The morning of day six we did a loop from the hotel to the center of Archidona and back, about 30 km, the last 300 meters or so down a steep slope, in morning traffic, on cobblestones. Not my favorite. The ride back, on different roads, seemed to be uphill the whole way. After the …
More Andalusia Biking
These are some cork oaks that have had the bark harvested. They remove all the bark from a little above the ground up about 5 feet. They are able to re-harvest about every 9 years, according to our leader Alejo. We rode through this forest. This is our leader David with some bike safety tips …
Biking in Andalusia
I just completed a most interesting, challenging, and fun bike tour from Seville to Granada through the countryside of Southern Spain known as Andalusia. The trip was organized by the company Backroads.com and I can highly recommend their service. They supplied our group of four couples and myself with bikes (I wisely choose one with …
Adventures in Spain, part 1
Two days ago, I was sitting on a slatted wood bench in the Santa Polomia train station in Lisbon waiting for the night train to Madrid. The well-worn often varnished oak slats were bolted on either end to two identical molded cast iron supports incorporating two feet and a back. It is a familiar design …
5-star review from Readers Choice:
Reviewed by K.C. Finn for Readers' Favorite Defender of the Texas Frontier is a work of historical fiction set in nineteenth-century America, which was penned by author David R. Gross. As the title suggests, this Texas-based novel focuses on the exploits of the Texas Rangers, who defended the ordinary people from raids by Comanches and bandits from …
Another review of Defender of the Texas Frontier
David R. Gross Defender of the Texas Frontier: A Historical Novel iUniverse, 242 pages, (paperback) $13.99, 9781532071560(Reviewed: August, 2019) Review by Blueink reviews: John Coffey (“Jack”) Hays was the most famous and charismatic of the Texas Rangersduring his tenure in the mid-1800s. In this meticulously researched novel, David R.Gross brings Hays’s story to life as narrated by …
Continue reading Another review of Defender of the Texas Frontier
An artful take on Texas history, Defender of the Texas Frontier fleshes out a legend.
David R. Gross’s dramatic retelling of a historical legend, Defender of the Texas Frontier, captures an era as it follows a young man’s rise to hero status. Nineteen-year-old John Coffey Hays missed fighting in the battle for Texas’s independence. Full of vim and vigor, Hays joins up with a ranging patrol to defend the Texas border. …
Just Released!
John Coffey Hays is just nineteen when he arrives in the town of Nacogdoches Republic of Texas in 1836. Moments later when a man is killed, none of the witnesses dispute that Jack acted in self-defense. Despite his young age, Jack is a man who commands perhaps just as much fear as respect. Although Jack …
The greatest welfare plan ever, free land in America, part 2:
The Homestead Act of 1862 When the Southern states seceded and their Representatives and Senators abandoned Washington D. C. in 1861 the Republicans and other former Free-Soil advocates passed the Homestead Act of 1862. The purpose of this law was to expand the homesteading requirements of the Pre-emption Act of 1841 making it easier for …
Continue reading The greatest welfare plan ever, free land in America, part 2:
The greatest welfare plan ever, free land in America, part 1:
The research into land acquisition is for an upcoming book. The Donation Land Claim Act of 1850: America’s early wealth derived from land, huge amounts of it. The land was, of course, usurped from indigenous peoples who, according to the accepted dogma of the day, could not possibly utilize all the lands they claimed. This …
Continue reading The greatest welfare plan ever, free land in America, part 1: