Still Gravity

In 1764  Cesare Beccaria  wrote: The laws which forbid men to bear arms… only disarm those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes, The Italian jurist saw that laws were meaningless if not enforced. He also saw that criminals don't care about laws.  His conclusion was that gun control laws affected only the people already controlled by their moral character or fear. Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man. Weapons are tools. Violence starts in the mind. Guns don't kill people; people kill people. Anyway, a polemic and emotional topic.

We arrived at night to the empty streets of Lone Pine. Cold and with the guts making weird sounds, we stopped at Pizza Factory across the Dow Hotel.  This was the hotel where John Wayne, Errol Flynn, and Robert Mitchum slept when Lone Pine was a movie production hub. Good that Hollywood came here, because thanks to this the small town of the eastern Sierra became the "birthplace of the western films" - and the city got a reason to have a film museum, the Museum of Western Film History. After a delicious pizza, we drove south and got a campsite in Boulder Creek RV Park. In our dusty overnight spot, we ended lying flat and wrapped with blankets on the picnic table. A bottle of red wine nearby. We were ready for the show that put the Milky Way over the sleepy campground.   The sunrise found us in "the world of rocks". Laying at the base of the mountains, gnarled and weathered boulders everywhere. What a mess of stones created mother nature in this place.  The highest m

On the left: Section of Fort Pickens destroyed by an accidental explosion - License our images  here . The biggest fort of Pensacola is on the western tip of Santa Rosa Island. Built in 1834, it was named after General Andrew Pickens .  Fort Pickens was the only fort in hands of Union forces during the Civil War. In 1861, its cannons destroyed Fort McRee across the canal in Perdido Key , but they couldn't reach Fort Barrancas on the other side of the inlet.    The Apache Chief Geronimo was imprisoned here. Also, there are ruins around Fort Pickens of the coastal batteries that defended Pensacola during WW2. (We stayed in the campground of  Big Lagoon State Park .)

Left photo: The lighthouse seen from Fort Pickens in San Rosa Island - License our images  here . This is one of the old lighthouses of Florida. It was built in 1854 over the remains of an older one from 1824. We took on the 177 steps to the top and enjoyed great views of Pensacola Bay, the forts , and the Naval Station . (We stayed in the campground of  Big Lagoon State Park .)

         The oldest fort of Pensacola. Last image: The Battery of San Antonio - License our images  here .     The oldest and the closest fort to the city of Pensacola in the Florida Panhandle. The Spaniards called it San Carlos de Austria originally, later became San Carlos de Barrancas - "barranca" means cliff in Spanish.  The French destroyed the fort in 1719. In the lower part of Barrancas still survives the old battery of San Antonio. The white walls show a different architecture. The cannons of this battery covered the entrance to Pensacola Bay. Later the fort combined its firepower with Fort Pickens in Santa Rosa Island and Fort McRee in Perdido Key  to defend the inlet. Half a mile from Fort Barrancas is the Advanced Redoubt. This fort defended Pensacola from land attacks. It was connected with trenches to Fort Barrancas. The Confederate Army captured both forts during the Civil War. (We stayed in the campground of  Big Lagoon State Park .) The Advanced Redoubt of Pe

Planes from different times and an atomic bomb in the Naval Aviation Museum - License our images  here . This museum is inside the Naval Station of Pensacola. The collection of planes is impressive: the famous Phantom from the Viet Nam War, the last F-14 Tomcat in service with the US Air Force, and the Viking S-3B used by President George W. Bush to land in the Abraham Lincoln in 2003. Cool place to go if you like planes and military history - of course, C was pretty bored after four hours. (We stayed in the campground of  Big Lagoon State Park .)

There were strong winds in the Gulf of Mexico - License our images  here .  This beach of Florida close to the city of Pensacola is part of the National Park Service. It's in Perdido Key - means "lost" key - and there are miles of sand to walk up to the entrance of Pensacola Bay. There, across the canal, is Fort Pickens on Santa Rosa Island. On the mainland, Fort Barrancas and the Pensacola lighthouse. In this side there was another fort called Fort McRee that was destroyed by the cannons of Fort Pickens during the Civil War. (We stayed in the campground of  Big Lagoon State Park .)

Downtown Pensacola (last picture shows the remains of old Spanish buildings) - License our images  here . This is the oldest city founded by Europeans in North America. The merit felt on Tristán de Luna in 1559 - some years before the foundation of St. Augustine. Spanish names still survive in the streets of the downtown. There we read Zaragoza, Tarragona, and Cervantes. There are also the plazas Fernando VII and Sevilla.  Pensacola was the capital of the Territory of Florida in 1824 - the times before the statehood. It's known as "the city of the five flags" because through history was ruled by Spain, France, England, the Confederate States of America, and the United States of America. This city was part of five countries. This makes the place very special. (We stayed in the campground of Big Lagoon State Park .)

         The big lagoon and the observation tower of the state park - License our images  here .      We camped a week at this park in the summer of 2012. It's a convenient place close to the city of Pensacola , historical forts , and the beaches of the Gulf of Mexico . The campground was old but very clean. There was a lot of wildlife in the park - birds, deer, rabbits, and a lone green frog by the mirror of the bathhouse. Great sunset views from the observation tower.

There is always another side to any story. Good, bad, real, or imagined. Like Chinua Achebe said,  Until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.

