I think Ohio may be a pretty state, but during our brief time here it was too wet and cold to tell. Unfortunately, its layout didn’t jive well with our overall agenda so we didn’t get to explore the cities of Cleveland or Cincinnati. That’s ok, we’ve been to both of them before. The biggest thing we missed out on was Cincinnati-style chili.

Our campground in Athens was sort of odd. I can’t really make that clear without being longwinded, but one of the more fun peculiarities was that archeologists unearthed a prehistoric person there. The skeleton has one of those misshapen skulls that occur when they did the infant head-wrap thing. I didn’t see it, I just read the newspaper clipping which was housed in the camp office with a myriad of other musty Indian artifacts and natural history items. Supposedly, the second largest tree in Ohio is also on the grounds. We were told you can stand inside its hollow trunk, but try as we might, we couldn’t locate the dang thing.

On our way to Kentucky, we stopped in Locust Grove to see Serpent Mound, the largest effigy mound in the United States. The current theory is that it was built around 1000 A.D. by the Fort Ancient Indians. It’s pretty neat and all, but when it’s exceptionally dreary outside, and all you’re looking at is a winding grassy hump, it’s hard to muster up the feelings of awe and wonder it probably deserves.