HOPEWELL ROAD RALLY - MAY 2015

Hocking Hills State Park Campground - Hocking Hills, Ohio

May 1 - 3 (1,406 miles)

We left on Thursday morning with 50% chance of rain and lots of black clouds.  Amazingly, we didn't get any rain and the sun came out in Virginia.  We stopped for the night in Wytheville, VA.  The next morning called for rain again and in the West Virginia mountains we hit 42 degree temps and fog so think it seemed like rain although the visibility was not bad.  At the Ohio border the sun came out and the rest of the weekend (and the ride home) the weather was perfect.

Google Map to Rally

One of the first to arrive at campground

The Southeastern Ohio Beemers hosted this inaugural, historically-themed Hopewell Road Rally. There were guided rides on Saturday taking us to the the largest geometric earthworks, effigy mounds and hilltop enclosures in the world constructed by the Hopewell Peoples.  We chose the Serpent Mound tour led by Sam Booth who gave us a lecture on Friday night introducing us to what we would see on Saturday. 

Camp Pavilion - Friday lecture and supper, coffee and Saturday night awards

Our tour started at 9:30 Saturday morning.  There were 33 motorcycles in the group and Sam kept us all together on beautiful back roads to Mound City Group, Hopewell Culture National Historical Park.  The park became a National Monument in 1923 under President Harding and consists of five units.  The visitor center is at Mound City Group.  

Sam arranged for a ranger to give us a talk before visiting the mounds and the visitor center

This largest mound is 17.5 feet high.  The area of Mound City is 13 acres
and 23 mounds

Not much is known about these indians who lived
between 2,200 and 1,500 years ago.   The Hopewell
people were named after the farmer who owned the land.

Beautiful day with all the trees blooming

The second stop was Seip Mound another unit of the National Park.  Thirty-three motorcycles were an amazing site going up and down the hills and back roads of Ohio.

Arriving at Seip Mound

Sam telling us a bit about Seip Mound. 

Exploring Seip mound

Our third stop was Serpent Mound, the largest serpent effigy in the world (1/4 mile long, 20 feet wide, 5 feet tall).  The best way to approach Serpent Mound was to climb up a tower where most of the site is visible (far to large to take a picture of).  After visiting the site it was almost 2:30 and we decided to leave the group and go back to camp.

Saturday night we had a delicious buffet dinner at the Lake Hope Lodge, 2 miles from the campsite. After dinner the closing ceremony, door prizes and awards were at the pavilion. Bob's BMW donated prizes and was very enthusiastic to be part of the first annual Hopewell Road Rally (134 attendees).  Bob himself was there for the ending ceremony.

Sunday we drove to Asheboro, NC for the night.  The next morning we had a leisurely 3 1/2 hour drive home.

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