Still Gravity

The City of Chattanooga and the Tennessee River from Lookout Mountain -  License our images here . Historic mountain over the city. Up there, there are Point Park and the museum of the  Battle of Chattanooga . This battle of the Civil War is known as "the battle over the clouds". It happened in November 1863 and, casually, we visited in the same month.  We went up through the Incline Railway, the famous ride built in 1895 - often called "America's Most Amazing Mile".  The Incline Railway at Lookout Mountain.  Nice trails around the mountain and beautiful homes on the summit. Watch this video . 

Camping gear and zippers are inseparable partners. Invented in 1893, these "clasp lockers" are very practical, but they get dirt and need maintenance once in a while.  Long stays in sandy campsites may be a problem for the gazebo zippers - License our images  here . The cleaning is simple: water and soap. For lubrication, I know four options: Petroleum jelly. Teflon silicone lubricant. Powered graphite. Paraffin wax (candles). I use #1. A cheap lubricant to keep the zippers running. There are many commercial options in Amazon - link is affiliate. 

Hiking the Military Trail in the Kissimmee Prairie Preserve, we crossed path with a wild boar.  Our wild boar crossing the Military Trail -  License our images here .           This happened a couple of hours before sunset. Previously, we had reached the Kissimmee River and went on our way back to the campground. With seven more miles to go, we sat for a break and a snack under the trees by the McGuire Hammock ( right at this location ). The uninvited pig emerged from the forest thirty feet away from us. It was mid-November, the first month of the rut season in Florida and a time when males may behave aggressively. We stood up slowly. I had the bear spray in one hand and the .357 in the other, undecided on what to use if the boar charged.  Could bear spray stop a charging boar? I didn’t know, so was time to learn about wild boars.  Wi

We arrived late night to Hitchin’ Post Campground. It was cold, wet, and dark. And the dense fog made things worse for two tired travelers driving all the way down from Colorado.  Foggy night in Hitchin' Post Campground - License our images  here .  This campground is by the city of Plainview, a place where trees are scarce. That's why the town was called Plainview. The interminable plains. The sad and semiarid flatness of the Llano Estacado explored by Francisco Vázquez de Coronado in the 16th century. Technically, one of the largest mesas in North America.  The city is still young. It was incorporated in 1907. Once, it was called the "Athens of West Texas". The funny things of the West, because there is no Parthenon around here. The nickname came for the amount of population. Just around 3,000 souls back then. Now it has over twenty thousand.   We got a warm shower in the nice bathrooms of the camp. Next morning, woke up to another chilly day with the same dense fo

Stones and old chimneys are mostly what remain of Fort Phantom Hill in western Texas -  License our images here . We didn't found phantoms in the old ruins of this old Texan fort from 1851. We just met a grasshopper that you will see later. Nobody else on this historic hill.  Captain Randolph B. Marcy suggested the construction of these forts to protect the trails to California from the warlike Comanche  - also known as the "Lords of the Plains".  These were one of the most feared American Indians in the West. Actually, I read that the word "Comanche" comes from a Ute word meaning "anyone who wants to fight me all the time".  Ruins of a room in one of the chimneys, the g unpowder magazine, guardhouse/jail, and the big warehouse of Fort Phantom Hill.

The "patio" of our campsite on the shores of Lake Brownwood, Texas - License our images  here . Between Austin and Abilene, there is Lake Brownwood.  In Lake Brownwood State Park, we got a campground facing the fishing pier. The price included  beautiful Texan sunsets .  Images of the fishing pier and the lake shores by the campground area.   The damming of the Pecan Bayou, a tributary of the Colorado River of Texas - did you know that Texas also has a Colorado River? - created this lake in 1932. Later came the Civilian Conservation Corps  and built the state park.  The US Army used this place for troops recreation during WW2. They chose the Willow Point Campground for that purpose. This was the loop where we camped.  There are some easy trails in this sta

Lake Travis in Austin, Texas  - License our images  here . We visited Austin in the 1990s. How much has changed this city nowadays. And not all for good. Too many people and horrible traffic. We even saw people living in tents - a replica of California. But the area around Lake Travis and the Colorado River of Texas was another thing. You can camp around there and escape from the crowds.  The Oasis and the area around the lake.         Austin was founded on a trade route at a point halfway between Galveston Bay and Santa Fe. These were the lands of the Tonkawa, Comanches, and the Lipan Apaches. The city was named after the "Father of Texas", Stephen F. Austin .  

Next morning in Campers Paradise RV Park, Texas - License our images here . Not sure about "paradise" but driving late night between Fort Worth and Wichita Falls this RV Park felt like one to us. The campground was full, but the two overnight spots were empty.  Our neighbors were having a blast in the pool. There were laughs and screams until midnight, but it didn't bother us. Tiredness is the best thing for good sleep.

