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Greetings from Vermont

Blogging has been non-existent here, as I have been on vacation in the great state of Vermont, home of Ben and Jerry’s, the world’s finest cheddar cheese, Lake Champlain chocolates, lakes of crystal clear water and lakes of craft beer, and, last but not least, home of Bernie Sanders, who, if this were at all a sane country, would be the next President of the United States.

The world of politics has not tempted me. Even the upcoming prospect of the “debate”, scheduled for tonight, as I write has done the trick. Well, if truth be told, I’m honestly not up to the task of describing the field of 16 (last count, but subject to change), each of whom is out to prove that the answer to the following question is yes: Is it possible for the United States to elect a worse president than George W. Bush. Even Jeb!, who was supposed to be the smart brother, seems determined to prove he can do even worse than his little brother. Not only did he learn nothing from his brother’s serial failures, he appears to have unlearned plenty, if that is possible.

So, I am going to share something completely unpolitical that I found out today when I finished my two hour bike trek (all, uphill, at least it seemed that way to me) into one of our favorite spots: Hapgood Pond National Forest.

So, on to the something new I learned today. Did you know that in 2009 we celebrated the 100th anniversary of the first cross country auto trip by a woman? Well, we did, and not only that, we’re apparently still celebrating, as the pictures below will show. Her name was Alice Ramsey.

I found out about Ms. Ramsey when the very car in which she made her cross country trip pulled into the parking lot at Hapgood. A 1909 Cadillac. It was being driven by one of her relations, whose wife, Dana McNair, recreated Alice’s trip in this very car in 2009. It’s hard to say which trip was harder. Alice had to negotiate a network of mostly dirt roads and a country filled with men whose attitude toward women drivers was only slightly more enlightened than a Saudi sheik. Dana, following roughly the same path, had to navigate the interstates in a car whose top speed is roughly 40. Anyway, here are some pictures of this magnificent machine.

   
    
 
Hard to believe it made it across the country, and even harder to believe it has survived to this very day, but there is is, and if you follow the link to Alice’s Wiki page it seems clear that this car is in fact the car she drove.

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