NOT Boot Hill

I woke up this morning to the soft sounds of rain on the roof.  Awwww .... it's raining again.  Thank goodness.  I fell back asleep just long enough to dream I was cruising down a river in a boat.  The sweet sounds of water all around, getting louder and louder.  

Suddenly I was crashing over Niagara Falls to the roar of water hitting the rocks below.  Nothing will bring you out of a bad dream faster!!  But WAIT .... I know I'm awake and I still hear the waterfall!!

I jumped up and rushed outside.  What the heck?  It's NOT raining!!  I made a beeline for the front of the house and sure enough, a geyser worthy of Yellowstone.  I turned the front sprinklers off.  Apparently an errant javelina chewed off one of the drip lines.  Another repair job on my schedule.

Now that I'm wide awake and don't even require my morning cup of joe, here's the saga of Boot Hill, although I'm leaving it out of the pictures. 

Okay, one for the road.  Boot Hill actually filled up very fast due to the high occupancy of Tombstone.   Here lies the actual graves of Billy Clanton, Frank McLaury and Tom McLaury, killed by the Earps and Doc Holliday at the OK Corral.  There's a lot of history here, a good place to visit.

 One thing I found in Tombstone that everyone else has too is one of these babies.  A different color than the last stinging ant thingy, this one is probably just as lethal when it comes to pain.

Here's a couple of takeaways from Tombstone.  These guys put on a show just like the Postman.  Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor dark of night will keep them from their appointed duty of reenacting the gunfight at the OK corral.  It's 103 out and seven men are making their rounds.   Honestly, I don't think they even had five people for an audience.

 

 Here's another takeaway, appropriate for Boot Hill, don't you think?  I know, I'm a sucker for a pretty face and the smell of leather.  I was just sitting there talking to the owners of Bronco Mercantile when they suggested we go inside and cool off.  I admit, I looked.  I always look, but rarely find anything.

That's when these beauties waved at me.  Hunky, the perfect build, shiny in the right spots and the wonderful feel of leather.  It's okay to try them on because they won't fit.  It's hard to find a perfect pair of boots.  I can tell you however, if you put them on and they feel like slippers, BUY THEM.

Darn darn darn!!!  They felt just like slippers the first second I had them on.  Alligator they said.  No wonder I was so taken with them.  So yes, I caved ... they now live on my dresser.  No WAY I was locking them up in my dark closet.

 

 Let me just note that alligator boots that fit like a glove are not cheap, but I feel I have a duty to spend money where it's needed, especially now.  They thanked me profusely ... I probably paid their electric bill for the next two months.

As a going away gift, I received this beautiful boot jack for FREE!!  Yahoo!  It was worth it to meet such nice people and learn a little more about the town.  Several of the guys who recreate the shootout here (nice hunky cradle robbing kind of guys) can be seen in the last "Yellowstone" series and are currently filming the latest season in Montana.

 

 

With my package in hand, I drove off into the sunset, or rather the heat of the day, to the latest Tombstone Cemetery.  This one is NOT Boot Hill, but it is actually the third or fourth on the list.  If you drive all the way out Allen Street for a few miles, you will find the latest version.

 This one is huge.  It appears that most of the headstones are from the 1890's or so to about 1950.  Definitely watch where you walk here.  There are many graves not marked at all, just a rise in the ground the right size for a body.  When this cemetery was built, many bodies were moved here and headstones erected by family members.  If you had no family members, you had no headstone.

 

 As with most cemeteries, there is no maintenance.  I was rather shocked when I saw this.  The concrete edge shows the outline, but water has eroded everything in the middle.  Maybe from a squirrel hole, who knows, but this is a rather deep cavern.  No, I could not see any bones, but I didn't look that hard either.

 

 This is Henry McGee, a good example of the neighborhood, and about as far as I went.  It was extremely hot and this cemetery is HUGE!!!

 

 Little did I realize just HOW big until I drove off down a long dirt road looking for my next adventure.  This cemetery is followed by another large section with a separate entrance, followed by yet TWO MORE sections, each with separate entrances.  I'll have to question the locals, since the only info I can find is on the well known Boot Hill Cemetery at the edge of town.

With my pretty new boots in the front seat and a big smile on my face, I drove off down a long dirt road looking for yet another graveyard.  How lucky .... I found it!!!  That's tomorrow's adventure.