Vanessa and Lorelei's Adventure... hi friends! thanks so much, john, for setting this up. it's great to be connected with all of you, although i must admit a little bittersweet to see and hear about all your adventures after mom and i had to leave the group. probably the hardest thing about leaving early was missing out on six more days to get to know such an amazing group of folks. it does my heart good to stay connected in this way.

as we talked about, we went on with a bike adventure of our own. we stayed monday night in nehalem where we had said goodbye to you. tuesday morning we drove robby's van (thank you robby) back to portland. both mom and i were so thankful to have some time with betsy (seim's office manager) over lunch tuesday to share with her some (hopefully) constructive critisisms as well as postivie feedback about our experience. although it was strange to be pulling back up to se portland again so soon, both of us felt much better after meeting with her.
after portland we headed back to the coast -- this time to newport where a friend of mine lives on a houseboat. we got to see him briefly before he headed out on his own cross country bike tour (motorcycle, i should say, nowhere near as fun, if you ask me :)

on wednesday morning i started biking down 101 out of newport and mom acted as my faithful sag. we on this way for a couple of days -- until we got to bandon. i was having a great time -- loving the riding and the views (my god, if you haven't already, bike the whole of the oregon coast - it's breathtaking). but, after two days of riding and all the emotion of the week, we were both a bit spent, so we decided to take a day off.

bandon was a really sweet town so we were happy to stay there for a bit, sitting on the beach and putsing around town. then we drove a little ways more to gold beach (an unremarkable town, by our accounts) and on saturday i biked from there into california. we had a great night in eureka, ca saturday -- and drove back to san fran on sunday -- with a drive thru the avenue of the giants (another great biking road, if you get the chance).
all and all i biked about 125 miles -- so not the numbers you all achieved, i know, but a good amount none the less. we did get some sustinable nuiances to our trip too -- eating at resturants that served local and organic and vegan as much as possible (including the wild rose in bandon -- which we both highly recommend), stopping at the solar living center in northern california for a tour on sunday, and marketing my mom's haitian co-op cards to a fair number of little shops along the coast.
so, all and all we made it into a fun and memorable time, although i think both of us are still feeling a little bit of the sting of disapointment.
i'm excited to hear more highlights from the remainder the the trip from you all.
also -- as i mentioned on the tour -- my partner and i have a guestroom here in san francisco and all of you are more than welcome to come and stay anytime you like. (just not all at once).
thanks for taking the time to read this....
blessings,
vanessa (and lorelei)

... if you want to see our pictures in full, check out: www.vanessaverleespictures.shutterfly.com