Needing a day to recover from yesterday’s century ride, I headed to the waterfront for a very short ride and a long visit to the Farmers Market. Thousands of visitors head to this popular Saturday morning spot to buy fresh produce. Today they got an added visual, The Kindness Bus.
Two people of the many people who stopped to talk with me while I was back at The Kindness Bus were Janet  and Zoe. So many people over the years have shared personal details of their lives with me, perhaps in seeing some of the meaningful quotes on The Kindness Bus, they feel comfortable in sharing their feelings. Janet stopped by while I was sitting in The Kindness Bus to talk with me about her relationship with her daughter. She shared with me how they have grown apart and are having a hard time seeing eye to eye. She is going to visit her daughter in Texas for Christmas and after seeing The Kindness Bus, she is going to make amends with her. The writing that resonated with her was “Forgiveness will bring peace to your life.”
Zoe has very little contact with her father in France. She is going there over New Years to see him after a long time away. We talked quite extensively about having a good relationship with her father. She is going to make a plan to make things right with him.
This was a very huge day for The Kindness Bus Tour.
On the homepage of this website there is a Parent’s Vow Certificate for reconnecting with a parent or child. It is well worth a look.

What a day to decide to do a Century Ride. Today’s ride was for the Homeless, Neglected and Abused children in San Francisco. The weather was perfect and all systems were go. Riding 100 miles really isn’t physically demanding, it is just monotony at about mile marker 60 to about mile marker 90, then I speed just to get finished. Thoughts keep going through your mind, such as, “Are we there yet?” After hour number one, I had ridden 11miles and was well on my way to an early evening finish, hopefully before dark. Being in the vicinity of Lombard Street, I decided to take on the curviest road in the world. I rode from the comfort of flat terrain for the 1st hour and then the steepest hills in San Francisco for the 2nd. I decided that flat is where it’s at so I rode back down to comfort. For the next few hours I rode and it seemed as if I was getting nowhere. The hours moved on but the odometer didn’t seem to match my pace. It was the longest day of riding I have ever had. For 18 hours with 3 hours of repairs and breaks, I rode The Kindness Bicycle. I am thinking that I quite possibly rode 125 miles. It is definitely time to get a new odometer.
Visit YouTube and TheBogartChannel to view the ride down Lombard Street.

What a sensational visit to the SFCAPC. From my initial contact with
Camille, the Board and Executive Coordinator, about hoping to meet with Executive Director, Katie Albright, I could sense that these people are passionate about their jobs. The moment I pulled in front of their offices, there was an immediate buzz about The Kindness Bicycle from the office workers who were arriving for the day. Director of Child Abuse Council and Director of Education,
Kathy Baxter and Director of Development, Katie Skoog took the time to meet with me and discuss the successful school programs they are taking directly to the schools. Getting children to understand at an early age what is healthy behavior is imperative to their long term health and well-being. The programs utilized at this center help to enrich the lives of children and families. Their philosophy is that every child should be cherished and nurtured, allowing the child to thrive in a loving environment. Parents are taught skills to better understand the importance of interacting positively with their children. They have a strongly held belief that working to help the entire community will foster the hope of all of us changing the world for the better.
I wish I had had the time to meet with many more of the talented staff. Molly and Rebecca are two of the others who help to make this organization be the very best it can possibly be. The City of San Francisco is blessed to have such a facility, enriching the lives of everyone in the community. It was an honor to have been invited to visit the SFCAPC.

Please visit; www.sfcapc.org to learn of the incredible work being done at this center.

In a couple of days, I am going to a book signing talk by Gabrielle Bernstein for her book, ‘Spirit Junkie.’ I learned of this author and her growing legion of followers, primarily women, and the unique way in which she gets people in believing in themselves and the realizing the huge impact their lives can have on the world in which we live. ‘A Course in Miracles’ educator, Gabby has used that experience to transform her own life, while realizing the impact it had on those around her.
Conventional is not the word I would use to describe her method of trying to inspire her followers, but her method is highly successful none the less. That is what caught my interest and how unconventional my methods are in reaching my audience. Any positive growth in an individual is good growth, it doesn’t matter how you get there, what matters is that you do.
Gabby’s first book, ‘Add More -ing to Your Life’ and her new release ‘Spirit Junkie’ are great reads and guys can learn from them as well. I am recommend -ing them highly!

Bogart is almost ready for the big screen of YouTube. Very engaging vignettes are being created about a day in the life of being Bogart The Kindness Dog. Since YouTube featured a One Million Acts Of Kindness video on their homepage for a 24 hour period, the video has had nearly 580,000 views.
I love having this type of medium to express myself. I hope all of you will visit us on YouTube. To make it easy to remember, all of the videos will be named One Million Acts Of Kindness and they will all be on TheBogartChannel. All of the videos will have different descriptive keywords.
TheBogartChannel is live!! Please visit YouTube and subscribe to TheBogartChannel. It is 100 per cent free!! It will help us spread the message of One Million Acts Of Kindness.
I will start filming these short vignettes and start posting them tomorrow.
Please tell all your friends and contacts.
Sincerely,
Bob Votruba and Bogart too!!

An early morning fog lifted off the waters of the San Francisco Bay revealing the magnificent support towers of the Golden Gate Bridge. With The Kindness Bicycle beneath me, I set off from the Embarcadero to ride this majestic structure. From its deck, I paused to take in the view of the Telegraph Hill section of San Francisco. I stopped on the far side of one of the support towers away from the noise of the traffic, in relative silence. In looking at the large number of residences in the distance, and realizing the high percentages of occurrence of Domestic Violence and Childhood Sexual Abuse, I was overcome with emotion and the direct correlation that silence has in perpetuating these two plagues of mankind.
Because of all of these factors, the 60s hit song, “Silence is Golden” popped into my head. I never really paid attention to the words of the message in the song, but when read, the message becomes clear. The lyrics are as follows:

Oh don’t it hurt deep inside
To see someone do something to her
Oh don’t it pain to see someone cry
How especially if that someone is her

Silence is golden, but my eyes still see
Silence is golden, golden, but my eyes still see

Mark and his teenage son, Sam were two of the several hundred individuals who stopped by The Kindness Bus today, parked once again, in front of the Ferry Building in San Francisco. At one point, Mark touched an area near the entrance door of The Kindness Bus for his son to view. From my vantage point  inside, I could tell that he was pointing out one of my favorite writings; “Respect for women is one of the greatest gifts a father can show to a son.” A nod of approval from his son was all the assurance, for Mark to realize, that the torch he had passed to his son, he can use as a lifelong, moral compass. I gave those words, and a few others, some time to be digested and then exited the bus with Bogart to have conversation with them about one of my favorite topics. I learned from our conversation that Sam has learned many great core values from his father. It would be great if all fathers were role models like Mark.
A student who is visiting San Francisco, stopped by and showed me a picture of The Kindness Bus she had taken. Thinking that she had just snapped the photo, I was blown away when she told me she took it 2 months ago in Boulder, Colorado.
Tomorrow I resume my ride on The Kindness Bicycle.