Back from Tombstone

Been gone a while. Could say I was on a fact finding mission but the truth is I went to visit my granddaughter in Arizona. Oh, and I also did some fact finding. However, thought we would never get there. We were supposed to change planes in Dallas but there were severe storms there and the airport was closed. We were rerouted to San Antonio to refuel and wait for the Dallas airport to open again. We thought we missed our connection to Tuscon but that flight had been grounded in Oklahoma City because of the weather so everything worked out, we were just a couple of hours behind schedule. I got to thinking about those brave pioneers who went West in the 1840's and 50's and was so glad I was making the trip by plane. I'm sure they could have handled a couple of hours delay if their journey had been as quick as ours.

My granddaughter was stationed in Sierra Vista but my daughter and I stayed in Tombstone. What a fabulous town. When you first drive into town you might think, what in the world am I doing here? Once you get settled and and start investigating the area you wonder why you waited so long. Granted our motel was rustic but it was clean and a picture of John Wayne decorated the wall between the beds so we felt safe. Breakfast was available...outdoors and it was cold in the mornings. It wasn't sit down but the coffee was hot, the juice was cold, the sweet rolls fresh and the eggs were hard boiled.

There was a lot to see. Our first trip was to The Boothill Cemetery. It was plotted in 1878 and was the cemetery for the town's first pioneers and was used until around 1884. It was neglected for many years and nature took over. There were trees and bushes growing through the rocks covering the graves. Eventually it became a Boy Scout project. The cemetery got it's name because so many people buried there were the victims of of violent deaths, died with their boots on. There are the graves of outlaws as well as their victims, suicides and hangings, legal and otherwise. One poor fella told them he didn't steal the horse but they hung him anyway. Later a bill of sale was discovered but it was too late. Some of the folks died from natural causes, some from mining accidents and some by Indians. Yet for all it's violent history, Tombstone is a very peaceful place today...except for the occasional gunfight reenactments.

Will tell more about our adventures in Tombstone in the next few days. Right now I am trying to catch up.