Fourth of July

Journal Entry: Six; Fourth of July
The fourth of July is a giant celebration all over America. The small towns in Colorado are, in my opinion, exceptionally patriotic. Buena Vista launches the day with a pan-cake breakfast sponsored by the local Optimist Club. A long line of people greets you at the downtown park. They are waiting to join in the celebration by eating sausage, pancakes, juice and coffee. After the breakfast all people take up a post along the main street to witness a traditional small-town parade. All you have to do is join the end of the marching line to be a participant in the parade. The search and rescue vehicles are adorned with red, white, and blue; fire trucks, ambulances, police cars. Several Class B John Deere, green and yellow tractors are always in attendance. There is Uncle Sam on an enormous big wheel bicycle thanking the spectators for coming to his birthday. The girls from the local exercise club, Curves, have a marching routine using folding lawn chairs that is un-paralleled. There are dogs, and horses and children just riding their bicycles. Everyone threw candy, pencils, rulers, popsicles, or key chains to the crowd. We had out of town visitors who had never attended a parade of any kind in their lives.
They had two young children, Commander Cody and Princess Aleigha. I told the Commander after that the parade was like Halloween. Copious amounts of candy, pencils, popsicles, and toys were thrown from each car and float in the parade. He had his shirt and his hat brimming with the candy he had salvaged off the street.

The commander said it was better than Halloween because instead of running from house to house to acquire candy, all he had to do was stand on the street and catch the bounty that was being thrown at him. He had an excellent observation.
The local neighborhood bar-be-cue was hosted by friends at a new house they are building. This looks like it is going to be a superb dwelling for them. The only draw back this day was that the house was only half-way complete being built. It does not rain much in Colorado, but when it does rain, it is usually at the most inconvenient time. I must say that I have never attended a bar-be-cue where you had to dodge the rain falling through the un-finished roof and where the trash cans served a dual purpose of trash and rain collectors. And no where can you say that you have seen the dessert table so carefully positioned as on the top of a table saw.