What a great trip to California. From 200+ in Rosemead on Sunday night to over 200 again on the steps of the State Capitol yesterday, we are continuing to spread our message all across this country.

After Oakland, on Tuesday morning, we went to San Jose. We were greeted with our first home cooked meal of the tour at Antioch Baptist church. The pastor blessed our food and our tour and I have to say I sure do miss mom’s cooking. Then we all piled on the bus and went over to City Hall. If you have never been there, you have to check out this building (click here for photos!) It is something out of Star Wars and is absolutely gorgeous.

At the San Jose town hall we were greeted by Congressman Mike Honda and other local elected officials. But, the coolest part about it was that I finally met one of the women responsible for the Hercules community fight. For me, Hercules vs. Goliath was the greatest headlines of the year and to hear their story of how they beat Wal-Mart and protected their community was truly uplifting. Rock on Brenda!

After the town hall was over, Laura (our jack of all trades) was presented with a birthday cake by her sister and close friends who drove all of the way there to see her. Now, anyone who knows Laura…knows about her sweet tooth. So, I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised when…within seconds, the cake was gone. But, I only have one question, Laura, “Did you eat the whole thing?”

After San Jose, we drove off to Sacramento for a rally on the steps of the Capitol. Moments before the rally, the California state legislature passed two bills to protect residents and communities from the potential negative impact of Wal-Mart. And, Sen. Alarcon gave a great speech about the need for corporate responsibility. We were also joined again by Phil Angelides. The best line of the day, though, was when one of the speakers said, “Schwarzenegger pocketed Wal-Mart’s money and then terminated two bills that would have helped working families by stopping employers from being able to lock employees in the stores (it should have been a no-brainer) and exposing the cost of shifting Wal-Mart’s health care costs onto taxpayers.

Once the rally ended we went over to the state fair and staffed a booth! Now, we are making the long drive to Salem, Oregon. I can’t believe we only have two states left.

By the way, some of you have been wondering about the sign ups so I want to give you a little update on that. Here’s the deal, we have over 10,000 signups on sheets of paper that we have collected over the past 31 days that have not been entered yet. We also have the 5k signups from Wisconsin that we got on fair share health care and we should be adding another 5k from Labor Day events across the country. Given that we already have over 9400 signups that puts us well above our 25k supporter goal. So congratulations. Now, the question becomes how do we get all of that data in so you can see the needle move. As soon as we figure it out, we will let you know.

Thanks for everything. This tour is incredible and although we are definitely tired…the homestretch is here!