100324 - TOMBSTONE, ARIZONA

March 24 , 2010
Wells Fargo RV
Tombstone, AZ

The sun is starting to shine more brightly and the evening though still cool; do not pose any threats of freezing The Beast or its occupants. With this encouraging thought, we began to thaw out our hibernating ways and shift gears into a more adventures mode, that of a tourist.

Just a few dozen miles south of us is the popular and historic city of Tombstone. This is the town that made Wyatt Earp and his brothers famous and just saying its name congers up thoughts of the old west.

It is a town that has gone thru the entire spectrum from nothing to infamy to decay and back to life again as a thriving community.

After the civil war, the great migration to the western territories and the West coast was massive and unstoppable. Whenever there was news of a gold or silver mine discovery, the hoards of would-be miners and treasure seekers would shift like the wind in the direction of the precious metal.

“Tombstone was perhaps the most renowned of Arizona's old mining camps. When Ed Schieffelin (SHEF·e·lin) came to Camp Huachuca (hwah·CHEW·kuh) with a party of soldiers and left the fort to prospect, his comrades told him that he'd find his tombstone rather than silver. Thus, in 1877 Schieffelin named his first claim the Tombstone, and rumors of rich strikes made a boomtown of the settlement that adopted this name.”
http://www.tombstoneweb.com/history.html

The population at its height was more than ten thousand. Stores and saloons and brothels and hotels and banks were built quickly to replace the temporary miners tents and shacks and the town become so famous that it attracted theatre companies that usually played Denver and San Francisco.

AS with most western towns of that era, there were two things that usually caused fear and destruction – fire and outlaws. Tombstone had its share of both and it survived both.

In 1881, the famous gun fight between the Clanton family and the Earps took place at the famous OK Corral. While it lasted less than a minute, it took a firm and permanent place in the history of our growing nation.

“The citizenry of Tombstone decided rather than depending on a vanishing mining industry, they would focus their time and energy on tourism and restoration. Truly a Historical American Landmark, Tombstone is America's best example of our 1880 western heritage, which is well preserved with original 1880's buildings and artifacts featured in numerous museums.”

We found an RV park that was situated right at the edge of town, and my little blue scooter was going to get a real test of endurance and performance. The “tourist “ area is about 4 square blocks, and has had its buildings and streets well preserved. The sidewalks are actually boardwalks, but at each street corner, the curbs are cut for wheelchairs and scooters and the street itself is blocked off from automobile traffic. Only horses and stagecoaches are allowed.

Of course we attended the re-enactment of the gunfight, toured the historic buildings and feasted on the western grub of buffalo burgers and cowboy portions of beef ribs.
There were souvenir shops, clothing stores and all things western on every block with lots of tempting items but we proudly resisted the urge to buy that Stetson, or mug or T-shirt.

Danny was having a great time being out in the crowds where everyone wanted to pet him or feed him. The only problem he had was controlling his enthusiasm around the horses.

Even if we were inside a store or restaurant, if a horse or stagecoach or horse drawn wagon went by, he got excited and barked. For those of you who have not met him yet, I will tell you he is a big guy with a loud bark. The good news is that this was an excellent opportunity to exercise some behavioral training and within a couple of days, he had learned that barking at horses was wrong. He still barked once or twice but then quickly would sit down by my side and wait for his treat. I was very proud of him. I don’t know if he will behave the next time he sees a horse, but I always keep a handful of treats in my pocket so I'm prepared.

http://www.cityoftombstone.com/

100314 - St David

MARCH 14, 2010
St David, AZ

Although the weather is still on the cool side, when the sun is out and the wind is nil, it feels pretty warm. we take advantage of these situations and find a nice quiet spot by the lake and split our time into reading or radio listening. Also, There are some families of ducks and geese that have taken up residence at the lakeside for the season and are fun to watch as they waddle and quack thru the campgrounds. I was surprised at how well behaved Danny was around these birds. In fact, he acts as if they are not even around and ignores them, I was very proud and happy that he did not chose to charge them.

