OK Corral

After our tour of Boot Hill we drove downtown, parked the truck and walked down the old restored main street of Tombstone, circa 1882.  They have done a very good job of recreating the period with many of the buildings seeming to be of that vintage.  When you walk inside the stores they are selling all sorts of touristy type of stuff which isn't exactly my thing and we have seen it all before.

It all looked realistic at least based on my experience which is limited to watching old westerns.  John Wayne or Kurt Russell could have walked around any corner in full western garb.







We were in Deadwood, SD a number of years ago which has been kept famous all these years as the result of another famous shooting.  Wild Bill Hickok met his famous end while playing cards in a saloon.  If I had a choice I would do Deadwood over Tombstone.  Deadwood is a little more commercial and upscale, probably due to the plethora of Casinos, which I can do without, and the fact that Deadwood is also in the middle of the Black Hills.  This is a tourist attraction of its own so there is just more activity for the town to play off of.  Deadwood can however be very busy which can be a bit frustrating.  Tombstone is basically a small town in the middle of nowhere, sorry SE Arizona, trying its best to play off of its famous history.  Not that there is anything wrong with that, its just the two are on a different scale.
We bought tickets to a reenactment to the famous Shootout at the OK Corral which was actually quite entertaining.

The set for the play.
 

 The actor above played Virgil Earp and from a distance looked very much like professional actor, Sam Elliot.

 Here is Doc Holiday on the left and Wyatt in the centre with Virgil.
Before the play started we were told that crowd participation was required so when the Earps and Doc came on stage they received cheers and of course when the Clantons and McLaurys appeared they received a chorus of boos.
The actors played to the crowd which only encouraged more of the same.
At the end the good guys were the ones left standing to a cheering crowd.

After the show we took a walk down the street peeking into various shops till we came to the original office of The Tombstone Epitaph.  The town newspaper of the day.  They had some interesting displays of the printing equipment of the time and some storyboards detailing some of the history of Tombstone and its founders and town builders.  Its interesting how Lori's and my interests vary.  I could have spent an hour or more looking over the historic artifacts and reading the history of the town and its principals.  Lori, not so much.  We did get a copy of some newspaper articles of the day detailing the activities at the OK Corral.  Perhaps more on that in another post.
By this time we were getting pretty hungry and our journey down the street soon took us to the Crystal Palace.   Back in the day this was a Saloon, complete with gambling, drinking, food and girls with, shall we say,  various talents.   The gambling is gone but the drinking, food and girls are still there, although the talents of the young ladies are now more related to waitressing.   We had a great meal but it was getting late and Charli had been in her kennel for 5 hours and we still had an hours drive to get back so visiting Bisbee would have to wait for another day.    
Later.

Murdered, Shot, Hanged and other dumb ways to die.

So Monday it was off to Tombstone to see the town that was too tough to die, or so the story goes.  Its an hours drive so we got started about 9:00.  Turned out to be a nice day with temps in the high 60s but with a cold wind.  We took a quick drive through town and decided to start off where the residents of the 1880's ended up; Boot Hill Graveyard.

Now if you are a bit squeamish at seeing gravestones or stories of the dead and departed I would suggest skipping this post.  This one, as the title suggests, is all about the tragic and bizarre ends of some of the residents of Tombstone.  My information source is a pamphlet sold for $3.00 at the souvenir shop at the entrance.
The headstones confirm the violent deaths of the current residents and thus the name of the graveyard; Boot Hill.  You will note that this was in the time before Political Correctness.

Poor Peter, just 23 and fresh off the boat from Germany, got in a fight with Thomas Doland and got hit in the back of the head with a poker.  Fatally it turns out.

Now Tom got into a disagreement with another fella about the colour of his shirt and got shot for his opinion.  Not sure if Tom or the other fella were colour blind or he just didn't like the idea of being told his shirt was Chartreuse.

Florentino, or Indian Charlie as he was known, was found dead with several bullet wounds in his body.

A well dressed man, so not a miner, found at the bottom of a 60 foot mine shaft.

 One of several to die when ambushed by Mexicans on a cattle drive.

Shot in the left temple by Wm Clayborne.  Hickey wanted to be Clayborne's drinking buddy and wouldn't take no for an answer.  In the future, if Hickey had a future, when someone carrying a firearm doesn't want to drink with you find someone else.

Frank's horse threw him and Frank's rifle discharged shooting him in the knee.  After several weeks lying in his bunk his friends finally took him to a doctor to have his leg amputated.  Too late, he died.
If only they had Obama Care back in the day, Frank may have survived.






Margarita and Gold Dollar, two dance hall girls, got to quarrelling over a man.  Gold Dollar stabbed Margarita and I assume got the man.  At least till she was arrested and most likely hanged.  

John was supposedly the leader of a gang that was arrested for a robbery in Bisbee.  The other 5 members of the gang were legally hanged and are lying in a neighbouring grave.  John didn't get his day in court.  He was taken from the jail and lynched from a telegraph pole.

