Tombstone, Arizona (GA37)

Mary is no longer available for RV traveling, but we remain good friends.
Because we have 4,000+ postings, I’ve invited her to continue posting entries on this blog.

I’m currently in my 22nd year of full-time RVing and my lifestyle is changing, For more info click Here

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The motorhome is parked at Thousand Trails Soledad Canyon RV Resort at Acton, California. I’m expecting to depart here March 27th.

 

 

Since my RVing life is changing (see above), I’m starting to re-visit previously visited places. So rather than constantly re-blogging past entries, I’ve decided to do something different.

 

 

In 2012-2013, Mary and I did a 682 day, 12,679 miles in the motorhome and 8,000 miles in the Bronco, circumnavigation of the United States, which I called The Great Adventure. I called it so because other than my oldest granddaughter’s high school graduation in June in Connecticut, I didn’t know where we would be going or when we would be there!

 

 

So, unless I do something really different and unusual warranting a new blog entry, I’ll be posting entries from that trip.

 

 

 

This entry was posted March 2, 2012…

 

 

 

The town to tough to die! That’s what they call Tombstone, Arizona. You probably know it as where the famous Gunfight at the O.K. Corral occurred.

 

 

When you are in southeastern Arizona…you cannot be here…and not go to Tombstone. So yesterday Mary and I made the 50 mile round-trip. I believe I’ve been here at least two, perhaps three times, before. Mary told me she has been here once…about 50 years ago.

 

 

if you are not familiar with Tombstone, the below Wikipedia link will inform you…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tombstone,_Arizona

 

 

The way the crow flies…presumably in a straight line…Tombstone lies about 65 miles distant.

 

 

Here’s a Google Earth image…

 

 

 

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mary and I spent an enjoyable five hours wandering around Tombstone. While there we visited Boot Hill, Allen Street (the main drag) and the old courthouse…which has a great museum and is also an Arizona State Historic Park.

 

 

Here are some photos that I took while there…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To see the other 77 photos that I took, click this link…
https://picasaweb.google.com/110455945462646142273/TombstoneArizona

 

 

Tombstone is perhaps the most authentic (though somewhat touristy) Western town left in the West. If you want to experience a taste of the Old West, you need to visit Tombstone.

 

 

 

 

TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE! MARY WROTE A MANY GREAT BLOGS…SO WHENEVER SHE PUBLISHED A BLOG POSTING THE SAME DAY THAT I DID…YOU WILL BE ABLE TO READ HER BLOG BY CLICKING THE BELOW LINK! DO IT NOW…!!!

https://otrwjam.wordpress.com/2012/03/02/tombstone-epitomized-the-wild-west/

 

 

 

I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE PHOTOS.

 Yesterday was mostly sunny and 83 degrees. Forecast for today is mostly sunny and 77 degrees.

Enjoying nice weather is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

The red dot on the below map shows my approximate location in the State of California. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures with low humidity most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

My current travel rig is a 2006 Fleetwood 26′ Class A Motorhome and a towed 1986 Ford Bronco II, Eddie Bauer Model. This photo was taken in the desert at Slab City near Niland, California…

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

If you would like to see my YouTube videos, click this link… http://www.youtube.com/user/JimJ1579/videos

There are more than 700 photo albums in my Picasa Web Albums File. To gain access, you simply have to click this link… https://get.google.com/albumarchive/110455945462646142273?source=pwa

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

For more information about my books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

All original works copyrighted – Jim Jaillet -2017

Old West Photos

Mary is no longer available for RV traveling, but we remain good friends.
Because we have 4,000+ postings, I’ve invited her to continue posting entries on this blog.

---

The motorhome is parked at Thousand Trails RV Resort…about 20 miles east of Palm Springs, California. I’m scheduled to depart here March 17th.

 

A friend sent me an email with these great photos and I would like to share them with you…

 

 

 

: Old Photos That I Haven’t Seen Before……….THE OLD WEST………….

