I found an interesting tour package out west in Oregon, called the Sustainable Energy in Motion Tour. Based out of Portland, through the Portland Peace and Justice Center, the tour offers several packages.

First on their schedule is the Columbia River Gorge tour. This is a two week tour through some of the most spectacular scenery in the United States. I have driven the Gorge and have always regretted not having the time to spend and really see it. This tour runs May 20 to June 4. You don't have to be a major athelete to participate in this ride, as they average between 20 and 60 miles a day. Unfortunately, there is no accomodation available for nonriders, though and you need to be aware of this. This is due to the constraints in space aboard the Support and Gear vehicle(SAG Wagon).

Activities:

• Visit with the Umatilla Indian Reservation in eastern Oregon. The Umatilla Indian Reservation is unique in that they were able to retain over 50% of their original land.
   

• Be hosted by an award-winning school that uses geothermal power, wind powered-exhaust systems, and was built by locally-sourced materials, and learn about why a rural community would choose to go green
   

• Camp at a fruit orchard
   

• Visit a full-scale replica of Stonehenge!
   

• Visit Hanford Watch, a nonprofit organization working to increase public awareness about and participation about the largest nuclear waste dump in the Western Hemisphere.
   

• Visit a 111-acre intentional community located just north of the Columbia Gorge.
   

• Stay and work with organic farms that grow cherries, nectarines, peaches, alfalfa, hay, oats, straw, heirloom apples and pears.

Next on the Agenda is the Combined Coast sustainability/Columbia Gorge tour. This is, needless to say, a longer two week tour combining the River Gorge with their Coast tour. Start date is also on May 20 and runs through June 11. Note: Gorge Tour activities are above

Activities:

• Visit an innovative restaurant that has used the art of cob building to create a unique environment. We will assist in a cob-building activity while here.
   

• Hike through ancient forest stands and learn about forest health and politics from an environmental watchdog group.
   

• Camp at a fruit orchard in the shadow of Mt. Piska, and learn about applied permaculture, organic farming and the economic realities of this business practice.
   

• Visit a bee keeping and cheese making farm.
   

• Visit the Lost Valley Education Center, world-renowned for its permaculture and deep ecology teachings.
   

• Be inspired at the innovative intentional community, Aprovecho, where wood stove technology is being developed and shared with the global south to increase efficiency and decrease smoke production and firewood consumption.
  
  
  

For further information on these and other activities offered through Sustainable Energy in Motion Tours, please feel free to visit their site at www.portlandpeace.org

The tour is environmentally friendly and they try to leave minimal environmental footprint on their rides. If you have any involvement with the sport of cycling, I can tell you, you are an environmentalist at heart! Nobody enjoys choking on motor vehicle exhaust when they are riding and this organizations mission is to promote environmental issues in a way that is fun and friendly. I wholeheartedly endorse this viewpoint and am not receiving any compensation for this article, so don't think I am a paid endorser for the tour group, I'm not!

Here are some assorted quotes from a participant in a previous tour:

“First came introductions, and the initial revealing of the agenda of the 8 day 250 mile bike trip. The reason for the biking? To sum it up Kartic's button said it well: "The bicycle: vehicle for a small planet." Less pollution, more solutions. Then came some other logistics, and then we were soon immersed in each others hopes and expectations for community dynamics. The theme seemed to revolve around empathy and mutual respect.”

“Our story began with a lesson on bike maintenance from a bike activist named Sara. She was a beautifully powerful woman with great strength of character. Her style of teaching was incredible. With a slow, methodical style of working through the lessons, and interspersing humorous and interesting stories and examples along the way, she had completely empowered us with the course of an hour. We were on our way to transforming into avid bikers.”

“Upon arrival at Cape Lookout, we had a wonderful time exploring the waterfalls falling onto the beach, the crabs and jellyfish on the beach, and all the other beautiful wonders of this classic piece of the Oregon Coast.”

Ryan Mlynarczyk

Ryan was a participant in these rides and the three previous paragraphs are excerpts from his essay at the URL http://www.consciousphotography.com/oregon/sustainabilitybiketour.htm

Photos are from the same site as the quotes

George departed Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego on October 14, and made it to Rio Grande 4 days later. Since then, He's been on an absolutely epic ride. This is truly the adventure of a lifetime. George plans to complete this trip of approximately 17,000 miles (27419 Km) over the course of two years. You can follow George on his magnificent ride and encourage him along the way at his blog.

As of right now, George is up in Argentine Patagonia, I think! It's difficult to map the towns he's talking about as Google world doesn't have them in the database. After crossing into Argentina, facing some pretty terrible road conditions from Tierra del Fuego and Chile, as well as some adventures and fellow adventurers. Be sure to drop by and wish him well!

All photos in this entry  except the map are copyrighted  by George and used with his permission. Queries should be referred to George through his blog. The map was borrowed from a tourism site. and the URL is http://www.larc1.com/argentina/volcanoes/volcanoes_map.html