On yesterday’s flight from San Francisco to Cleveland, I packed up the  dismantled signs and support from The Kindness Bicycle and squeezed them into my checked bag. I was offered the use of my son Peter’s bicycle for the nearly three weeks that I will be in the east. I was happy to learn how fast the existing signage was able to fit the new ride. I was also very happy to learn how easy it is to ride his bike. It is such an ease to get up to speed without much effort at all. Clearly, The Kindness Bicycle could use a major overhaul, but as long as it has two pedals and two wheels, it is all I need to get my message out to the masses.
Today is Memorial Day, a day to honor those who sacrificed so much to protect our freedoms. Try to take some time each day going forward, to keep their memory in your heart.

I think I am going to have to fire myself as a travel agent. My three leg trip to get from San Francisco to Cleveland took more than 25 hours to get from door to door. With airfare in the $600 – $800 range, flying east would not have been doable. Enter, Bob the travel agent.
Booking a 5:30 AM three leg trip from San Francisco through Denver and Houston to Cleveland was not so much the hard part, but having to park The Kindness Bus and take a shuttle 11 hours before flight time was. It meant having to sleep in the terminal and on planes as I made my way east. Needless to say, I got about an hour of rest. I am going to be catching up on sleep, for having to fly on the cheap, for the next few days. I was however, able to make some great people connections on this $240 bargain basement fare.

Team up to stop bullying is a nationwide campaign started by retailer, Sears, but is run on the local level by groups in towns across the United States. In Petaluma, California, Bill Kizer is very involved in helping to stop bullying. Having a teenage daughter, Bill keeps active by organizing events which gives kids a voice and raises awareness. Tonight he had a dance for 300 kids in the area.
Team Up to Stop Bullying provides much-needed resources to parents, children, educators and communities and will help Americans understand that bullying is a not a normal part of childhood,” said Marie Newman, bullying solutions author and managing director of Team Up to Stop Bullying. “Every seven minutes a child is bullied at school and studies show that schools with an anti-bullying program see a decrease in bullying up to 50 percent. While there isn’t one single fix to every bullying problem, there are proven solutions and services that are implemented.

Every town I have visited these past four years have had a monument honoring the men and women from their community who have given their lives while protecting our freedoms. I like taking some time at these memorials to reflect on the significance of their sacrifice. These memorials serve as reminders to all of us. They are one way to keep the memory alive.
Spending time honoring those who gave their lives is a great way to show respect and a nice way to set an example for children.
Memorial Day or weekend for that matter can serve to remind us of these Heroes but it can also serve to remind us to make a habit of honoring them all year long.

The bicycle helmet I have worn on my head for the past two years sums up the passion I have for helping to make kid’s lives better. I have just recently discovered the creative design of my helmet and feel it fits the Ring Our Country with Kindness ride, perfectly. Overcoming bullying with kindness is quite possibly the best non confrontational method to achieve a peaceful solution to any aggression.

A safety pin has so many uses in a survival situation. It can be used to take out splinters, mend clothing or gear, to make a finger splint, replace a zipper puller, use as fishing hooks, wound closure, pin a shirt sleeve to a shirt to make a sling, to get knots out of your fishing line, use on a blanket to make a sleeping bag or as part of your shelter. There are hundreds of uses, this is why you will see safety pins as a part of the best survival kits.
An alarming statistic was recently published by the Centers for Disease Control with regards to suicide. With all the resources being poured into social services and all of the agencies available to individuals, the United States, annual suicide rate still increased from nearly 36,000 to over 38,000 individuals during the past several years. The biggest increase was in the 50 – 59 year of age group. Nearly all other age brackets remained about the same.
Each and every one of us is the safety pin in each other’s lives. We are all here to hold each other up when we are about to fall. There are many people struggling to get by, it is up to all of us to provide the friendship and comfort needed.