The best thing about the Little Rock North KOA was that they are so close to the Big Dam Bridge. They loaned us bikes and we were able to enjoy the beautiful scenery without hauling our own bikes for 3000 miles.
Ben Hopkins was warned by another American that bicycling through the mountains of Thailand wasn’t safe:
“Jesus, man, ya don’t know? They’re still growing the poppies and shooting anyone who goes near. Nothing’s changed since ‘79. Everyone knows it but no one dares speak out. The government, generals and drug lords are in business with the Burmese military. You’d better just stick to the road.”
Luckily, he didn’t and what he found instead was surprisingly different.
Instead of opium fields guarded by angry farmers, he found a Golden Tourist Trap.
“Tourism has replaced opium as the local source of gold. There’s The Golden Triangle Souvenir shop, The Golden Triangle Restaurant and with hotels and shopping centres sprouting up at the rate of poppies in post-Taliban Afghanistan it could soon be time to rename to the place, “The Golden Triangle Tourist Trap”. But it’s worth sticking around to check out the superb, recently opened Opium Exhibition Hall. “
Whenever you tell someone that you’re planning on traveling to a place, they always have advice for you. It’s important to listen to the advice, but it’s also just as important to follow your instincts and see where they take you. You just might find a golden opportunity.
You are looking at Rhona Quarm and Gavin McDonald. Mike and I met them on our drive to Disneyland. We were gassing up the Beetle in Barstow, California and the two of them had parked their bikes nearby. I noticed their bikes and left Mike pumping gas and walked over to them to hear their story.
They are touring the world on their bicycles. They left their hometown, Perth, Scotland in May of 2005, which means they have been on the road for almost a year. They have bicycled with this flag of Scotland during the entire trip. The tear in the upper right hand corner is where they encountered a bull in India, but the flag has survived.
I asked them how it was to bicycle for that long and Gavin said the most profound thing:
“You can go a long way with bad legs and a good head.”
They are travelling from Perth, Scotland to Perth, Australia and finally ending their journey in Perth, Canada. They aren’t insane. They are living their dream to travel the world on bicycles and they are doing it for charity. You can find out more about their journey at their website.
After talking to Rhona and Gavin, my little drive to Disneyland didn’t seem like such a big adventure anymore. Mike and I excitedly talked about the bike rides we could take around our hometown and the world seemed bigger and friendlier after we said goodbye to them.
Forty-six year old Yang Guangwen has decided to ride his bicycle around the world all by himself.
He has plans to visit the cities who have hosted the Olympics in honor of Being’s 2008 Olympic hosting. I have fantasies about traveling around Europe on a bike, but this takes bicycle touring to a new level. When I am riding on my bicycle, the whole world is smaller and I see things that I wouldn’t have seen rushing by in a car. That’s why travel like that is appealing to me.
That said, I have ridden in a car along I-80 and the strip from Wendover to Reno is an empty expanse of life-endangering heat in the summer and cold in the winter. I’m sure the rest of the world has its own expanses of desolation. It doesn’t say in the article whether he will come through Salt Lake City, but if he does, I’ll be there, cheering him on!
“I’ll travel and speak to people around globe, telling them how Chinese are in favor of the notion of Olympism – friendship, solidarity, and peace. I’ll record 2,008 wishes for the Beijing Games from 2,008 people during my trip and send them to the Games’ headquarter in Lausanne (Switzerland).”
Good Luck, Yang!
Via: World Hum | Travel | Chinese Cyclist Aims to Ride Solo Ride Around the World
Associated Press writer Calvin Woodward rode a bicycle from Washington, DC to southern California, a 3-month journey at 12-15 miles per hour. He talks about the trip, the people he met, and the towns along the way in this article:
If you’ve got the time and the astounding lower-body strength, this is certainly a cheap way to see all of America. The total cost of his 3-month trip was $4500, not including the $1200 bicycle. He stayed in small hotels and camped some of the nights.
If you’re interested in touring the US on a bicycle, Adventure Cycling offers detailed bike maps of many cross-country routes. If you’re not interested in a 3500-mile ride, they have shorter ones, like the Utah loop, a mere 287 miles.
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