I've marched in a lot of parades. My first parades were the Monroe Fair Days parades where my brother and I usually got to ride on the fire trucks and toss candy to other kids. Having a grandma that worked at City Hall had its advantages.

For all four years of high school I was in the marching band (jokes all around, I've heard them all). We marched in two, maybe three parades a year. We always got a lot of cheers and people waving and yelling. It was a great time.

During my time in the Navy I was part of the Crackerjack Marching Unit. In the 11 months I was there we marched in at least 45 parades from Louisiana at Mardi Gras all the way up to central Nevada. We were always a hit and marched to cheers and thanks.

Those were moments that made me proud to be a part of those groups. However, I've never been more proud than when I marched with the strong people of the Reno Coalition of Reason in the Nevada Day Parade this morning.

We all had fun this morning but it was still tough. There were few cheers and waves. Mostly there was silence. A few people yelled things like yay god and such. To the crowd's credit there were no angry comments and no one threw anything. We all kept our spirits up, kept smiles on our faces, and were undaunted in our task. Now we are sitting at lunch talking about how fun it was.

It's a great day to be a freethinker! I'm looking forward to the great things that this group can and will accomplish.

Written in Carson City, Nevada

(I apologize for however the photos look. The Squarspace app for iPhone is less than ideal.)