So every good mariner must name his ship. Ours happens to be a travel trailer, but no less significant in its ability to offer us the freedom we need to see this continent at our own pace and the stability our puppies need in their golden years. We do a lot of traveling and lately, leaving the dogs at the kennel is getting more and more difficult as they get older. They are 13 years old now (err, I mean 91) and we decided instead of leaving them from now on, our upcoming trip to Iceland will be our last trip for awhile and we’ll spend the next couple of years with them, enjoying North America.
So, meet Argo.
We needed a name to fit all of us. For my husband, we had to go with Greek mythology and for me, it had to be the stars – not just a constellation but as a lover of dead languages and crazy symbolism, it had to be an obsolete constellation. Of Course. Additionally, the constellation was also later adopted to symbolize Noah’s Ark.
In Greek mythology, Argo (/ˈɑːrɡoʊ/; in Greek: Ἀργώ, meaning ‘swift’) was the ship on which Jason and the Argonauts sailed from Iolcos to Colchis to retrieve the Golden Fleece.
Argo Navis (the Ship Argo), or simply Argo, was a large constellation in the southern sky that has since been divided into three constellations. It represented the Argo, the ship used by Jason and the Argonauts in Greek mythology.
There are differing views on just how many stars make up Argo Navis – I’ve read anywhere from 450 to 829. Its enormous size is the reason that despite being one of Ptolemy’s original 48 constellations, it has since been divided into Puppis the Stern, Vela the Sails, Carina the Keel, and Pyxis the Mariner’s Compass.
So, here’s to the future in our new ark. Me, my Jason and my Argonauts.