The I’m From Driftwood crew is in California for the 11th annual AIDS/LifeCycle, a bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles raising money for HIV/AIDS. IFD founder Nathan Manske and guest videographer and editor Matthew Ladensack will be sharing daily video stories from some of the 2,700 participants who are embarking on the seven-day, 545-mile trek. You can follow IFD’s daily adventures on Facebook and Twitter.

Along the AIDS/LifeCycle route we noticed a woman standing on the side of the road holding a sign. The sign was a photo of a man with his name, Gary Stainback, the years of his birth and death, 1950-1996, and a simple “Thank You” written at the bottom. We pulled over and asked the woman if she would be willing to share her story, and she agreed with one condition: that she wouldn’t have to stop waving and holding her sign for a single second. We agreed, and Steph Stainback began telling us the story of her brother, Gary.