Some folks ask how we carry a camper on such a small pickup truck. The "secret" is that we added SuperSprings to the rear suspension to manage the extra weight. So far, all good. It has worked for over a decade.   Left: The factory suspension of our truck.  Center/Right: The SuperSprings installed.  SuperSprings sells the product as a "self-adjusting suspension stabilizing system for vehicles with rear leaf springs" . It manages the extra weight and reduces body roll and rear sagging in trucks, RVs, and cargo vans. Installation is easy. Just adding some parts to the original leaf springs. The SuperSprings have a dual-roller shackle with holes for different configurations. The higher the hole used, the higher the pre-load tension. Once installed, they don't need further adjustments or maintenance. We also got a 1.5" lift of the pickup bed when running unloa

The broken truck in a shop near Dallas.  Weird noises came from the transmission while leaving Cedar Hill State Park . Something was loose and we ended in a shop, a busy transmission shop. We lost a whole day to fix the loose propeller shaft. They installed new universal joints. Things of the road. Always expect the unexpected.  But, instead of what our imagination makes us suppose and which we worthless try to discover, life gives us something that we could hardly imagine.              Marcel Proust

The campground of Cedar Hill State Park -  License our images here . State park with mountain bike trails near Dallas, Texas. We got a campsite with a nice view, but the bathhouse in our loop was old and dirty. On the other hand, the mountain bike trails are well-cared. I guess by the folks of DORBA - Dallas Off-road Bicycle Association.   The lake, empty roads, and nice bike trails in Cedar Hill State Park.  Joe Pool Lake is great for kayaking, but we didn’t carry ours. There are remnants of old farms in the park. One of them is from 1854 and became the Penn Farm Agricultural Museum.

Sunset at the Poverty Point Reservoir, Louisiana - License our images  here . Poverty Point is a state park in a man-made lake west of the Mississippi River. Just a few campers in the campground. The quiet place is in a bear habitat. This is the land of the Louisiana black bear , which differ from others black bear by their bigger molars and a longer and narrower skull.  Warnings of bears in the park.  The Marsden Mounds are at the shores of the Bayou Macon. They are roughly 3,500 years old. There are five earthworks and not much is known about the builders - the Poverty Point Culture .    Upriver and outside the park is the Poverty Point World Heritage Site with the biggest earthworks. Dated between 1700 - 1100 BC, they are older

Sunrise in Geiger Lake - License our images  here .         We camped in Paul B. Johnson State Park on the shores of Geiger Lake. Almost have an accident in the curve of one of the entrances to the park - the one that goes over the dam overflow. Locals ride fast! This lake is man-made. German prisoners of war built it in the 1940s. Our campsite was close to the shore. Weather was excellent with temperatures in the 60s. The golden sunrises, amazing. Nearby is De Soto National Forest with many trails to hike.  Check our short video of this place  here .  Little island, the sculptures of bears in the camp, and sunset by the lake. 

Shooting our truck camper- License our images  here . The place of the Battle of Vicksburg during the Civil War. This military clash happened in 1863 as part of the fight between the Confederates and the Union to control the Mississippi River. General Ulysses S. Grant wrote about the siege of Vicksburg: . . . Vicksburg is so strong by nature and so well fortified that sufficient force cannot be brought to bear against it to carry it by storm against the present Garrison. It must be taken by a regular siege or by starving out the Garrison. I have all the force necessary for this if my rear was not threatened. Miles of trenches, cannons, and monuments are dispersed through the hilly terrain. The remains of the  USS Cairo  are in a special building. This Ironclad warship sank after a mine or torpedo attack - the first ship to suffer this fate in US history. The remains were

The campground of Cheaha Mountain State Park -  License our images here . Cheaha means "high place". Good name, because this is the highest summit in Alabama. There are many trails to hike here, and if they are not enough, one can take on the trails of the surrounding Talladega National Forest . The state park also has a mountain bike trail. Two spots offer great views on this summit: Bald Rock and the highest point in the park with its stone tower.  Bald Rock and the tower with the museum.  In the observation tower there is also a small museum about the Civilian Conservation Corps - the builders of this park. Check  this short video  with clips from our stay - the images of Cheaha State Park begin around the minute. The first part shows the City of Eufaula with its antebellum architecture. 

The Withlacoochee (left) and the Suwannee River (right) merging their waters at Suwannee River State Park -  License our images here . Third time camping by the Suwannee River. This time around the middle of its journey to the Gulf of Mexico - before was upriver at White Springs and near the river delta at Manatee Springs .  The campground of Suwannee River State Park is covered by a dense forest. 30 full-hookup sites limited to RVs of less than 45 feet. The sites are close to each other. Not much privacy.  Most of the trails are short easy hikes.  Sandhills Trail goes through the remains of a town named Columbus. Only the cemetery survived and it's one of the oldest in Florida. This Columbus was founded in 1842 and got 500 residents at its peak. The sandy Stagecoach Road crossed by the Sandhills Trail was the supply route of this town - or ghost town.  Earth