These last two days have been so hectic that I have not had a chance to write the blog. I had anticipated this and was planning on mostly posting pictures of my exploration of Tombstone instead of writing a lot of text as a means of dealing with being so busy. However, the degree of busyness was more than either Mary Margaret or I expected. Thus, the absence of the blog. Sigh!
Yesterday, we packed up LeuC and drove the short distance from Kartchner Caverns State Park to Tucson (about 50 miles). We had an 8 AM appointment with the La Mesa RV folks for today that we needed to keep. When we left Tucson last month, they had ordered some parts which have now arrived and are ready to be installed. Also, we had a short list of To Do’s for them as a result of our “shake down” trip to Denver and back.
We had decided that we would spend our first night night parked in the Casa Del Sol Casino parking lot and then, early this morning, drive LeuC to La Mesa RV and drop her off for the day. While LeuC was being worked on, we would then run a few errands. Shuffled with all this would be getting together with our daughter, Christina, and her family for dinners on both night.
As it turned out, this is exactly what we did but instead of leisurely running errands today, it ended up being a 7AM to 4:30 PM ordeal. Whew!
Spending the night at the casino worked out very well since it was free, and Mary Margaret ended up winning a few bucks. Since we were not plugged in to power, we ran the generator a couple of hours last night just to be able to run the A/C to cool LeuC down before bedtime.
Tonight, we are spending the night at the Desert Diamond Casino since it is a bit closer to both La Mesa RV and Christina’s house. It also seems to be nice and quiet. At both casinos we shared the outer parking lot with about a dozen other RV rigs, with lots of space between us.
The casino folks are very friendly and have no problem with our using their parking lot, especially since we were spending only a night at each one. In fact, at the Desert Diamond Casino, a gal in a golf cart came over and gave me her cell number to call whenever we wanted a lift to the casino. Mary Margaret will do that tomorrow morning while I am at the Fiat dealership having our new spare tire installed. You may recall that our little Fiat did not come with a spare tire when we bought it. I have never liked not having a spare tire, especially since we have been driving it around in some pretty desolate places. Buying the spare tire and making an appointment to have it installed underneath our little Fiat was one of just a dozen stops we made today during our “leisurely” errand run.
Once the spare tire is installed, we will be driving up to Mesa, Arizona to stay at the Ursery Mountain Regional Park for a few days as we continue our trek to Southern California. Once in Mesa we hope to take a few days off and rest up. Yeah, right… we have a good track record of doing that! LOL
Here are some of the Tombstone photos I have threaten you about. These are of its old Boothill Graveyard. Initially, I was overwhelmed by the number of graves that were marked as containing someone who was killed in a gunfight, brawl or murdered. However, some simple research into this has revealed that most of the claims are fictitious, being an effort to attract tourists. It seems to be working as Boothill is one of Tombstone’s most popular stopping places. Here is what the TrueWest Magazine wrote:
“Billy Clanton and Tom and Frank McLaury are buried in the right spot, says Ben Traywick, Tombstone historian and author of Boot Hill. Other bodies in the correct location are M.R. Peel, murdered in Charleston (10 miles south of Tombstone); the five men hanged in 1884 for the Bisbee Massacre—Arizona’s largest mass hanging; some ladies from the red light district; and a few Chinese citizens. Everyone else is just speculation.”.
Going Down The Road With The Leu's 