Now I am on very familiar ground. Terry and I have been invited to stay with my good new-old friends John and Stephanie Cooper. John and Steph are the young couple who welcomed me, my son Dan, my grandsons Jeremy and Nik and my friend Hester who flew in from Munich, Germany to walk that first week of the IN THEIR PATH! journey back in April 2002. This was my first Cincinnati ‘safe house.’ How wonderful to be back and get a chance to meet the new addition to their family, 2 year old Lily. The part of my original walk that felt sort of close to what freedom seekers might have felt 200 years ago was the way perfect strangers, like the Coopers, and each of the families that hosted me on my 519 mile walk, welcomed me into there homes with grace and enthusiasm. And again there is the warm feeling of being with old friends to reminisce. Lots of laughs, hugs and stories.

My daughter and her family stayed at a nearby hotel so the kids could enjoy the pool, but they joined us when we went back to my new-old friend Joe Wilmers’ Washington Park Elementary school in Cincinnati’s over-the-Rhine neighborhood, for a return visit to Ms. Southall 4 th grade class, although of course these were different children, again I was impressed by the questions, attentiveness and their knowledge of the UGRR. Here are some bright articulate kids that Ms. Southall is very proud of. It was good to be back and I loved getting a chance to introduce my family to the class.

In the afternoon we had a docent guided tour of the National UGRR Freedom Center. This magnificent structure wasn’t even a hole in the ground when the already-on-board- staff welcomed me three years ago. I hope you all get a chance to visit. Take a look at their web site www.freedomcenter.org. There is so much to see, we could have easily spent three days here.