TOMBSTONE, AZ 2008

We headed into Tombstone for the day but not before we stocked up on fat with a hearty breakfast of Eggs, Pancakes and Jimmy Dean Turkey sausages topped off with authenic maple syrup. As a result it was not the earliest start but it was a fun day. We spent the day in the city of Tombstone and I was amazed at how well they had maintained the authenticy. Most of the buildings are originals with as little change as possible when having to do any kind of up keep.

We started off taking in a 25 minute documentary narrated by Vincent Price about the start of Tombstone, how it was rebuilt after 2 devastating files and started to get the name of "The town that was too tough to die". The town was originally started due to huge finds of Silver but flooding forced the mines to close and then the only thing that kept the town going was that it was the county seat. When that moved in the late 1800's there wasn't much to keep it going and it finally transformed into a tourist town.

We then headed down to the Crystal Palace Saloon for lunch. This saloon was a favorite of Doc Holiday, Wyatt Earp and others. It was said that Doc Holiday ran a Faro game out of this saloon. Again they have done a good job of keeping it as original as possible.

After lunch we headed down to the OK Corral for a 35 minute show of "The gunfight at the OK Corral". It was pretty well done and worth the nonimal fee that they charged. The amazing aspect was how close all the shooters were to each other and the fact that not everyone was killed. There is still an argument going on over whether the Earps were good guys or bad guys.

Upon completion of the Earps killing everyone we walked the town doing a little shopping, well actually looking before heading out to Boot Hill. It is not actually a boot hill as much as it is just their cementary. The people who dies in the OK Corral fight are buried there.

We are now at home resting up for another day of the touristy thing tomorrow.

Picture # 1 - Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday. Well at least the actors who portray them in the daily show.

Picture # 2 - This stagecoach still runs up and down the main street of Tombstone and people can get off and on.

Picture # 3 - A shot of the main street of Tombstone

Picture # 4- A grave in Boot hill. Actually it is the grave of the three people killed at "The Gunfight at the OK Corral" The main one being Billy Clanton.

HEADING FOR ARIZONA

It's Monday, December 15th and we have just arrived at Tombstone Territory RV park which is outside of Tombstone, AZ. We arrived here after three days of travel through some pretty severe winds which had a huge effect on our mileage. We only were able to get about 7 miles to the gallon for the first two days but then the winds softened and we get back to normal. Good thing as I was tired of going from gas station to gas station. The only good point was the diesel is down to anywhere from a low of $ 2.09 to a high of $ 2.29

We did not get as good a start as we wanted so we only got to Odessa the first night and then with the time change made it into Deming, NM the next day. We stayed at the Little Vineyards RV park which is just off the highway. It is quite a nice little park for the money.

Today we had a short drove of about 190 miles and during our drive we came to Texas Canyon which is just inside the Arizona border. It is located in Cochise Country, Arizona about 20 miles east of Benson, AZ on I-10 and lies between the Little Dragoon Mountains on the north and the Dragoon Mountains to the south.

Known for its giant granite bolders, the canyon frequently attracts rock hounds and photographers. The stagecoach route of the Butterfield Overland Mail passed through Texas Canyon from 1858 until the outbreak of the Civel War in 1861 when the stage line suspended operations. Historically within the range of the Chiricahua Apache. Cochise made his last stronghold near hear in the Dragoon Mountains during the mid 1870's.

Tomorrow we head into Tombstone to do the touristy thing.


TEXAS CANYON

THANKSGIVING IN TEXAS

Hello everyone. I haven't been on much as we just continue to carry on waiting for the end of March and then we head north. I had planned to post some pictures and talk about the excellent Thanks Giving Dinner we had at Eddie and Anna Melissari's house but unfortunately my flash card was not in securely and therefore no pictures.

However as I said earlier it was an excellent dinner and fun was had by all and our thanks go out to them.

We are heading out next Saturday ( Dec 13th ) and are heading for Casa Granda, Arizona to meet up with my sister and her husband and will be there until the 7th of January when we head back to Dallas.

Will post more of our trip to Arizona starting next week.

THE CAMPER

Hello All. Not much has been happening in the last couple of months as we are just waiting until March and total retirement. Our first major trip after March is going to be Alaska and as we do not want to take our 5th wheel up there we had decided the best method would be a truck camper. Therefore the reason for this portion of the blog. We have a truck camper.

We purchased a used 2002 Lance on ebay and then we had to go to Frankfort, Michigan to pick it up. It was a nice supprise to arrive and find out the camper was everything it was advertised to be. It has hardly been used and is very good shape. The plan is to use the camper on more rugged territory and for dry camping where there are no campsites.

We had to pick the camper up in upper Michigan in a town called Frankfort. We arrived on a Saturday morning and met with George and Kathy Sorenson, two very nice people who were selling the camper for their dad. It was not a good time for them as their Dad had recently passed away but still they gave us all the time we needed to learn and understand everything about the camper. George and Kathy if you read this, our thoughts and prays are with you both.

The town of Frankfort is on the east side of Lake Michigan and has a fantastic little harbor. Unfortunately it was a rainy and foggy day so I did not get any real good pictures. The drive up to Michigan was an exercise in endurance as we drove 710 on a Thursday and the balance of the trip (550 miles ) was done on Friday. Most of Friday was driven through torrential rain and at time was quite scary. We spent Saturday working on the camper to get it ready for travel and then headed home on Sunday.

THE CAMPER

FRANKFORT, MICHIGAN

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VISIONS OF GRANDEUR IN LAS VEGAS

A few ( four ) of the boys from the Thursday night, sometimes Monday night, poker group invaded Las Vegas to play in the World Series of Poker over 50 Texas Hold Em tournement. We all arrived full of enthusiasm and with visions of grandeur AND this lasted until about 11pm on the first day when the last of us was eliminated. Personally I was knocked out around 10pm in 490th place out of 2218 entrants. I was not displeased.

However, it was amazing to walk into a series of rooms and see up to 4 tournements going on at the same time with upwards of 5000 people milling about, both participating and observing. The tournement was very well organized and well run allowing everyone to get the most out of the experience.

Overall, a good time was had by all. We got to play in a few tournements, ate some good food and enjoyed one anothers company. We did spent most of the time indoors as the average daytime temperature was 105 degrees.

I met a lot of very nice people from all over the world and I hope I run into them next year as I will definitely return next year. A good time was had by all.

The Combatants: Mark, Mohammed, Eddie, Yours Truly

HIGHLIGHT OF THE YEAR (so far )

We have had a pretty uneventful spring since returning from Mexico ( aside of the tornado ). We are still staying at the Vineyards in Grapevine for now but we have to move for 11 days and we are going down to Arlington KOA and then back to Grapevine. We plan to stay here for the balance of the year.

NOW, for the highlight. ROD HAS A NEW BBQ.

I know, sad isn't it. However you just can't cook a steak properly if it isn't on a BBQ.

As we are not travelling much at this point I won't be posting until I return from Vegas near the end of June. I am playing in the over 50 World Series of Poker which is being held on the 23rd, 24th and 25th of June. Wish me luck.

TORNADO HITS DUPLIUM

While we were in Mexico a bunch of Tornadoes touched down in the Dallas area. One of these touchdowns hit Duplium ( where I work ) and did considerable damage, however we were blessed in two areas. The first being that it struck in the middle of the night and at a part of the building that was closed during that time and therefore nobody was hurt. The second aspect was that the part of the building that was hit was used for storage of mostly raw components. The manufacturing equipment was not touched and as a result we were up and running in two days.

The take taken to get up and running was unbelievable especially when you see the damage.

The pictures tell it all.