Ambrose Bierce  wrote "The Socialist-What he is, and why" in 2010. He wrote this before the birth of the Soviet Union but got close to the real thing.  Some excerpts follow.   It looks as if we may eventually have to prevent the multiplication of millionaires by setting a legal limit to private fortunes. American socialism is not a political doctrine; it is a state of mind. A man is an active socialist because he is afflicted with congenital insurgency: he was born a rebel. He rebels, not only against ‘the established order’ in government, but against pretty nearly everything that takes his attention and enlists his thought.   His unreason is what he is a socialist with. That, too, is the cause of his inefficiency in the competitions of life,   Anarchism says: 'Ye shall have no law'; socialism: 'Law is all that ye shall have.'   The socialist notion appears to be that the world’s wealth is a fixed quantity, and A can acquire only by depriving B. He is fond of

Cover of an old edition of the book "The Old Santa Fe Trail: The Story of a Great Highway" by Henry Inman - Public Domain.  Colonel Henry Inman  was an interesting guy. He was a frontiersman, a veteran from the Indians and Civil War, and served with the controversial cavalry commander  George Amstrong Custer .  Inman was also friend to one of the most known folks of the Old West:  Buffalo Bill  - all thanks to his legendary cowboy shows. Some even said that Inman and Buffalo Bill looked alike.   Henry Inman became a journalist and wrote a lot about the West. One of his books was The Old Santa Fe Trail: The story of a Great Highway .  Buffalo Bill wrote the preface and said about the author: He was familiar with all the famous men, both white and savage, whose lives have made the story of the Trail, his own sojourn on the plains and in the Rocky Mountains extending over a period of nearly forty years. The Santa Fe Trail is a legend on itself. It doesn't need presentation. 

 A man said to the universe: "Sir, I exist!" "However," replied the universe, "The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation." Stephen Crane , "A Man Said to the Universe"

Leaving Illinois and entering Missouri through the I-55, we passed by the tallest arch in the world.  The Gateway Arch seen from the bridge over the Mississippi River - License our images  here .          The structure is 630-foot tall and made of stainless-steel. It was completed in 1965. What is it for? It celebrates the emigration to the West - or the conquest of the West, whatever you prefer.  St. Louis has been part of the United States for little over 200 years. The country got it with the purchase of Louisiana in 1803.  The US only wanted New Orleans, but Napoleon offered the whole Louisiana. The French saw those lands as a worthless swamp. He only asked fifteen million dollars.  President Jefferson rushed to secure the bargain. He was ready to pay ten million only for the city of New Orleans, so the extra five for that long strip of land appeared in a moment.  Bad for France and good for the United

We can see war face-to-face through the poems of Isaac Rosenberg. The young man never returned, but his poems survived in "Poems from Camp and Trench".  He wrote about the killings. They knocked a soldier on the head, I mourn the poet who fell dead. And yet I think it was by chance, By oversight you died in France. About the missing home. Dear faces startled and shaken, Out of wild dust and sounds You yearn to me, lure and sadden My heart with futile bounds. About the dying soldier. 'Water!... Water!... Oh, water! For one of England’s dying sons.' 'We cannot give you water, Were all England in your breath.' 'Water!... Water!... Oh, water!' He moaned and swooned to death. About final moments. So we crashed round the bend, We heard his weak scream, We heard his very last sound, And our wheels grazed his dead face. About sacrifices. Their blood is England’s heart; By their dead hands It is their noble part That England stands. Rosenberg met death in Franc

"A Winter Walk" was published by The Dia l in 1843. This journal was the home of the American Transcendentalism, of which Thoreau was a prominent figure.  A few lines from the contemplative essay. In winter, nature is a cabinet of curiosities, full of dried specimens, in their natural order and position. In these wild scenes, men stand about in the scenery, or move deliberately and heavily, having sacrificed the sprightliness and vivacity of towns to the dumb sobriety of nature. What would human life be without forests, those natural cities? …if our lives were more conformed to nature, we should not need to defend ourselves against her heats and colds, With so little effort does nature reassert her rule and blot out the traces of men. Cabinet of curiosities, sobriety of nature, natural cities, lives conformed to nature, nature reasserts her rule... interesting wording. 

Good place for a night - License our images  here . We got the last available spot of High Falls RV Park, the small campsite for tents. The friendly owner provided us with free wood for the cold night. Nearby is High Falls State Park. We didn't visit. Back to the road the following morning.

Political wolves come in many flavors, but most dress in sheep's clothes. They speak with words that hide hidden agendas. They lie to gain the support of the masses.  Those wolves know well what Charles Mackay wrote in  Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds : Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one. A historical example? Let's go with some quotes.   We demand the education of gifted children of poor parents at the cost of the State.     We demand a generous extension of old-age insurance.   We demand freedom for all religious denominations within the State.     We demand profit-sharing in big business.     The State must improve public health through protection of mother and child, prevention of child labor. Good ideas, right?  Welcome to the world of Adolf Hitler.   He added in another speech: I am a fanatical socialist, one who has ever in mind the in

The magic lights of the Grand Canyon: a universe of shadows -  License our images here .    The sun was falling when we arrived at the Grand Canyon. First timers, we ran to the rim to see what was all about with this rocky world.  The immensity of the expanse hit like a punch in the gut. We took three steps back from the cliff gasping for air. The scale of the rocks and the burning tones of the red and the shapes of pyramids and forts and the shadows of the sunset and... Speechless. Just the whistling wind tapping on our ears what a speck we are in the cosmic dance.    You must come and see it. Photos and words don't make justice. This place is arid and desolated, but at the same time mesmerizing.   Down in its huge trench, the Colorado River shined. A thin brown snake running in the deepness, trapped in a walled cage of its own making. How did water could carve so deep?  The river looks peaceful now, but once upon a time flowed full of danger and drama. Those were the times of the