As the caravan of Obama parade floats approached the staging area, I remember looking up and seeing swat teams on building tops. A fence is always erected to surround the area for our safety. While we were working, a second larger fence was installed. As the day wore on, masses of people were congregating on the street. In all of the parades I had done, I had never seen so many people. 

Since I was in charge, I spent time in the staging office. There were many death threats and each time they got one we would have to leave the office. As the evening wore on and we finished the set up, I was supposed to go to an apartment to sleep for a little. Well, there was no way anyone was going to get anywhere with streets so congested. I figured I was surrounded by two fences, the park police, the secret service, military personnel and my employees. I couldn’t be any safer. I slept in the pick up truck for a bit with the heat running. Around 4 am, the secret service did the final security check with the dogs. It would soon be show time.

The morning of the parade, my father made it to the parade route by coming with a truck  of horses to be in the parade. It was a really cold day. I remember getting him up into the heated tractor to pull the float and he stayed there until the parade ended. That was the last time that my father drove a float and it was his favorite, the grand finale United States Flag. Two of our drivers never made it to the route because they couldn’t get through the security checkpoint. Therefore I had to drive a float and it did not have heat! It was Vice President Joe Biden’s state float. I was next to the last float followed by my Dad. I remember looking out and catching Biden’s look. He was smiling and waving wildly. Another parade in the books..