Odds 'n' Ends

There are bits and pieces of things I wanted to talk to you about that never made it to the daily blog entry..here they are in no particular order (the photo is apropos of nothing, I love pigs and the child reminded me of Mali, that's all there is to it):

I am a big fan of RV's. I've wanted one for years and appreciate the lifestyle. Don't like the weather, the view, the neighbors? Turn the key. But I have to say that the "RV Resorts" I saw in New Mexico and Arizona were atrocious eyesores. Because the desert hasn't the natural barrier of trees, these resorts have far too high a profile and should be dealt with before they proliferate further. Put all the city planners in those states onto a bus/train/plane and send them to Paso Robles, CA for examples of how to deal with the issue effectively. In Paso Robles I saw a fair-sized RV campground by the highway that was nearly unnoticeable because of the height of a neutral stone enclosure around all of it. If you have read through my blog you may feel sure that I would avoid places like this anyway, not choosing to be jammed into such close contact with others. That aside, these "resorts" give the RV'ers a black eye.

The female ticket taker in Tombstone at Six Gun City struck up a conversation with me and said she wishes she had the "guts" to travel cross country alone. I assured her it doesn't take "guts", just desire and caution. "Well, I don't know.. these days it's dangerous." "You're dressed up like a gunslinger.. careful who hears you talk like that!"

It was Virgil Earp who owned a piece of the Oriental Saloon, not Wyatt.

And it was Virgil who ran into Doc Holliday in another western town and told him Wyatt was in Tombstone. Doc followed Virgil back there.

Virgil's home was directly across the street from Wyatt's. It is now an empty lot.

Morgan didn't die as depicted in "Tombstone". He was shot two months later than the movie indicates. And Doc didn't die in a Colorado sanitorium. According to the Tombstone historical experts, he died in his hotel room.

Although Doc Holliday MAY have been the one to kill Johnny Ringo, no one knows for certain. Ringo was left under a tree, as the movie depicts, but he was partially scalped and those who knew Doc well have said he would not have done that.

The actor who played Virgil in "Tombstone", Sam Elliott, lives within a sixty mile radius of Tombstone, AZ and frequently visits there on his motorcycle. All the locals know him.

The actual "Gunfight At The OK Corral" occured on Fremont Street, in the middle of that street, and not where it is currently being reinacted.

Under "Ostrich Land In No Man's Land", I have added a photo of an emu that I overlooked in the original posting. There are approximately a dozen emus and 20 or so ostrichs there, plus a couple of ponies.

The price of gasoline varied from the low in Virginia Beach to the high in the Mojave Desert, $3.69. The prices are always the highest furthest from the highways, not closest as I and others have thought. I believed "they" got you at the stations built on the Interstate exits, but I found that isn't true. Instead they get you when you have no other choice but to fill 'er up.

There are more pecan farms located on the road to Tombstone and many pistachio and pecan farms in New Mexico.

The land between Capitan and Socorro in New Mexico is known as the outlaw "Billy The Kid's" territory.

Truth or Consequences, New Mexico took that name as the result of an offer made by the producers of the TV show "True or Consequences" that they would pay a town willing to change their name as a promotional gimmick. If you live in N.M., you call it "T or C". The town was originally known as "Hot Springs".

I-40 in Arizona is the Purple Heart Trail.

There are certain views burned into my memory forever. First, and foremost, the view from the top of St. Augustine Pass as you descend into White Sands, New Mexico. I couldn't stop, no pull-offs for photos. It would be worth the cost of hiring a helicopter to hover there for panoramic shots. I looked up a few photos on the 'net and couldn't find even one that delivers the real impact. The view of Verde Valley (and, no, it isn't) as you descend, heading to Sedona, AZ. The first glimpse of Red Rock Country. As you head toward Sedona from Phoenix, it will be on your left. As I've said before, the color doesn't translate. You have to SEE it yourself to believe it. The view of Gulf Breeze and beyond from downtown Pensacola. Tombstone - I felt like I was dreaming. I can see the dust and the cowboys and feel the wind right now. The early evening entrance into Tucson with those amazing "bouquet cactuses" like ghosts in the desert to the north of I-10. The pristine "new" Gulfport, Mississippi... it's so neat and clean, so wiped off the map.

Insofar as cities and towns go, I have my favorites among them. Wrightsville Beach and Wilmington, NC; Charleston, SC; Gulf Breeze, FL; San Antonio, TX; Alamogordo, NM;

Tombstone, AZ; Ventura, CA; and, yes, Nevada City is an interesting little town. I'll show you more of it while I'm here.

I'd have to say in retrospect that while every minute was an adventure, there are some places I won't think about much. That would include the entire state of Louisiana... bless those poor people. When you think about Cajun food, really think about it, you realize that it's food made from "making do". It's a diet born of invention and poverty. Louisiana along the coast has the appearance of grinding poverty, misery, dirt. I will have to see New Orleans restored in order to believe it. I have a lot of respect for the effort put forth by corporate America to schedule NOLA for special events. I have no respect for a government that can't take care of it's citizens in the wealthiest country in the world. I'm disgusted by the promises made and broken to Louisiana's residents.