Today, we headed for the lake and Danny pulled me towards a large green bush just off the path. This is usually a sign that he wants to water it so I eased up on his leash and steered the scooter towards the bush. Instead of lifting his leg, he poked his nose low and forcefully into the bush and looked like he might be digging for truffles.
All of a sudden, there was a great commotion inside the bush and he was nose to beak with a large goose that apparently had chosen to build a nest and lay her eggs in the bush. Well, the goose was in no mood to put up with a curious dog that was interfering with her nest warming duties and she made it quite clear that he was not welcome. As soon as I got the picture, I yanked Danny away from the area, tied his leash to a picnic table nearby, and went back to the bush to investigate.

The goose had temporarily vacated the area and I could see her nest with about 6 eggs in it. None appeared to be damaged. She quickly retuned when she saw me hovering around and resumed her position on the nest.

I’m sure Danny’s intention was more curiosity than culinary, but he just had another lesson in life.
Don’t mess with Mother Goose.

100227 - Benson, Arizona

Feb 27, 2010
Plato Blanco Lakes RV
Benson, AZ

Dear friends,
As I have said so often in the past, the winter season offers very little in the way of entertaining or interesting material. However, I have found from previous experiences that some of you worry about Danny and me if we fail to “check in” from time to time. Feigning concern at this point will be of no value.

After a pleasant stay in Casa Grande, we headed for one of our favorite places in southern Arizona. The Arizona State Park system is going to be closing many of its parks in the near future because of budget cuts. Therefore, we hurried to savor the possible last time in the near future to enjoy these wonderful areas. Picacho State Park is just off the interstate, but once inside, it is a beautiful and scenic desert. Camping among the tall and old cactus plants and small mountains, it is an oasis in an otherwise congested, noisy and commercial world. The other campers and park hosts and rangers are friendly and helpful in both basic assistance and cultural history.
There are modern facilities for bathroom and showering and electricity at each site.
I have to keep Danny on leash because of the many pointy growths around that he is not familiar with or will not have any respect for until he is stuck, and I don’t want to have to be pulling needles and thorns out of his fur all day.

At sunset, the sky is ablaze with color and shadows and after sundown, the area is practically pitch black with the exception of a few distant, diffused lights from parked RVs with their shades drawn. There is no moon currently, but the darkness here is not fearful or threatening as one might feel in a large city. It is almost mystical and soothing, as a protective covering. The silence is also a strange but welcome aspect to the surroundings, especially to a city dweller that has become accustom to the constant drumming and pulsating of constant noise.

We did have some plans to do a little sight seeing as we drove thru Tucson. There is a toy train museum with large layouts of scale models as well as an old movie set where westerns were filmed, and also a space museum. Unfortunately, boon docking (urban camping) is becoming more differcult than previous times. More cities are making ordinances against overnight RV parking at some of our favorite sites such as Wal-Mart and so we were forced to bypass some of our planned stops.

Benson, Arizona is about 40 miles east of Tucson and a popular RV area for snowbirds.
We stayed at Valley Vista RV Park and got a good spot with a great view of the terrain from our patio. One of our neighbors invited us over for a beer and conversation and we spend some time watching the quall and roadrunners play in the desert.
The weather is a bit on the cool side, with nighttime lows in the low 30s and daytime highs about 60+. The 2nd week here, I came down with a bad cold, sneezing, running nose, and joint pains and the weather turned wet for about 3 days. The rain left quickly, but the cold symptoms dragged on for more than a week. I was of course prepared with Nyquil, Drixoral, tea, chicken soup and lots of Kleenex.

We just moved to a nice campground in the area and will stay here a week. Its got a small lake with stocked fish and no license required. I may try it out with my old relievable Pocket Fisherman.

There are also lots of duck and other aquatic wildlife around and Danny doesn’t understand why they don’t want to play with him.

Unfortunately, there are also javelinas in the area that I do not want him to play with.
(http://www.azgfd.gov/w_c/urban_javelina.shtml)
These are a species of boar that recently came from South America to the southwest area and became plentiful. They are medium size porkers with sharp tusks and not friendly to man or beast. Their bite has been known to give humans Rabies.