 What can I say.  Those Chinaman don't all know Kung Fu

The judge's health was impaired by overwork and died in Tombstone.  See, they even had stress in those days.

A miner, originally from Germany, was found dead in his cabin with 4 bullet wounds.  His mining partner was suspected of killing him after a quarrel.  His partner and the gold were never seen again.

 Not everyone was shot, stabbed or fell down a mining shaft.  Old John committed suicide by ingesting Strychnine.

Lori posing with the most famous residents.  Billy, Tom and Frank were killed in the OK Corral shootout with the Earps and Doc Holliday.

Kearney was blowed up by a blast in a mine.

Hilly was a schoolboy who fell while walking on a pair of stilts.  Injured his back and had a spasm and was dead by morning

 Medicine was a little less sophisticated back then.  Mrs Stump died in childbirth from an overdose of chloroform administered by her doctor.

These two Teamsters were ambushed by Indians.  I didn't know the union went back that far.


OK so they weren't from the Teamsters Union.  Rather teamsters were men who drove a team of horses or mules hauling freight and pretty much everything else.  The predecessor to the truck driver.  Perhaps thats where the Union took the name from.

A 24 year old miner who died from inflammation of the bowels.

Ouch!

Billy was shot by a woman who was much older than he, who was jealously in love with him.
Those older women can be dangerous.  Perhaps thats why we call them COUGARS today.

Johnson innocently bought a stolen horse and suffered the consequences.

Couldn't have said it any better.

So was his last name Dye or did they forget the d.

 Les was a Wells Fargo agent and had a dispute with a man over a package.  Both died.
Les is famous however as he had a better writer for his tombstone

Killeen was shot by Frank Leslie after the two had a disagreement over Killeen's wife.  Leslie then married the widow.

You can't make this stuff up.

Guess a divorce lawyer wasn't available.

Dutch Annie, also known as Queen of the Red Light District.

Perhaps the earlier invention of Penicillin would have extended her reign.

 Hancock made a disparaging remark about some women and John Ringo shot him.

Who said chivalry was dead.

King and Wilson had a discussion about the fastest way to draw which I can only assume led to a competition.

King was right and Wilson was dead wrong.

I wonder where Smiley immigrated from.

These two died of Leprosy.

Mrs Lum had great influence with the Chinese residents.  She apparently had Tong (chinese mafia) affiliations in China.

Wonder if they called her Godmother.

The above information is all factual except of course for the fiction and my own speculation.  I will let you decide which is which.
There were also a number of deaths from various diseases, many of them children.  While the remaining graves in Boot Hill may not be representative of the means of death in this era it certainly does substantiate the title "Wild West"
We are heading over to the OK Corral next.  I hear some trouble may be brewing over there.
Later.

Trailer M&R

Sunday was a day of rest as our bodies were a bit sore after our desert hike on Saturday.  Took a walk down the Santa Rosa walkway with the destination being the Mall across the wash.  It has a Home Depot and I needed to pick up some screws and finishing nails for a little project in our kitchen.  One of the supports for a shelf in our pantry came loose and I needed to do a little screwing and nailing to ensure it could support our groceries.  

When you take a look around the trailer and look at the finishing you soon realize that it is held together by staples.  My guess is that the workers staple gun ran out of staples and he didn't realize it as there was nothing holding one side of the shelf together.  The quality of the workmanship certainly leaves something to be desired.  The main priorities for the manufacturer seem to be cutting costs and weight.  The result often is a lack of durability and this seems to be common across all manufacturers.  In fact I was talking to our neighbour last night and he was commenting on the problems he had had with his Phaeton, the half a million diesel pusher motorhome with, can you believe this, the same 1 year warranty as our 5th wheel. 

I managed to make it to the gym today and got in a 30 minute workout on the weight machine.  I have to make sure I do this more often.  We are walking for an hour or more each day but lifting a few weights would provide some balance. 

Put some burgers on the barbi tonight with some sweet potato fries and a glass of red wine.  Cowboys and Giants on TV.  It certainly doesn't get much better.

We have used up 1 30lb tank of propane already.  We have been using the stove but most of the propane has probably been used by the furnace.  Its been down to 40ish most nights on our trip so far and early on I was leaving the furnace on and set at 60F.  Lately I have been a bit more frugal and kept the furnace off till we get up.  Its usually about 50ish in the trailer when we get up and then turn the furnace on to heat the trailer up to about 65.  Then I'll turn it off and let the morning sun do the rest.  We bought a down filled duvet before we left so we are toasty warm (having Charli sleeping with us doesn't hurt) till you have to make a bathroom trip in the middle of the night. 

