Tombstone

by Jeff · September 23, 2015

R.P. and I had to leave Prescott for the south. It was time to move along on our little voyage through the southwest. We got to see some old haunts from when I was a kid and some places that R.P. has wanted to see for a long time. We both decided we could live in the Prescott area.

We stopped at the Costco in Prescott and paid 2 (yep 2, two, dos, zwei, deux) dollars (smackers, simoleons, clams, bucks, georges) a gallon for diesel at the only Costco diesel pumps in all of Arizona. We pointed The Beast outta town and soon had dropped off the plateau into the Prescott valley where there was a balloon squadron flying in the early morning calm on a beautiful Sunday morning.

We headed past Phoenix on our way to Tombstone. We went into Tucson and checked into our hotel early. We stayed at the LA Quinta by the airport and it was the best room and value so far on the voyage. We dropped off the bags and put our chocolate (to get our favorite chocolate at the Ghirardelli factory in San Leandro we had to buy a case) in the mini fridge and set off for our destiny at the OK Corral.

As we drove south, we could see that there were major rain clouds pummeling the desert ahead. It looked like some scene out of a sci-fi movie.

We drove through Benson and it made me think of Dan, Alice and their kids. A little sadness struck, but I persevered and we finally came into a very wet Tombstone.

Yes it’s a very cheesy town, with characters dressed in period clothing all over town. Some work for the shop owners and are hawking very loudly the start of their particular gunfighter show inside a shop. Some are there to be tip based photo opportunities for you. And then there are the period aficionados…. it was quite the surprise to come out of the OK Corral shop and have a trio (2 men and a woman) fully dressed in period clothing that was correct, including replica firearms, and the three of them were carrying on a conversation in French.

We walked around town, where it was raining like crazy and all the tourists had run for cover inside the shops. We really felt sorry for the chuck wagon cook off participants who were in the process of trying to get everything under cover. Real olde tyme challenges for them. We witnessed three Arizona Rangers in full modern uniform, including vests and modern weapons (look them up, interesting).

We picked up postcards and mailed some from there and got a couple souvenirs. Soon it was time to point The Beast back north and headed toff the hotel. We had a great day driving through the desert and sightseeing in Tombstone. It was well worth the trip and is definitely more nostalgic than other historic towns we have been to.