We left the Harvest Hosts stop at 1 of Us Brewing Co. and headed to visit with Ari and Matt. We parked at the mall and left the coach burning diesel to keep Bear cool.

The Busse Bus parked at the mall.

We figured that since it was a holiday and the mall was closed that no one would mind. We unhooked the truck and drove over to Ari’s house to watch the parade. Some of Matt’s family were there as well:

Awaiting the parade to start

We got to see a lot of the acts and floats go by:

As some of the performers were passing by they were spraying the audience with squirt guns. I would jump up and ask them to spray me and when they did I would duck behind Matt.

Matt being a good sport!

Sorry Matt!

What a nice parade! After Matt’s family headed home and we decided to have lunch at Portillo’s – a favorite of mine!

Portillo’s!

The Italian Beefs are fabulous!

While at lunch Ari received information regarding the Highland Park parade shootings. Ari is a Highland Park High School counselor. She learned that all of the Highland Park football team and the marching band were safe as they had participated in the festivities. We hadn’t learned about the totality until later in the day.

Since we still had a drive ahead of us we headed back to the Busse Bus to get on the road. Ari and Matt came back to the coach to see Bear and say our goodbyes.

Goodbye Ari and Matt!

After the fact update: The Highland Park Parade shooting was a terrible event and continuous reminder that we as a nation need to do better. Ari did not know any of the victims nor the shooter. The Highland Park High School Counseling team opened up every day afterwards for counseling services to anyone who wanted to come by the school. We are so proud of our daughter and the comfort that she provides to her students and the community as a whole!


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