had a blast touring this planit of our's. i hope you still do it some day even if it's on a mule.

[spoon boy]

Good to see you again jags and thanks for the concern

3 months time.. then offski  I must admit, even the sh*t bits upon reflection make me chuckle to myself. My next bike will not be new or a thorn so my time in here won't be as much but certianly before the states trip the forum and it's members have been invalueable

[JC]

Were you not happy with the Sherpa?

[spoon boy]

Hi JC

The trip made me realise that you don't need the best and most exspensive to have a good time and I was having so much fun on an old tatty but good second hand marin that I looked at the sherpa and it just didn't do it for me so it just sat there

Looking at pb base many of the world travellers indeed don't use the latest, most exspensive kit. For me it has to put a smile on my face as well as being able to do the job

The sherpa is without doubt a very good entry level bike into the thorn range and I would imagine far better than some other companies kit

But the trip made me realise it isn't about just having the best kit. So I will by a secondhand frame, designate the kit I want and build it. More personal to me and something that will make me smile.

Nothing against Thorn at all..just I want to personalise something myself