[Healeys] On the Road to Conclave (Day 7)

BJ8 Healeys sbyers at ec.rr.com
Sat Jun 28 21:01:16 MDT 2008


Hello, Healeyphiles -

We pulled out of Lordsburg, NM at 5:00 am this morning to beat some of the anticipated heat.  The temperature was comfortably in the 70s at that time and it was a very pleasant drive although the darkness prevented an appreciation of the desert landscape from Lordsburg into Arizona.  We had made a  late decision to divert from I-10 at Benson and drive the 20 miles or so down to Tombstone.  All of our little group are history buffs and we thought it would be worthwhile to visit the town.  I had been there once before, but long ago.

Things were quiet in Tombstone since we were there so early on a Saturday, but we were able to get a good breakfast at the O.K. Cafe after the cook showed up.  We strolled up and back down Allen Street (the main street of town) and imagined what it must have felt like there in the 1880s.  The look of Allen Street preserves the appearance of the old west.  Many of the buildings are original to or have been rebuilt to reflect that period in history.
A tour of the town museum in the old courthouse (where Wyatt Earp's trial was held for the O.K. Corral shootings), a visit to the actual site of the gunfight at 3rd and Fremont Streets, and finally a stop at Boot Hill Cemetery completed our morning.  Seen on two tombstones there:  "Here lies Lester Moore.  4 slugs from a 44.  No Les, no Moore" and "Here lies George Johnson.  Hanged by mistake 1882.  He was right and we was wrong, but we strung him up and now he's gone."  Those may or may not be actual graves, but the cemetery is a real one.  The graves of Frank and Tom McLaury and Billy Clanton, killed by the Earps and Doc Holiday in the gunfight, are there.

During the backroads return to I-10 a Cunningham sports car, a replica I imagine, came up behind us and followed for miles.   It looked like a C-4R.   Here seems like a good time to mention that on this whole trip so far we have seen ZERO British cars on the road.  A pity.

We had plans to deviate at Tucson to visit the Saguaro National Monument, but road construction and lack of any signs prevented us from getting off I-10 at the right place.  So we kept Healeying for tonight's stop in Gila Bend.  The heat here is unreal, but the cars are still doing fine with it.  If all goes well then we'll arrive in San Diego tomorrow. 

Happy Healeying!
Steve Byers
HBJ8L/36666
BJ8 Registry
AHCA National Delegate


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