Cowboys Around the Hoodlum Wagon, Spur Ranch, Texas, 1910   Judging by the saddle style, this unidentified cowboy was working in the late 1870s or 1880s. In his holster, he carries a Colt model 1873 single action revolver with hard rubber grips, and He has looped his left arm around a Winchester model 1873 carbine in a saddle scabbard. On The back of the photo is the light pencil inscription “Indian fighter”. Snow Tunnel ~ On the Ouray and Silverton Toll Rd ~ Colorado ~ 1888 1899 Concord, Michigan “Buggy & Wagon Shop” Thankful someone took the time to photograph this type of beauty – April 1937. “Buttermilk Junction, Martin County, Indiana.” 1887-West Center Street, Anaheim, California.  Now we have Disneyland here!   Moser’s, Guns, Banjo’s, and Mules at the Liverystable in East Tennessee around 1890 In 1906, a massive magnitude 7.9 earthquake ruptured the entire San Andreas Fault in Northern California. That is a huge running crack in the ground. Now they are building houses right on the line as fast as the boards can be delivered. Hmm …. This is what real cowboys looked like in 1887.  Not as fancy as on TV, huh! Some of the toughest, bravest people we know of.  They gave it their all to go west and start A new life.  This wagon train is in eastern Colorado in 1880. This moose team belonged to W.R. (Billy/Buffalo Bill) Day. They were found by a Metis near Baptiste Lake in 1910 and were reared by bottle and broken to drive by Mr. Day at Athabasca Landing during the winter of 1910. Mr. Day and the moose team hauled mail and supplies. In the American Civil War, soldiers were required to have at least four opposing front  teeth, So that they could open a gunpowder pouch. Some draftees had their front teeth removed to Avoid service.  In our day they just jumped the border into Canada. Here we have a tired old prospector during the Klondike Gold Rush. Lulu Parr – Her skill with the gun caught the attention of Pawnee Bill, who signed Her to his show in 1903. She left that show but came back in 1911. By that time, Pawnee Bill had joined Buffalo Bill’s show. Buffalo Bill was so in awe of Lulu’s Willingness to ride unbroken ponies that he presented her with an ivory-handled Colt single-action revolver, engraved with “Buffalo Bill Cody to Lulu Parr 1911.” From the drivers seat of a 40 mule team. These rigs were used to haul Borax out of Boron CA.  And  then loaded onto railroads for manufacturing. All this so you could do the laundry!  Man, that’s a lot of horses!   Hoops had to be removed before taking your seat in a carriage and then they were hooked Onto the back of the carriage. Deer Hunter Living In A Log , 1893. Tough guys live in tough places, I guess.  Home is where You make it!   Omaha Board of Trade in Mountains near Deadwood, April 26, 1889. It was created  in 1889 by  Grabill, John C. H., photographer. The picture presents procession of stagecoaches loaded With passengers coming down a mountain road. This is a stunning photograph from 1862. The image shows a Civil War Ambulance crew Removing the wounded from a battlefield. It shows a horse-drawn ambulance, and the Zouave uniforms of this unit.

 

 

 

I hope you enjoyed the photos.

 

Recently I’ve been running blogs about my 2004 Central America trip. While here I’m intending to continue those postings while also alternating with other past blogs.

I hope you enjoyed the photos.

 Yesterday was sunny and 82 degrees. Forecast for today is sunny and 86 degrees.

Enjoying nice weather is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

The red dot on the below map shows my approximate location in the State of California. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures with low humidity most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

My current travel rig is a 2006 Fleetwood 26′ Class A Motorhome and a towed 1986 Ford Bronco II, Eddie Bauer Model. This photo was taken in the desert at Slab City near Niland, California…

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

If you would like to see my YouTube videos, click this link… http://www.youtube.com/user/JimJ1579/videos

There are more than 600 photo albums in my Picasa Web Albums File. To gain access, you simply have to click this link… https://picasaweb.google.com/jimjrver

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

For more information about my books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

All original works copyrighted – Jim Jaillet -2016

BUGGY BILL

Most people didn’t know his last name. They fondly called him Buggy Bill.  He died unexpectedly at age 63. Murphys has lost an icon.

When I first met him, about 30 years ago, his horse and buggy was just a dream.  He had just arrived in town with an acquaintance from Nevada where he worked driving a chemical truck. They set up housekeeping on her property way out on Ponderosa road where there was no electricity or running water. He loved horses, the leather, the times. He would say, “I was born too late.”  He went to work mending fences for  John Davies Ranch, at first.

He was visible in town with the same battered hat and an old battered pick-up. Over the years, he built his dream. He bought horses,  broken down buggies that he lovingly fixed. He didn’t  deck himself out like a cowboy. Bill looked the same in this picture from 2009 as when I first met him all those years ago.

