One of the prime locations on The Kindness Bus is now emblazoned with words of honor, respect and praise for all to see. Nearly two years ago, I spent time visiting all 49 Firehouses in Manhattan. Many students I was talking with at the time weren’t hearing about the real heroes in our society. I decided if I was going to talk to kids about this, I had better go to the source. Two years later, I have decided it would be great for people who view The Kindness Bus to learn of this memorable series of events.
Today I had the pleasure of meeting Randy at the Escondido Firehouse #1, he had his Firefighters busy keeping up to date on CPR classes when I rode in on The Kindness Bicycle. He kindly took time out to learn of my cross country ride. He was so interested that he is passing along information to the state Firefighter’s agency. While on site of this huge multi-purpose building facility, I found a class of students working towards becoming Firefighters. They were eager to share their knowledge of many of the responsibilities of their work which includes the huge vegetation fires in the fall, which always seems to be the biggest concern. These guys are truly Heroes in Training.

Bogart steals the show wherever we go and today was no exception. I talked to three groups of schoolchildren today at the Escondido Montessori Learning Center in Escondido, California. Using Bogart as an example of how children should behave, and more importantly, not behave, they seem to make a better connect when using his actions as an example. Bogart even chimed in when he got excited over seeing his favorite character, Bowser the dog, from the One Million Acts Of Kindness puppet show.
The students, educators and parents all helped to make us feel like we were part of their extended family. Families made donations of treats for Bogart and for me as well. They also had a program to fill The Kindness Bus gas tank with kindness, by bringing in donations, allowing us to get a ways further down the road.
This learning center is a magical place of a close knit group of families. I heard from many of the parents of how grateful they were for me to share stories of The Kindness Bicycle Ride for Heroes. I couldn’t have been more pleased as to how the presentations went today….and they have invited me back tomorrow for an early morning assembly for the entire school and parents. Thank you to everyone for supporting The Kindness Bus Tour in so many ways.

I love what I do! Every day is different, exciting and unpredictable. Today started with preparing for a late afternoon departure for Vista, California and a planned ride to possibly visit one more firehouse in Santa Monica before leaving this town for two weeks. With loads of Kindness Bus chores to complete, my window to do all I wanted to do, closed a little. Having a morning coffee meeting with friend and One Million Acts Of Kindness Ambassador, Michael Townsend, delayed until early afternoon, afforded me the opportunity to get exposure for The Kindness Bicycle on my travels to the firehouse. And then it happened. The rear tire went flat. Fortunately I was less than two miles away from a spare tube on The Kindness Bus.
While moving The Kindness Bicycle to a post I could chain it and then walk to the bus for a spare, Wynton, a 20 year veteran firefighter from Station 70 in Malibu, flagged me down to talk with me about The Kindness Bicycle Ride for Heroes. Knowing firsthand that a firefighter is grateful for what I am doing, is inspiration enough, to carry me through the end of the ride.

Driving down to Hermosa Beach to have a meeting about growing One Million Acts Of Kindness in bigger ways  in the future was time well spent. The rain which seemed to come down sideways at times, made me wish The Kindness Bus had pontoons attached to its undercarriage.
During my rain soaked, rain shortened bicycle ride today, I met Larry, who was a Master Sergeant in the Marine Corps. Larry flagged me down in a local parking lot. He has a soft spot in his heart for those who come back from Iraq and Afghanistan banged-up in a bad way. Larry has received 2 Purple Hearts, a Silver Star and a Bronze Star.  To Master Sergeant Larry, who served 2 tours of duty in Vietnam, I would like to say, welcome home Marine. Semper Fi
Three weeks from today marks the beginning of One Million Acts Of Kindness Week. Please, if you haven’t done so already, sign up yourself and list the kindness project you will accomplish during that week.

In the exact location of The Kindness Bicycle tire dunk yesterday, a weekly memorial to honor those killed in Iraq and Afghanistan is installed in this same strip of beach by volunteers every Sunday. Soldiers who have lost their lives are represented by 6,370 crosses, the weekly memorial is aptly named Arlington of the West.
Max, Kurt and I visited this beach installation to pay our respects. The number of deaths from these two wars is astounding to say the least. We were told by Larry, who helps to organize this nearly 8 year tradition that the number of deaths does not include those take their life, sometime years after they have come back stateside.
With the number of those who are seriously injured both physically and mentally, not accurately reported, it can only be estimated that the number is in the tens of thousands. It is for them that I am riding on The Kindness Bicycle Ride for Heroes.
This afternoon I made a brief stop at Santa Monica Fire Station 1. The men were testing out some new equipment but were all ears as I thanked them for the work they do for all of us.

Today was a very special day for One Million Acts Of Kindness. The ride to honor and express my gratitude to heroes, began this morning in Santa Monica, California. We got some great video of the tire dunk in the Pacific Ocean.
It was incredibly windy today, making the walk across the sand with The Kindness Bicycle a huge challenge and making the ride on the side streets of Santa Monica seem as if I had an open umbrella in a windstorm.
With the average of only 26 miles per day that I need to ride, I can have go as slowly as I wish, allowing me the luxury of having as many conversations as I desire.
I had the privilege of meeting Kurt from Vancouver, Canada and Max from LA, today. Kurt has started 52 Acts of Kindness and is doing incredible kind acts for every week of the year. Max is creating a documentary of this great goodness. Kurt, singlehandedly washed The Kindness Bus at a local self serve car wash and then filled the gas tank with as much kindness as he could fit. Kurt’s website launches in early February, look for a blog about this in the near future. Having One Million Acts Of Kindness and Fifty-two Acts of Kindness meet at the beginning of The Kindness Bicycle Ride for heroes, I just know that it is going to be the start of something very good.

A few of years ago, I tuned into Bill Bennett’s, Morning in America radio show. Knowing that he was formerly Secretary of Education, I knew that listening to this show would be great research, as I visit classrooms across the country. One item of interest for me was that he had a segment where over-the-road truck drivers call into his show and describe where in the United States they were currently driving. I thought having The Kindness Bus Tour call into his show on a regular basis, with an educational tie-in, would be a perfect fit. I tried to make this happen over the last few years, to no avail, that is, until today.
Seth Leibsohn is the host of Morning in America every Friday morning. I called last week to tell them of my Kindness Bicycle Ride for Heroes. I was instructed to call back this morning. Seth had me as his first guest caller. Talking on-air for a few minutes, Seth could hear the passion I have for getting the message of who the real heroes should be, in the minds of our youth. Seth asked me to call his show every Friday to give updates about The Kindness Bicycle Tour to Raise Awareness about Wounded Warriors & Police and Firefighters Killed in the Line of Duty.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you Seth for helping to get my message of One Million Acts Of Kindness across our nation’s airwaves, every Friday “Morning in America.”
***The 4,000 mile, 5 month long Kindness Bicycle Ride for Heroes begins tomorrow from Santa Monica, California.