Part 3 of Road trip with a cat.
On day two of our cross country trip we woke up in Niagara and went to sleep in Illinois. We were onward to California with the intent of visiting the serpent mound on the way. The serpent mound is a pre-historic effigy of a snake eating an egg located in southern Ohio. Similar to Stonehenge it is an earthwork monument used to align celestial events which mark seasonal changes. It is most likely used for the ritual of timekeeping, marking planting and harvesting times and celestial alignment. The serpent mound is the largest serpent effigy in the world.The mound it self is estimated to have been built in 1070 CE by the Fort Ancient culture. This culture was in the same region of the greater Aedena culture which spans back to 1200 BCE.
Article related to American continents Human History during the period of time the Serpent Mound was worked on.
http://en.m CSS.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serpent_Mound
The Serpent Mound was an adventure which we had been looking forward to before we left Boston. Considering the time that it took us on the first day to get to Niagara we were feeling discouraged with the progress we were making. On day two after leaving Niagara, Chowder was sick to the point that we needed to pull over for two hours. We had been pooed on, peed on, and decontaminated ourselves then repeated the process for our morning. After we cleaned up ourselves and the car, we sat in a parking lot with Chowder to gather our energies. Rise was in tears fearing that Chowder was not going to make the trip to California. I was feeling selfish for wanting to take Chowder with us in the car. The extra inconvenience was stressful for all of us. We were at the point where the medicine was not working. The sedative was doing more harm than good. We decided to stop using the xanax, then we would try alternative medicine after he began acting normal. We were still in upstate NY and were wanting to be further along. It was getting closer to noon and we had been nursing our sick cat most of the morning.
Getting to the Serpent Mound is an undertaking in it self. We felt this may be our one chance to see it since we have no other reason except moving cross country to be in Ohio. Rise and I were determined to visit the Serpent Mound regardless of the trip being off the beaten path in southern Ohio. Our method of navigation was a road atlas and Google maps. We were listening to weather radio because, before we left Boston we were warned that the weather changes while traveling can be dangerous. Our rate of travel was going better by the afternoon until the downpours began. As we got closer to our destination we were slowed down again this time by torrential rain. The downpours reduced visibility and drove rain into the car where the roof rack was attached.
When we arrived at the mound the park was empty. The down pours had cleared the place out. We roamed and explored entire monument by ourselves for a while. There is a trail around the mound with signage indicating seasonal equinox markers. We studied the signs posted along the trail that designate how parts of the serpent body align to solstices and equinoxes. Interesting enough the equinox markers were placed in a nonlinear way at the bends of the serpent's body. We were there a few days before the Summer Solstice, so the sunset alignment was nearly visible to us. The summer solstice is the busiest day of the year at the serpent mound. There is an annual solstice celebration at the mound which we were told draws hundreds of people.There is an elevated platform to allow visitors to view the entire mound from above.
On day two of our cross country trip we woke up in Niagara and went to sleep in Illinois. We were onward to California with the intent of visiting the serpent mound on the way. The serpent mound is a pre-historic effigy of a snake eating an egg located in southern Ohio. Similar to Stonehenge it is an earthwork monument used to align celestial events which mark seasonal changes. It is most likely used for the ritual of timekeeping, marking planting and harvesting times and celestial alignment. The serpent mound is the largest serpent effigy in the world.The mound it self is estimated to have been built in 1070 CE by the Fort Ancient culture. This culture was in the same region of the greater Aedena culture which spans back to 1200 BCE.
Article related to American continents Human History during the period of time the Serpent Mound was worked on.
http://en.m CSS.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serpent_Mound
The Serpent Mound was an adventure which we had been looking forward to before we left Boston. Considering the time that it took us on the first day to get to Niagara we were feeling discouraged with the progress we were making. On day two after leaving Niagara, Chowder was sick to the point that we needed to pull over for two hours. We had been pooed on, peed on, and decontaminated ourselves then repeated the process for our morning. After we cleaned up ourselves and the car, we sat in a parking lot with Chowder to gather our energies. Rise was in tears fearing that Chowder was not going to make the trip to California. I was feeling selfish for wanting to take Chowder with us in the car. The extra inconvenience was stressful for all of us. We were at the point where the medicine was not working. The sedative was doing more harm than good. We decided to stop using the xanax, then we would try alternative medicine after he began acting normal. We were still in upstate NY and were wanting to be further along. It was getting closer to noon and we had been nursing our sick cat most of the morning.
Getting to the Serpent Mound is an undertaking in it self. We felt this may be our one chance to see it since we have no other reason except moving cross country to be in Ohio. Rise and I were determined to visit the Serpent Mound regardless of the trip being off the beaten path in southern Ohio. Our method of navigation was a road atlas and Google maps. We were listening to weather radio because, before we left Boston we were warned that the weather changes while traveling can be dangerous. Our rate of travel was going better by the afternoon until the downpours began. As we got closer to our destination we were slowed down again this time by torrential rain. The downpours reduced visibility and drove rain into the car where the roof rack was attached.
Here is the route we took from Boston to the Serpent Mound.
We wanted to make more headway so we captured the remaining light of the day and continued onward. We passed through Cincinatti as the sun was setting and spent the night in a hotel just across the border into Illinois. The next morning we relaxed a little and enjoyed the hotel's complimentary breakfast with grits and gravy.