Monday morning we woke up to
a wet and windy day. Dick spent some time working on one of the camper slides,
and I worked on the blog from a week ago. We decided to take in some
entertainment, so we hit the local theater and saw “The Martian” starring Matt
Damon. Oh, and we saw it in 3-D. Excellent!
During a manned mission to
Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney (played by Matt Damon) and his astronaut crew are struck
by a fierce wind/dust storm. Mark sustains a direct hit by blowing debris and a
strong wind gust. With the lives of her crew at stake due to the severity of
the storm, the mission commander is forced to leave the planet. Separated from
his crew, Watney is presumed dead and left behind. Watney survived the storm
and finds himself stranded and alone on the hostile planet. His communications
equipment has been destroyed so he’s not able to contact NASA. However, with
only meager supplies and his knowledge as a botanist, he must find a way to
live and let NASA know he’s still alive.
It was still raining on
Tuesday, but had cooled considerably. This was one of the only days since we
left Minnesota in mid-June that we didn’t need the AC! Wonderful!
Dick finished working on the
slide, then took a 60-mile motorcycle ride to Maricopa and back to Casa Grande,
hitting Walmart for a few items on his return trip. We did preliminary packing
and preparation for our departure Wednesday, which always helps to cut ‘get
ready’ time on our travel days.
By 10:15 a.m. Wednesday
morning we were on the road, heading to Benson, AZ for a 12-day stay at Valley
Vista RV Resort. It was an easy driving day for us, only about 116 miles.
Perfect. And, the temps were cooperating, too: 74° when we left and 66° when we
arrived.
Benson is located about 45 miles
east-southeast of Tucson. Founded in 1880, Benson was a
junction point for mining operations in the area, selected as the site to cross
the San Pedro River. Today, the town of a little over 5,000 is perhaps best
known as the gateway to Kartchner Caverns State Park (that we plan to visit
before we leave this area).
I thought this was
interesting: Just outside Benson is the 40,000 acre Jay Six cattle Ranch that
has played host to political figures like 21-year old Joe and 19-year old Jack
Kennedy, as well as Barry Goldwater. The Kennedy brothers were sent to the
ranch in the spring of 1936 to work as ranch hands, and so that Jack could
recuperate from a recent illness in the dry desert heat.
We arrived here early in the
afternoon of Wednesday, Oct. 7. Although the camp is fairly old and our site
isn’t quite level, we’re happy with it. It’s sheltered on the east and west by
trees, and there’s a huge Saguaro in the front. To the back of us is a fence
bordering a road to an assisted living facility so it’s not too heavily travelled.
We spent Thursday at the
park, doing a 45-minute walk-about to take photos and enjoy the outdoors.
During our walk, while walking on one of the park roads, an unleashed dog
belonging to another resort guest charged us; thought we’d get hurt, but the
owner managed to bring the dog under control. We did report the incident to the
office; the manager said he’d take care of dealing with the owner/dog, but we
don’t know the outcome.
Friday was our first touristy
day, as we drove back to Tucson to the Pima Air and Space Museum, located just
east of the Tucson International Airport. (We had been to the air and space
museum in Dayton a year ago, so we were interesting to see the difference.)
The Pima Air and Space Museum
is one of the world’s largest non-government funded aerospace museums in the
U.S., funded only by admission fees, tour fees, and museum-store sales. Opened
to the public in 1976, the museum itself features nearly 300 aircraft spread
out over 80 acres. Since 1991, it is also home to the Arizona Aviation Hall of
Fame. The museum is also home to the “Graveyard of Planes” or “The Boneyard”,
the largest aircraft storage and preservation facilities in the world. Really
cool. Lunch was at the museum’s Flight Grill. Here are just a few of the almost
700 photos Dick took.
After over 5 hours of trekking through the air and space museum on Friday
we took a day of rest on Saturday. Dick did venture out on the motorcycle for a
bit, and had an exciting “race” with a young bull as he was travelling down one
of the roads through an open-range area (no fences, livestock free to roam
about). Thankfully, all were safe and the motorcycle won! While on his ride he came upon Gammon Gulch--pretty interesting.
Dinner that evening was at the
very popular Horse Shoe Café, located in downtown Benson. Wow! There was hardly an empty table while we
were there, and we sure can understand why, the food was wonderful, the
portions immense, and service friendly. They’ve been in business since 1936,
serve breakfast, lunch and dinner, and have a full bar. YUM-YUM!
Our next touristy day was Sunday when we drove 22 miles south to
Tombstone, AZ. Founded in 1879 by Ed Schieffelin, a scout for the U.S. Army,
headquartered in nearby Camp Huachuca. During his off-hours he scoured the
wilderness looking for valuable ore samples. When a friend and fellow Army
Scout learned what Schieffelin was up to, he’s quoted as telling him, “The only
rock you will find out there will be your own tombstone.” Another account
reported that Schieffelin’s friends told him, “Better take your coffin with
you; you’ll find your tombstone there, and nothing else.” Huh.
While working
the hills east of the San Pedro River, Ed found pieces of silver ore in a dry
wash on a high plateau called Goose Flats. When, several months later, he
located the source, he estimated it to be 50’ long and 12” wide. Schieffelin
filed his claim on September 21, 1877, and called it Tombstone.
Tombstone was one of the last wide-open frontier boomtowns in the
American Old West. The town prospered from about 1877 to 1890, during which
time the town’s mines produced $40 million to $85 million in silver bullion,
the largest productive silver district in Arizona. Tombstone’s population grew
from 100 to around 14,000 in less than 7 years. During that time the town had a
bowling alley, 4 churches, a school, 2 banks, 3 newspapers, and an ice cream
parlor, alongside 106 saloons, 14 gambling halls, and numerous dance halls and
brothels. Visiting troupes presented operas at the Schieffelin Hall opera house
to the gentlemen and ladies of the town; the miners and cowboys saw shows at
the Bird Cage Theatre, the “wildest, wickedest night spot between Basin Street
(New Orleans) and the Barbary Coast (San Francisco).”
