February 25, 2003, Boerne, TX - 1 (2/1-3/03 - Coronado National Memorial, Bisbee & Tombstone, AZ)
Boerne is about 35 miles NW of San Antonio, TX, in an area know as the "Hill Country," a beautiful area we would like to return to some day for more touring. We're here because of a Medium Duty Truck rally. Hoping that somebody who is looking for a truck like Moby Dick will come to the rally with their checkbook. Pretty quiet affair so far. Got here Monday the 24th, about 9 AM, and the temperature had dropped from almost 80 the day before to a chilly 37 with wind. By bedtime it was 28, and this morning it was 23 with icicles hanging from everything; there was an "ice storm." Traffic is going REAL slow, and with nothing but ice on the steps into the Road Abode, it's pretty tricky to get around. After dinner last night, I had to dig a lighter out of the truck to heat the door key so we could unlock the door and get inside where it was warm. What a kick. Next year we're going south for the winter!
Back to the "no hummingbirds" day. We're at Montezuma Pass (6,575' elevation) in the Coronado National Memorial, and had to take a dirt road to get here. The road is that little white line in the picture on the left, and after turning 180 degrees, I took a picture of the other side of the pass. It was another 60 miles or so of dirt road to take us east into Nogales, AZ, through the Huachuca Mountains and might have been fun, but we weren't sure we wanted to go that far. It would be after dark before we could get home again, and neither of us much enjoys sightseeing in the dark, and besides, we wanted to see Bisbee, so we went back the way we came. All this is in the Coronado National Forest. At the visitor center they had a brief video of Coronado's attempt at exploring the area and claiming it for Spain; the Memorial was nice, but not something we'd recommend as a destination for anybody.
As I sit here with two electric heaters running to minimize the amount the furnace has to burn propane just to keep the interior of the trailer at a comfortable 72 while it's 25 outside, I find the picture on the left interesting. We'd snuggled up to that Juniper (I think that's what it was) to get some shade so we could eat our lunch at the top of Montezuma Pass. Moving on . . . that dark patch in the picture on the right is water. At the bottom of the pit mine, one of the reasons Bisbee exists. That hole in the ground is huge! Barb will find her literature on it to tell you how many $$ worth of gold, silver, copper, tin and who knows what all was mined in this area. From Barb: Lots! (no literature).
The colors of the ground here are some indication of what kind of ore was pulled from here.
The little town of Bisbee is mostly on the side of that hill in front of us, and was neat and clean for the most part. Artist-type people are the largest segment of the population, and the homes and shops reflect that. Reminded us so much of Jerome, AZ, that it was a pretty quick visit for us. The little church on the right seemed to be a multi-purpose building from the signs in front.
The narrow streets belie an earlier time before SUVs and pickup trucks were the chosen mode of transportation. And then it was the day to tour Tombstone. So named because the fellow that founded it who had come to the area to find gold was told that all he was going to find was his own tombstone--he was pretty successful and the name "Tombstone" stuck. While he found success, many others weren't so fortunate, as you know from all the stories about the place. Barb is sitting in a carriage in the middle of the O.K. Corral. The O.K. Corral was nothing more or less than a livery stable, stage stop, and place with lodging, food and drink.
There were quite a few restored/preserved wagons, carriages and what have you inside the corral. On the right is the tour guide telling us about the famous October 26, 1881, gunfight that has drawn such attention to this place. The gunfight wasn't in the O.K. Corral at all, just nearby. In an vacant lot about 15 feet wide, between two buildings. The white line in the picture on the right is where the side of one of the buildings was, with the ally to the right of that. The models were depicting the people involved in the gunfight, and the building had been moved to accommodate the crowd of tourists who wanted to be photographed in the site.
There I am between Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday, and you can see the cement line where the original building stood. The green building is original, and in addition to the 7 men, there were a couple of horses in this ally. While the story has been told many times, there still is dispute about what the gunfight was really all about in the first place, or who fired first, and all that. Doc Holliday's girlfriend was watching the whole thing from that window in the green building. The end result of this 30-second, eight-man gunfight was 3 dead, 3 wounded (2 seriously--Wyatt's two brothers Virgil and Morgan Earp) , 1 ran away at start of gunfight, and 1 unscathed--Wyatt Earp.
After some tomfoolery and a couple of skits, the actors did their best to reenact the actual events of the gunfight. Since one of the reasons that triggered (pun intended) the gunfight may have been that one of the cowboys ignored the "law" that made it illegal to carry guns in town, there was a discussion about guns before the show. The narrator laid two revolvers down on a piece of carpet and asked a young pre-teen boy to come forward. He was then asked what he would do if he was walking along and found a gun laying there. He wasn't sure, but the narrator then told him that the proper thing was to not touch it, leave the area, and tell an adult what he'd found. I was immediately impressed. That's the Eddie Eagle message the NRA tries to get into our schools to educate our young people about what to do in that situation. The young man was then asked if he could tell the difference between the two revolvers, as to which was a toy and which was real. He couldn't of course, and that was another lesson. We often cannot tell the difference just by looking. After a round of applause, he went back to his seat, and to demonstrate the power of a blank cartridge, an empty soda can was placed on a table and one of the actors "shot" it with a blank from close range. Of course, the aluminum can shot into the air with a huge dent in it. Good demonstration that even a blank can seriously injure someone. The young volunteer was given the can as a souvenir. That last picture above is of a bar that has been in use since the early 1800's. We were impressed the mirror was still intact.
The Bird Cage Theater was a real treat. It had been closed for many years before being bought by its current owners. And the amazing thing is that it had remained essentially untouched for almost 100 years! The layout of the place was such that the main seating was on the floor looking up at the stage. The photo on the left was taken from near the back of the theater. The "stuff" in the foreground is part of several tables full of artifacts from the period of the theater's operation--from about 1820 to 1835 or so. Barb may have literature that will firm up my guess. Above the floor seating were second-story private viewing booths or "bird cages." The picture on the right shows some models sitting in the booths. The "ladies" had access to these booths for "private entertainment" as well.
Back to Boerne and freezing weather, I just learned that Interstate Highway 10 has been closed due to ice for the first time in Texas history (veracity not verified). It's 10:30 AM and the temperature is 25 degrees. History in the making. Radio report said that a sanding truck had slid off the road someplace and was in the ditch! This weather is suppose to last through today, with some warming tomorrow. Sure glad we got here with plenty of fresh water in our tank, as that's the only water available! We have tank heaters, so our sewer tanks won't freeze, and since the furnace heats the freshwater tank, we're doing just great. The dual pane windows are proving to be worth the money as well. Now, if only I could figure out how to keep the vent above the toilet from "raining" on us without blocking it with the insulated "pillow" we have for it. The light it provides is just too nice to block it off. Back to the pictures: The wallpaper is original, and its condition is less than perfect, so it's easy to believe. In those pictures on the wall, pay attention to the one just to the left of the woman. See that rock balanced on top of another rock? You'll see something just like that a little later. The rifle collection was impressive, and as you probably already know, of special interest to me. All this is inside the Bird Cage.
Under the booths lining each wall are some more artifacts from the era. In the picture on the left, from right to left, is a wonderfully intricately carved safe, then a desk, and then two pedal organs. In the picture on the right is the original grand piano. The card sitting on it says, “The original grand piano has sat on this spot since 1881. It furnished music for the shows and dances. It is built out of solid rose wood and is hand carved. This piano was the first to arrive in Tombstone. It was shipped around the horn of S. A. to San Francisco by boat and brought from there to Tombstone by mule train. It was part of a five-piece band that played in the Bird Cage from 1881 through 1887.”