Hi, my name is Barkley, I’m a bear. I made a trip to Frozenhead State Park in Tennesse this year to recce the course for the Barkley Marthon, with my friends, Dick Keith, and his friends Pete Schuler, Deb Moore, Kim Stone. We were out for it seemed like days and days, even though we had gotten hotel rooms we spent very little time in them as we were trekking all over this god foresaken peice of land.

I figured that all Ultra races couldn’t be like this, so I asked Kim about tagging along with her and Joan Wood, José Wilkie and John Stone, when they went out to crew for José at the Leadville 100 held evry year at Leadville, CO. So after she said, sure they could use someone like me to help with security in the wilds of Colorado. So here is the story of my adventure to Colorado and the Leadville 100 in August 2001.

We got great airfares if we flew from Cincinnati, so Joan and José said they would drive and give everyone a lift. So Wednesday August 15, 2001 dawned and I arrived at Kim & John Stone’s as that was where I was going to get picked up by Joan & José, while waiting for them, I was accosted by some wild life that live in the Stone household....

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After surviving that trama, we left and drove to Cinncinati/Northern KY Airport. The trip to the airport was uneventful, thankfully!

We arrived at the airport several hours early and had to wait around, somehow I got seperated from the other folks traveling out, I forgot what flight we were on and almost got on the wrong flight.....

Luckily Kim spotted me as they were walking by and saved me from going to New York(though I’ve never been to New York city, it sounds like and interesting place!).

I had to make a phone call to take care of some lose ends that I left behind in Jeffersonville, and I'd rather not go into what happened, all I'm going to say is you can do that in Indiana! (I heard that the Cincinati jails are none to hospitable, lets just leave it at that!). It was decided that I would spend the rest of the flight in Kim's backpack....

Though I did get away once I wanted to see how those ticket machines worked.....

Anyway we got on the plane, they pack folks in there like sardines....don't they!

To the next page.....We arrive in Colorado!