Off to Oakland!

We stayed in Sacramento again last night, and will head to Oakland in a couple of hours to get ready for tonight's show. After the show, we'll continue on to San Jose where we'll spend the night.

The weather here wasn't so great for getting out yesterday. It was cold and rainy in the valleys and snowing over the mountain ranges. I'm told this is quite unusual weather for May in Sacramento.

Angie, my wife, is on her way back to Chattanooga now, where she'll get to see first hand what 12 inches of rainfall has done to our hometown of 17 years. It was strange to watch news reports here in California showing flooding on streets with which I'm quite familiar back home.

My son arrived home from his first year in college this week. Angie has home schooled both of our children and Jeremy was able to start college a bit early. He's in the honors program at the University of Alabama in Birmingham and is planning a career in medicine. He's now a second semester sophomore at 17 years old. I'm unfortunately not going to get to see him before he heads off on his summer job in a couple of weeks. He'll be traveling right up until school starts in August, working at bicycle festivals around the country. Jeremy and I have participated in a few such festivals ourselves so I know he's going to be surrounded by good people.

My daughter, Missy, is away in New Orleans this week cheering on her fellow Chattanooga home schoolers as they participate in the National Mock Trial Competition. Check out the link if you're unfamiliar with this verbal sport. People who've lost hope in today's youth are much like misguided teens themselves - they're just looking in the wrong places.

Traffic on this web site continues to amaze me. There were over 14 thousand hits yesterday alone. It is clear that you want to see as many pictures as possible. I'll continue to do my best to oblige. I need to credit Brad, David and Walter for taking many of the pictures I post as well. We are all sharing our photo's with each other, as well as you.

I'm still finding it impossible to respond to everyone's email. I'm sorry I just can't keep up with it and attend to all the other necessities of daily life on the road. I hope you'll understand, but won't hesitate to drop me an email - I might be able to respond. And I enjoy hearing your reactions to the shows and to this web site.

Thanks to those of you who responded regarding the bird outside my window. It was a Scrub Jay. I knew it was about the size of the Blue Jays we have in the east, but the coloring was quite different. It also wasn't acting 'Blue Jay-like,' which is to say it wasn't pestering other birds and making a lot of noise.

Several of you have sent me photos we had taken together at shows. I am working on a page specifically for fan photos so don't be discouraged if you haven't seen your's yet.

See you at the show tonight in Oakland! ¶ 7:09 PM