It's dangerous to go alone, take this.
- wemassacre
- Nov 4
- 4 min read
We once hunted down a vampire and it wasn't easy. It took us weeks and this was before cellphones and internet logs. There was no one really to talk to for word of mouth either. You just had to push through and engage, like De Soto or Magellan, 'til I Collapse' style.
In May 1539, de Soto landed nine ships with over 620 men and 220 horses in an area of La Florida generally identified as the current location of south Tampa Bay.
*another interesting tale is Moncacht Apé r from the early 1700s when he crossed the United States (aka at the time was the North American continent) from Niagara Falls to the Pacific Ocean starting in The South were he was from. This was 200 years after contact was made with the Spanish Explorers.
"Lewis and Clerk' were still a few years away in 1804 - 1806
Alex Mackenzie had crossed "Canada" in 1793 for Great Britain.
These are hard dudes.
Currently there are a crop of folks who grew up without having any BMFs in the area and specifically in their house. I don't know what is coming to replace the 'changing the car tire' or 'poppin' the hood for a look' but the tasks are being thinned day by day.
I've always contended for an Adventure Corps.
Mixing the parts of the Army and Marines that is fun and eliminating the war room and the administration and put guys back out on ships like in Darwin's time and let them explore and survive on a ration plan.
Like when you meet Ishmael at the beginning of Moby Dick;
Call me Ishmael. Some years ago--never mind how long precisely--having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off--then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship. There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me.
This dude was itching for more.
For myself, seeing Americans die on television, was enough to send me charging over the hill like Robbie in Spielberg's War of the Worlds.
While fleeing with his family he becomes determined to fight the aliens by joining the army. He joins the charge before being obscured by an explosion. Robbie does however survive the battle on the hill and somehow makes his way to Boston where he is reunited with his family who are relieved to see that he is alive.
So De Soto, from Fort Desoto, sets forth from Tampa and into the Florida landscape.
He has 620 Spanish Explorers with him, 311 (approx.) will survive.
De Soto died of a fever on 21 May 1542
He is buried in the Mississippi River
After this Moscoso is put in charge. They go in to Texas hoping to reach Mexico City but there aren't big enough 'cities' along the way to raid or resupply, as they only found Hunter/Gathers. So they head back to the Mississippi, sail down it on boats they made. Then sail down the coast of the Gulf of Mexico until they find a Spanish town.
De Soto sailed to the New World with Pedro Arias Dávila, appointed as the first Governor of Panama. Hernando de Soto landed in Central America as a teenager in 1514, becoming a skilled soldier
Meanwhile Ferdinand Magellan[a] (c. 1480 – 27 April 1521)
These names are contemporaries at the time. Both exploring the New World and beyond.
Ponce De Leon was slightly before these guys, accompanying Christopher Columbus during his 2nd mission but later being at odds with Columbus's son Deigo Colon, he sat out and found Florida, calling itm La Florida in recognition of the verdant landscape and because it was the Easter season, which the Spaniards called Pascua Florida (Festival of Flowers).
That sounds kinda fresh as recognizing spring as nature's festival of flowers. Talk about what's in a name. That hits a lot harder than Easter.
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