A special gift from a special friend

Late last week I received a very special gift from my friend Lee Kinder, also known as Artisan Attributes.

Mr Hink's... Thanks Lee

I had the great pleasure of meeting Lee in Logan Utah when I was out visiting another good friend of mine Mark Peterson.

Mark had very kindly allowed me to crash at his pad whilst I was on my 3 week holiday in the US last September and it was an awesome surprise when he had arranged to drive the hour or so to hook up with Lee over in Logan.

WoW I still find it amazing how just by getting a Fat Bike I then go on to meet so many wonderful people. Fat Biking and the whole Fat Biking community is unlike any other. The sense of camaraderie is unreal. As soon as I started posting my first few pictures of my Fat Bike I found I was getting friends requests and invited to such things as Fat Bike festivals.

It had been a long time dream of mine to travel, however I never seemed to find myself  in the position to do so. Tied down when I was younger, then illness as I got older.

Then I caught a bit of a break and managed to get myself a part time job and  was able to get myself back on my feet (even if one of them is made of carbon and plastic). Really I owe a huge thanks to my fantastic work colleagues who pushed,as well as supported me in following my dream and making the decision to travel.

My original plans were just to go visit Brian, my friend and sponsor on his fantastic Bartlett Tendon, however when I mentioned to Mark I was thinking of going on holiday ,he was like "dude you have to come stay with me and ride my trails". From there I had another friend Shannon, who I have known as a fellow amputee for years, again via Facebook and she wanted me to visit her. And so things started to gather momentum. I just wished I had had more time and more guts (my first real trip away I was scared I would get lost) as I dearly wanted to visit my friend William Rosche in Atlantic City. It just came down to logistics in the end and time, too many flights and trains not enough time.

Anyhoo back to Mark and Lee... Just like when I met Mark at Salt Lake Cities airport, as soon as Lee and I met I knew we would get along famously. That day riding in Logan's mountains will be permanently etched in my memory. The scenery, the smell, the atmosphere and of course riding with these two amazing new friends.

As our time was just about done as we ended back up at the car park I asked Lee would he mind doing a carving for me. To which he replied "sure, just send me what you would like done", needless to say it had to be Mr Hink's, my beloved English Bull Terrier.

And so my pendant arrived late last week and I thought I'd take a little pic, which actually doesn't  do the workmanship any justice.

Oh and on a side note . I also tried to take a few pics of another very precious gift I received from Mark, however it's late here and a bit dark to capture it properly. Mark gave me a very special necklace. It's hand carved from bone, like little skulls, with what look like blue sapphires. I'm sure if Mark reads this he won't mind me telling you he has struggled financially since taking a pay cut. I know he wanted to give me something on my leaving and when he gave me this gift, saying he didn't have much, but wanted me to have this necklace which was very personal to him, as he had had it for a long time. Well it blew me away. To be honest there is no better gift than that of friendship and I feel incredibly lucky.

New friends,new places and unforgettable memories.

                           Well I'm back from my holiday's and what a holiday. Actually it's funny, as in weird saying holiday as my last one was when I was around 14 or 15 and that was only a school trip to London. This time around I ventured a little bit further afield and chose The US of A as my destination.

I'm going to try and write not so much that I bore you all, however enough to tell you about the fantastic time I had.

I took the 4th of September off work, this was my get everything sorted day, packing my new hard case and trying to get it under 23 kilo's was errrr interesting. I had already done a dry run a few days earlier and discovered that  the new size medium case I had purchased wasn't quite big enough after I bust the zipper... Oops! So I had to go out and buy a larger case.

On the morning of the 5th my dad took me to Newcastle airport. My flight was quite early and we got there in good time. I said goodbye to Mr Hinks and my dad came with me into the airport. I headed for check in. Everything went according to plan, which is quite unusual for me lol. And so I said bye to Ern and I set off up the escalator to departures.

I found my way around Newcastle airport reasonably well,finding where I would board my plane without incident and just waited to be notified when it was time to board. Boy I was nervous, though not as much as I expected. I mean this was a huge thing for me full of firsts. I've never been abroad,I've never flown (well apart from a quick jaunt in a helicopter doing some ariel military type manoeuvres) and I've never been away from home for quite so long.

My plane arrived I got on,stowed my bag in the overhead compartment,strapped in and prepared for my first flight, which was to be Amsterdam and Schiphol airport. The take off was scary yet exhilarating and after the initial buzz I soon settled in feeling comfortable and excited about my  adventure. It was a very pleasant flight over and the landing was nice and smooth, a slight bump as the plane set down on the runway. Hey there's nothing to this flying stuff I thought.

Newcastle Airport and me messing with my phone