Robin Williams, Krispy Kreme and Irish coffees!

Day one of our travel started at 5:00 in the morning. We left from the house early to beat traffic in LA. But as you may know, my daughter loves Krispy Kreme doughnuts and she is always hungry. The problem is we had passed the one in Orange County and had to drive 30-45 minutes out of our way to get these doughnuts. But I love them too and three of them found their way way down my gullet before we left the parking lot.

I wanted to drive through LA so I could hand the driving over to Darcy so I could work the rest of the day. I took a conference call for one hour while Darcy drove. I worked on some board reports for another hour then Darcy said she couldn't drive because she was too tired. So here is my copilot. Since I lost so much time on the drive, when we got to San Francisco, Darcy and the kids went out to play and I spent the next three hours on my computer trying to catch up.

But we get here and meet the hundred other bikers that I'll ride down the coast with.  One of our speakers was Robin Williams. Darcy wanted to meet him so when he came to the back of the room, she went over to talk to him and I shot this photo.

But we're not done yet. A family tradition is to visit the Buena Vista in San Francisco. It is where they brought the Irish coffee to America. Jimmy Muldowney was the first to find this place but my brother Billy took this place to heart. The tradition is that whoever goes there calls the others and rubs it in. My brother is long gone but Jimmy is always available so we took a friend I ride (New Bike Mike) with us and had an Irish coffee. Or two.

So the kids and Darcy are sleeping. I'm still wide awake. We leave tomorrow at 7:30 for 87 miles to Santa Cruz. I'm a little nervous (but that may be the Irish coffees).

Adventures always start this way.

I miss my brother so much right now.