summer arrives in Snowmass

June 15 and they've opened 8 runs on Aspen mtn for skiing ! Only 2 weeks ago , runs were complete down to base village at Snowmass. Meanwhile Aspen buzzes with the international Food & Wine Festival which precedes the Music festival.

Mary and I back to work , bus driving and gardening respectively.

A few photos might be of interest.
1. Our Meadow Ranch friends and neighbours Mike & Gigi Potter at a nice riverside restauraunt in Basalt. Note the very swollen Frying Pan river in background.
2. Mary practising ( for the NYC RTO April 1 , 2009 concert ? ) in a partly remodeled 270 Meadow Ranch.
3. Top of Independence Pass after a solo ride from downtown Aspen - 19 miles and 4,000 feet.
4. Nearing the top of the Rim trail starting from Meadow Ranch - a wonderful mountain bike trail along the ridge skirting Snowmass Village.
5. A view of Snowmass Village from Rim Trail ridge.
6. One of Mary's jobs on Red Mountain following a planting by Mary and Gracie, with outskirts of Aspen in background and Aspen Highlands beyond.
7. A downtown Aspen street with Aspen mtn ski runs in background.

Collection of photos from the UGRR and final thoughts

I've selected a few more photos which may be of interest.

1 and 2 speak for themselves - both Aberdeen and Glencoe having significance for us in Scotland. 3 and 4 are of the brother of the famous Kentucky Derby winner Smarty Jones - just a sweetie of a young horse put out to grass in beautiful surrounds with a llama as a companion. We thought the teeth were particularly attractive.

5 and 6 are of important UGRR sites - a house in Maysville, KY, with a mass of fascinating artifacts ( one of which Mary is holding up - chains to link a mother and child )with the direct descendant ( Gerry Gore ) of a UGRR `conductor` and the other of ` the house on the hill` taken from Ripley , OH, belonging to the famous Scottish presbyterian minister John Rankin who saved countless escaping slaves and a bold anti abolitionist. It is argued that he was instrumental in starting the Civil War.

Finally , I have to include my barber and his family in Fulton, Mississippi to illustrate the really lovely people we met along the way, and one to show that I was able to keep Mary in my sights without serious neck or other injury . The last is of our point of terminus - intended and actual - the Freedom Center in downtown Cincinnati - just before a downpour. Of course there would still be another 1000 miles or so to the Canadian border for escaping slaves . Although Ohio was a free state , the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 made it illegal for anyone to hold or help slaves escaping from southern states, and bounty hunters ensured that if caught they would be returned even from the comparative safety of that state. The hardship we endured on this trip paled into insignificance compared to what these escaping slaves and those helping them suffered only 150 years ago. Quite a story really.

Canada , here we come . 2009 ?