A 5000-mile road trip through some of the
highest points of the Eastern United States, July 12-24, 1998
OHIO & PENNSYLVANIA For lunch we ate at a pizza before taking I-71 northeast into Ohio. There was said to be some good trilobite collecting in Cincinnati, but we blew through there with a mission to Flint Ridge, Ohio and Serpent Mound. I had been there as a kid, large sinuous mounds built by Native Americans. The grass there is much softer then the crunchy grass we have here in Florida. We walked the extent of the mounds picturing the Indians in the visitor center's paintings building the mound.
We followed signs to Flint Ridge on a quest for flint (duh!).In a park, on a Tuesday morning, there were people practicing throwing the atl-atl. We should have spent more time watching, but drove to a house where all the signs pointed to flint. Well, the guy makes arrowheads from them and apparently has his own quarry, that he doesn't let many people into (including us). He was also unwilling to trade, so I gave him some cash for flint necklaces and flint rock. Got to Columbus without much trouble and met up with my sister and two nieces. I gave them a couple pounds of cool tumbled jaspers and agates which they loved. It was neat to see the girls build little cities out of the stones and play other 'rock games' that kids make up as they go along. It was sure nice to get a chance to take a long shower and sleep on a real bed in relative silence.
My nieces, a rambunctious duo, and fellow rock lovers.Our next stop was to see Phil in State College, Pennsylvania. En route, a fateful event occurred, Gomez, our trip mascot (seen below) lost his hat. Somehow it blew off in traffic (there was a small rubber washer that failed to keep the ten-gallon on at 60mph). We found Phil in good spirits and didn't waste time settling in and enjoying the night life. The next morning came with a post-party haze, but were safely on the road to Bethlehem (the Christmas City) to see my parents.
Ah, the joys of coming home. Although I never actually lived there, it was nice just the same to be at home and enjoying home cooked meals and the other benefits of being spoiled. It was a time to wash clothes, take showers, eat, nap and make the best of the time with my parents. Ryan and I gave a great rock show to them. We even planted some quartz crystals around a dying tree in the hopes the 'healing energy' of the quartz would resurrect the ill-tree. We must've not 'charged' them up enough because the tree never recovered.
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