The Not Actually Great Serpent Mound

This morning we left the Econolodge, after having a "filling" continental breakfast of orange juice and a small blueberry muffin. We got on the road in search of the Serpent Mound. I knew it wouldn't be impressive. This excursion was really in homage to a professor of mine. Jim Petersen was the chair of the department of anthropology at the University of Vermont. I took 3 classes with him. He was the kind of guy who really, truly loved his job and his research. He was essentially a hippie who spent his life studying native peoples, and especially "Black Earth," which is very fertile soil in the heart of the Amazon rain forest. He was there the summer after my senior year, when he got shot during a robbery in Brazil. He unfortunately died from the encounter, but his legacy lived on. I miss him, even though I only knew him in the capacity of professor. Jim Petersen taught a class called Native American Cultures, which I took in my Junior year. He showed a slide of the Serpent Mound, which was made by the Adena Indians. It's a 3/4 mile long mound depicting a serpent uncoiling on one side, and on the other ingesting an egg, or a frog. Part of why I wanted to see this was in the honor of Jim.

We had to take a state route to get there from Parkersville. On the two-way highway, I saw a strange object on the shoulder of the road. It had a triangle reflector and seemed to be moving. At first, it really looked like one of those space probes that NASA puts on Mars to take pictures of the landscape. It seemed to have three legs. As I got closer, I noticed that one of the "legs" was moving, like feet. So my thoughts moved to thinking it was some kind of Flintstone automobile, with a person using their feet to propel it. As we got even closer, I saw that it was in fact legs - horse's legs. And finally, I realized it was a horse and buggy! THEN a boy in a round hat and overalls leaned out of the rear window. He was Amish (or Mennonite). He was as excited to see my car as I was to see his horse and buggy. It was a great moment of joy for both of us.

We rode on through Ohio, until nearby Cincinnati, when we stopped for lunch. I'm not sure exactly which town we were in, but we pulled into a strip mall, and there was an Indian restaurant. I love Indian food, and Troy was up for an adventure, so we entered the place. It was packed with Indians and white people. There was a fantastic lunch buffet, in which we consumed Saag Paneer, Chicken Mahkani, and some bindhi masala. It was really excellent!

We headed out, on our way to Iowa City. Troy's younger sister attends the University of Iowa, and we planned on staying with her for the night and getting some long needed alcohol in our systems. The city turned out to be very similar to Burlington. We stopped first at a grocery store that sold tons of imported Belgian ales, as well as local brews. Troy and I got some Rogue, which is brewed in Oregon. Then we got to Kayla's apartment. She lives with her friends Erika and Jake, both from Waterloo, Troy and Kayla's hometown. They are really fun kids. We watched Rock of Love together (a show that I am a big fan of), and then headed out to "Hamburg Inn." This is a famous place in Iowa City. Most presidential candidates give speeches from this place. Joe Biden is actually speaking there tomorrow morning at 7:30 - too bad it's so early (oh well). They also have something called a "pie shake," which is a milkshake blended with a piece of pie. Unfortunately they had no red velvet cake to blend my shake with, so I skipped it and had a piece of Boston Cream Pie instead.

We headed back to the apartment and played a few games of asshole. It felt so great to get a little bit buzzed and to relax and feel like I've arrived at a destination. I was having fun. We went out to a local bar called "Mill Run" and I got a PRB in a bottle (who knew?) for less than 2 bucks, and Kayla, Jack, Troy and I played cheap games of pool. There was a jukebox and I got to choose 3 songs for my dollar, so I put on "Jailhouse Rock," by Elvis, "The Laws Have Changed" by the New Pornographers, and "Let Down" by Radiohead. We all got nice and good with our beers, and then walked back to the apartment in the rain. We sat on some comfortable couches while eating Tombstone pizza and watched a documentary about a nomadic Indian culture. Then everyone went to sleep and now I'm watching the Cosby Show while typing this.

It was a great day. Very relaxing, full of the road, and with a great ending: a college town enjoyed with some young, happy college students. Iowa is a great state and I'm glad to be spending the night here.