We are off to Tombstone tomorrow, about a 90 minute drive, and will no doubt see the the mandatory reenactment of the shootout at the OK Corral.  Probably much the same as the reenactment of the shooting of Wild Bill Hickok in Deadwood, SD we saw a few years ago.  Also stopping in at Bisby which is supposed to be notable but not sure exactly why but will let you know all about it in my next post.  Pictures in tomorrows post.  

Later

Catalina State Park - Canyon Loop

Its been a couple of days since I last wrote.  First, a couple of responses to some e-mails I have received.  Yes, the pictures are a bit small when viewing the blog but if you click, or double click, it depends, they will blow up to almost full screen.  This will allow you to see the detail, make out the expressions on Lori's face and truly see, if I must say so myself, how great some of the pictures are.  (its the camera and the Enhance feature in IPhoto, not so much the photographer). This is especially true of the photographs in todays blog.
The other question that has been raised is the "Comment" feature at the end of each blog.  Yes you can make a comment, and I would encourage you to do so, however you must have a Google account.  If you have a G-mail e-mail account, YouTube account or other accounts with one of Google's plethora of services you will have an account, even if you don't use it or even know about it.  If not and you don't want to open one, then e-mails will work just fine, it just means that others won't be able to share in your witticisms.
After a day of tromping around the Air Museum we took it easy on Thursday.  We went for a 1 1/2 hour hike in the morning down the Santa Rosa River Park which it turns out, is the name of the dry wash and walkway system that is just outside our back gate.  I had biked it a few days earlier but this was Lori's first time for the full circuit and it took us right by a Mall (one of Lori's favourite things in life) and some riding stables (one of Lori's least favourite things in life- riding horses).  The rest of the afternoon we just spent doing nothing and soaking up the sun.  Late Thursday afternoon the Park had a reception for all the newbies so we went with about 18 others to hear about the Park, its history, activities and have any questions answered.  The wine and hors-d-vors were a nice prelude to the German Food Truck which was to be supper.
Friday morning was free coffee and donuts again with a presentation from one of the local RV Dealers.  Then it was time for shopping.  Lori picked out the Foothills Mall, the first of many we will no doubt visit in the next few weeks, as our destination, primarily because it has a Barnes & Noble.  Lori has never seen a book store that she doesn't like but B&N is definitely at the top of her list.  I found a Hockey News magazine to buy and hit the Starbucks so we were both happy.  Then it was off to Camping World to buy some more necessities.  A set of tire covers so the Az sun doesn't ruin our trailer tires and a clear sewer hose extension.  Some might wonder why in the world one would want a portion of your sewer hose to be clear.  Well when you are draining your black tank and then turn on the Black Tank Sprayer to rinse everything out you know your black tank is clean when your discharge is clear.  ie. no more %?%#, if you know what I mean.
Saturday was supposed to be sunny, not a lot of wind and cool.  Define cool you say.  A high of 68F was forecast.  A nice day for a walk in the desert.  To start the day the Woodworking Club was sponsoring a Pancake Breakfast which cost us $4.00 each.  Not a bad deal.  Many of the special activities are sponsored, and labour supplied, by the various activity clubs run by the residents.  They get 50% of the profit and 50% to the Park.  A win win.  We sat at one of the tables and for the first time we kind of felt like outsiders.  Certainly not a reflection of how we have felt at other activities.
We had decided to visit the Catalina State Park and take the Sutherland Trail as they permitted leashed dogs. At least thats what the book that Lori bought said.  As she got the fixings for supper put into the slow cooker I packed up the truck and filled water bottles and we were off. There was a big bike race, the Tour de Tucson, going on so many roads were closed while the bikers passed by.  As a result our drive out to the Park took a little longer than planned but we were out on the trail by 11:00. Turns out they wouldn't allow dogs on the Sutherland Trail but we were able to take the Canyon Loop with Charli which was about 3.5 miles long.  Not as long as we were hoping but we were plenty tuckered out by the time we got back, 2 hours later.
The pictures below speak for themselves so I won't provide too much commentary.  One thing the pictures don't really show is the elevation variations of the trail.

 You'll notice that the higher elevations have lots of sand, cactus and scrub brush and rocks and boulders as you go farther up the mountain.

Lori had to look back a lot to see where I went.  The scenery was fantastic and every turn we took was another great picture opportunity.

 The bottom of the canyon provided a refreshing stream and also a change in plants.  Actually saw some green grass.  Some broad leaf trees that were changing colours.
We had noticed that there are no broad leaf trees.  Mostly narrow small leaves, like caraganas or ferns.  My guess is broadleaf trees loose too much moisture through the big leaves.  Moisture is precious down here.

The scenery is so different from home that I commented to Lori that it was like we had been dropped on another planet.

This cactus was growing right out of a rock.

That was it for Saturday.  We each had a little nap when we got back to the trailer and then it was time for dinner and a quiet evening surfing our 38 channels.  By the time you eliminate the Spanish and oldies channels there are 7 stations left to watch which is ok with me.
Later