On our way to BorderTown

[Whitey James]

Sounds like a hoot and a half. I will have to go next year maybe.

[Tombstone]

We spent some time in Old Tuscon and took a tour, it was very interesting. I am going to have to go back and watch some old westerns to see the town. There is an iconic mountain that has been pictured in every movie but two and if you see a saguaro cactus it was filmed in Old Tucson. I did recognize a lot of the buildings and they were used over and over in different movies. It was very inventive of them. Think of all those B-Westerns that have Saguaro cactus in them. Tombstone, 3:10 to Yuma (original), Joe Kidd, 4 John Wayne movies, so many others.

I think Doc and Honey have solved their problems, we will make sure over the next few days as we help them move. Wind is blowing about 20 mph with gust up to shaking the camper strong.

Interesting observation, we have traveled over 2000 miles now and have not passed a single Bucee's, they were building one in Amarillo but it was not finished yet.

Only a few more days then Tombstone bound.

[Tombstone]

Here it is Sunday night, we are sitting in Tuscon with a fire going. Doc and I are solving a few world problems. We moved down from the state park on Saturday to help Doc and Honey move into their new motor home. Lady T got us a nice spot in a KOA. We have a dog lot attached to our spot with fire pit and picnic setting. It is really nice. There are camping sites here that have two level setting areas, some with large outdoor kitchen and TV, I saw one that had a nice corner fireplace with setting for two. There are some with playgrounds inside the fence for the kids. It is pretty impressive.  So tomorrow Doc takes his new rig in for a punch list of minor fixes then it is off to Tombstone.

I think most of our group will be arriving tomorrow also so should be a big time in The Town to Tough to Die. Of course it is the Monday after Heldarado so everything will be closing early but its fun to hear last call in multiple bars.

How are the other travelers doing?

More tomorrow.

[Tombstone]

we did have an interesting visitor today,

[Tombstone]

Tombstone Arizona, my home away from home.
It has been 5 years since we last visited this town. It may be the Town to Tough to Die but there are a lot of businesses that did not survive Covid and the fall out from that fiasco. The town is coming back, the folks here say that Helidarido did better this year than the last 3 years.

Everyone made it out. Had dinner with Yazoo, Gulch, Wolf and Ethan along with Doc and Honey. Copperhead and Katatonic pulled in as we were getting back to the camper. Went to the range to get registered, 12 stages, big and close targets. They did not disappoint, this will be a fast match. We shoot late, middle, early starting on Thursday.

For the hunters out there, I saw at least 14 quail, you can fact check me if you want to but I saw them. Quail, live, wild quail.

Looks like there may be a wedding today, lets see how this works out.

[Tombstone]

It's been a few days so I will try to catch you up.

Tuesday evening there was a lovely wedding at the Crystal Palace on the balcony over looking Allen Street and mountain range west of Tombstone. Well attended considering it was planed and arranged in about 4 hours. Shout-out to Lady T and Appaloosa Honey for doing all the leg work on this one.

Quick add: If you decide to get married and don't really know what you want or how to plan it Call Lady T Wedding Planners. They will get the job done.

Anyway, we went to Bisbee yesterday. Town has changed in the 5 years since we last visited. It is not nearly as friendly as it was, Quite a few stores had closed, did not see much new moving in. Oh well, all things change.

BorderTown did not fail to live up to the legend, big and close is an understatement. Looks like a fast match, a little ot structured for me but there is a little room to play on a few stages. I think everyone shot the warm-up yesterday so I hope the jitters are gone for them. Mine just start today, not a big posse and our group is almost half of it so should be pretty easy. I hope all the misses got out yesterday if there are going to be any. At this match it is more likely to be a P that gets you instead of a miss.
We shoot the last shift today so we dont start until 2:00. should be about 90 degrees, but it is a dry heat.

Later folks.
 

[Anita Margarita]

Sooo.... Did someone we know get married?

AM

[Tombstone]

Did I not mention who got married? Dang must have slipped my mind in all the excitment.
Copperhead Joe and Catatonic tied the knot. The first time Cat was exposed to all of us was out here, she flew in to Tuscon and drove down here. Walked into Big Nose Kates not knowing any of us. I figured then she was crazy, I mean brave. By the time she left she had an alias and membership number.

Day one is over, as always there were train wrecks a plenty. I got to tell them what the call is when you shoot rifle targets with your pistols and it is not a P. Dang in your face targets. Copperhead is running OK at this point, Cat missed her first round, other than that she is doing good. Wolf is clean of course, I think Uncle Ethan is still clean too. Yazoo had trouble with the heat and withdrew from the race, I am not sure how Long Gulch is doing he shoots just as I hand off the timer and I dont see his run. He may have a P but clean at this point but not sure. Anyway back today for round two and four more stages. I kind of like this 4 stages per day. Short shot time in some intense heat and plenty of time to see the sights.

Copperhead and I ran into Serra Vista yesterday for some supper supplies and wow that town is doing great. I guess most towns that have an army base attached are doing well but Serra Vista is growing. Cooked burgers here at camper last night and should be smart enough to have an early night tonight. I guess we will see how that works out.

Lets get ready to shoot.

[Anita Margarita]

Congrats to the newlyweds!  And good luck to you all on the last day of shooting.

[Tombstone]

Well its all over but the crying or laughing. We shot this morning which was great. Probably in the 60's. Started at 8:00, our posse was done by 9:45.It was 86 when the second flight started and 93 by the start of the third flight. It would have been brutal. We had a great posse. Plenty of clean shooters, Long Wolf, Uncle Ethan, Horse Doc, Copperhead Joe from our crew. Tomorrow is the shoot-off and awards. I think everyone is staying for the awards and then some are heading out. The rest of us will be pulling out Monday morning and heading back East. Probably will take us all week and into the week-end to get back.
We finely saw Dixie and Reno today. Not sure where they are staying but I think on the range. They were not on our posse, sure wish they had been. We could have used two more. Especially those two.

I will try to post some results tomorrow, we did see a new timer that linked to the electronic books via blue tooth. It pick up the time automatically. It was pretty sweet once we figured it out and it worked.

 

[Tombstone]

Maggie and I took our last walk through Tombstone yesterday morning, packed the camper and headed out/home.
Results are posted, emailed and talked about

Copperhead Joe was 1st B Western 7th over all
Cat-at-onic  7th Ladies Wrangler
Long Gulch 3rd FCD
Long Wolf   10 SRD
Uncle Ethan 5th SRGF
Tom B Stone  7th SRGF

I have never had a good match at BorderTown and this year was no different. It was a great match, some good patterns that I am sure you will see down the trail.

We are moseying back with simi-short travel days 350 miles or so each day, we plan to be home by Sunday, rest on Monday and Vote on Tuesday.

[Tombstone]

We arrived home this afternoon, we had a good trip. It will not be repeated we hope but looking at all the numbers

27 days on the road
4600 miles
4200 miles pulling the camper
9.1 mpg over all
12 camp grounds, from state parks to RV resorts
Horse Doc bought a new camper
Copperhead and Cat got married
It was 92 degrees on Sunday in Tombstone at the awards, we left Monday morning, Tombstone had a freeze warning Tuesday morning.
We laid up in Oklahoma City for two days, we left on Thursday and they had 7 or more tornadoes on Saturday.

It is good to be home, hope everyone gets a chance to travel this great country of ours.

[Uncle Ethan]

It was a fun experience.
Glad everyone got home safely.