In the mid-1880s, the silver mines penetrated the water table; water
began seeping into the shafts so pumps were installed, but the mines were soon
flooded to the 600’ level and could not be worked. By 1886, Tombstone’s heyday
was over. Tombstone almost became a ghost town.
Tombstone, however, is probably best known as the site of the “Gunfight
at the O.K. Corral.” Only about 30 miles from the Mexican border, the area was
an open market for stolen cattle by the “Cowboys,” a loosely organized band of
outlaws. The Earp brothers (Virgil, Wyatt, Morgan and Warren) arrived on-scene
in late December 1879 and mid-1880, and decided to take on some of the Cowboy
members, namely Ike and Billy Clanton, and Frank and Tom McLaury. The conflict
between the two parties escalated into a confrontation that turned into a
shootout a block or two from the O.K. Corral (rather than Hollywood’s version
of the gunfight at the actual corral).
We decided to take in the gunfight show at Doc Holliday’s Gunfight Palace
depicting three historical gunfights. The first resulted from a disputed poker
game with the dealer accused of cheating. In addition to the dealer’s luck at
cards he was also lucky in the fight and took out the disgruntled card player.
The second involved a dispute between mining partners over one partner’s poor
management of the partnership’s finances. The partnership was dissolved with a
bullet. See a video of this skit here. The final gunfight involved an
unruly drunk with a gun, a terrible combination. Finally the bar owner had to
put him down.
Tombstone became the Cochise County Seat in 1881, remaining so until
1929, when the county seat was moved to Bisbee, AZ. We visited the Tombstone
Courthouse, built in 1882, that had housed the offices of the sheriff,
recorder, treasurer, board of supervisors, jail, and Cochise County courtrooms.
Exhibits include the history of Tombstone as a frontier mining boomtown,
cattlemen and pioneers, reproductions of the courtroom and sheriff’s office;
displays include a tax license for operating a brothel and an invitation to a
hanging (a replica of the gallows is the courtyard, where 7 men were hanged).
Except for an ill-fated attempt to convert the courthouse into a hotel during
the 1940s, the building stood vacant until 1955 when the Tombstone Restoration
Commission acquired it and began rehabilitation. The building opened as a historical
museum in 1959.
Lunch was at the O.K. Café…umm, not so OK… Dick’s order wasn’t complete,
and it took forever to get our tab and to-go box. The meal was so-so; Dick had
a turkey sandwich and tomato soup, I had a BLT and coleslaw. We probably
should’ve gone to the Four Deuces Saloon and Grill across the street. Oh, well…
On the way back to our truck we stopped in at the Bird Cage Theatre that
I mentioned earlier, the most famous honky-tonk in America between 1881 and
1889. In the 9 years it was open, the Bird Cage never closed its doors. Before
its operation would end in 1889, it would be the site of 16 gunfights—the 140
bullet holes that riddle the walls and ceilings are evidence. Named for the 14
bird cage cribs that hang suspended from the ceiling above the gambling casino
and dance hall, it was from these that the “ladies of the night” plied their
trade. The refrain for the song, “she’s only a bird in a gilded cage” became
one of the nation’s most popular songs. Those cages remain today, hung with
their original red velvet draperies and trimmings. Entertainment featured
French circuit can-can dancers, risqué performances for the men, and national
headliners. Directly below the stage are the wine cellar, dressing rooms, and
the famous poker room, where the longest poker game in western history occurred:
it was a house game with a $1,000 minimum buy-in. The game ran continually for
8 years, 5 months, and 3 days. The poker table still stands as was left, with
its chairs on the dirt floor. A painting of Fatima, a famous 12-toed burlesque
dancer at the Bird Cage, hangs in the bar. The painting stands 9’ tall, and
bears the scars of 6 bullet holes, as well as that from a knife. When the mines
flooded in the late-1800s, the Bird Cage was closed and boarded up, with all
its fixtures and furnishings intact. For almost 50 years it stood closed, its
contents touched only by time. As Tombstone’s only historic landmark in its
original state, preserved from its beginning in 1881, the lighting fixtures,
draperies, gambling tables on the casino floor, massive grand piano (still
sitting in the orchestra pit), coin operated jukebox (still operating as it did
in 1881), and the hand-painted stage with its original stage curtain, all
retain the faded luster from its heyday. Oh, the stories they could tell…
As we left Tombstone, we stopped at Boot Hill, just on the outskirts of town.
Of the more than 300 graves, more than 250 graves are marked in this burial
plot laid out in 1878. For years it lay neglected until interested citizens of
the town undertook the huge task of preserving what is seen today. The cemetery
had become overgrown, going back to nature, but research and hard work gave us
back this bit of history. A list of those interred here is available from the
docents, for just a $3 contribution. It’s well worth the investment, as it
helps provide a bit of the background of most of the individuals whose remains
are buried here.
Buried here are outlaws with their victims, suicides, and hangings, legal
and otherwise, along with the hardy citizens and refined population of
Tombstone’s first days, including the 3 men who were killed during the famed
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral: Billy Clanton, Frank McLaury, and Tom McLaury. So
much of the good and so much of the bad lies here; and, over the graves of both
the good and bad is growing the plant called the crucifixion thorn.
Whew! That’s it for this week. We did a lot of walking and saw a lot of America’s
history—wild west and aviation. Stay tuned for more! Until then,
Hugs ‘n’ love,
RJ and Gail
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