He liked it when little kids rode in his buggy and petted the horses. For a long time, he had a white  horse  named  Pepper,  half blind, with only one eye.  It amazed him that  some  kids had never seen a horse up close enough to touch one. He didn’t make much money, but it was what he loved doing. Some years, during fair time, he was hired to taxi dignitaries around the steep grounds in a larger buggy with a team of horses. If he was hired to do a wedding, he decked out the buggy with white ribbons to carry the  bride to the hotel, or Kautz winery to meet the groom.  I can’t imagine how many rides he has given over the years. And, he had his problems. For many years he parked in front of the Murphys Hotel. A new owner wanted him gone and considered him a nuisance. He appealed to the Board of Supervisors and they designated his business as a cab,  and provided a parking place away from the hotel’s main entrance, for cabs only. After three years, the owner put dining tables in the garden adjacent to the hotel, then claimed the horse drew flies.  Bill was again relocated in front of the water company building.

Like everyone else, I’ll miss Bill. It  won’t seem right  without  him on the streets of Murphys on weekends, giving rides to tourists.  His son Zac lived with his dad and went to Bret Harte High School for one year in the 1980’s. He and my daughter became good friends. We will get together on Sunday at the Nugget,  Bill’s favorite watering hole,  and hoist a warm beer, (his favorite drink) and salute his long tenure as the last remaining remnant of a past life. If he were still with us I would tell him,  YOU WERE NOT BORN TOO LATE.

Tombstone, Arizona

The town to tough to die! That’s what they call Tombstone, Arizona. You probably know it as where the famous Gunfight at the O.K. Corral occurred.

When you are in southeastern Arizona…you cannot be here…and not go to Tombstone. So yesterday Mary and I made the 50 mile round-trip. I believe I’ve been here at least two, perhaps three times, before. Mary told me she has been here once…about 50 years ago.

if you are not familiar with Tombstone, the below Wikipedia link will inform you…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tombstone,_Arizona

The way the crow flies…presumably in a straight line…Tombstone lies about 65 miles distant.

Here’s a Google Earth image…

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

Mary and I spent an enjoyable five hours wandering around Tombstone. While there we visited Boot Hill, Allen Street (the main drag) and the old courthouse…which has a great museum and is also an Arizona State Historic Park.

Here are some photos that I took while there…

To see the other 77 photos that I took, click this link…
https://picasaweb.google.com/110455945462646142273/TombstoneArizona

Tombstone is perhaps the most authentic (though somewhat touristy) Western town left in the West. If you want to experience a taste of the Old West, you need to visit Tombstone.

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2012
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

SUPERSTITION MOUNTAIN CONTINUED

From our visit to Superstition Mountain Museum continued from yesterday,  what is an old western movie set without a gallows?  There is a real gallows still intact at the Tuolumne County Museum, in Sonora, California.  Much wider than this one; had to have room for the dignitaries. Hangings were as much about politics as a press conference is today.

Wherever there were fortune seekers, there were those who sidestepped the hard work.  I love museums that have “character stories” and this one has a number of them. The “hacksaw” bandit  robbed stage coaches on the Apache Trail.  He always robbed them at the a steep place where the horses found it hard going. Never caught, his cache of hold-up equipment, with his white hood with eye holes in it, was found over 50 years after his deeds.

Fortune seekers of all types arrived in Apache Junction.   An Opera Singer by the name of  Maria,  insisted that Weaver’s Needle, (a spire we passed on our hike) was hollow and filled with gold. She filed a claim on Weaver’s Needle and had a rope ladder built to the top of it. No one knows what happened to her and she apparently abandoned her claim, but two families, Piper and Jones,  believed it was hollow and a feud of several years, that resulted in the death of one person, quarreled over the  Dutchman’s claim and the gold in the “hollow” needle. Years later, in 1956, a very fit wrestling coach climbed Maria’s rope ladder but could not get to the top. “No fat opera singer ever climbed that ladder,” he claimed. There are many stories of the fate of gold seekers in the Superstition Mountains at the site below:

.http://www.prairieghosts.com/dutchman.html
I chuckled at the  modern million dollar advertising campaign put up by Canadian Club. They hid a case of Canadian Club in the area and expected to have many seekers looking for it, while being publicized, of course. The problem was, a local found it in six hours the second day of the campaign and ruined their long term publicity stunt.  He claimed he was mighty thirsty.

The place is worth a visit.  I loved the painting of a stage rumbling over the Apache Trail. The rest of my pictures are outside.

Part of a once working stamp mill.

The well.

The assay office.

A saloon.

A barber shop.

The barn.

 

 

And, our good Christian pioneers always had a church.  (In this case, with the gallows nearby.)