Wednesday 28 May - A visit to the Wild West

We're staying in Benson, as it's the nearest “railroad” town to Tombstone, probably the most famous town of the American “wild west”. Reg has received a confirmation email from “Hertz” that a car is available to hire, but when he phones the local agency in Benson, at 8 am, they have had no communication from Hertz, and there is no car. So Reg contacts Enterprise, a car hire firm we've used previously; they have a car available, but they are 33 miles away, so it will cost us quite a bit extra. They will send a driver to pick us up and take us to Sierra Vista, where they are based, so that we can fill out the paperwork.(It isn't possible to fill out the paperwork in our hotel, apparently). We'll hire the car for 2 days, take it back to Sierra Vista, and they'll drive us back to our hotel.

The driver who picks us up tells us he is 80, but he says don't worry, he's a competent driver, and he is. He tells us he used to work for the US government, and has travelled all over the world, including to the UK. It's a straight road to Sierra Vista, and it actually only takes half an hour to reach the Enterprise office. We're soon off to Tombstone in a little red Toyota Yaris.

Tombstone originally only had about 100 inhabitants, but a man called Ed Scheiffelin discovered silver there in 1879, and it became a silver mining boom town, the largest silver-producing town in Arizona. It's population grew to 14,000 in seven years; but by the end of the 1880's the town was all but deserted again, as the silver mining came to an end. During the boom years, the town boasted, according to Wikipedia, “a bowling alley, four churches, an ice house, a school, two banks, three newspapers, and an ice cream parlor, alongside 110 saloons, 14 gambling halls, and numerous dancing halls and brothels.”

The town is most famous for the legendary “Gunfight at the OK Corral” which took place at 2pm on 26 October 1881. This involved a shoot out between “goodies and baddies”, where local sheriffs confronted a band of suspected cattle rustlers, and shot dead 3 of the suspects. Hollywood has made several films using the Tombstone location.

Tombstone has been called “The town which refused to die”, and today makes it's money mostly from tourism. It is little changed from how it looked in the 1880's, with it's dusty streets, wooden sidewalks, old saloon bars, and with many of the original buildings, including the courthouse, with gallows next to it, still intact. In fact it's a kind of “wild west town” tourist theme park. Two of its features are the Boothill Graveyard, where most of the towns “goodies and baddies” are buried, and the “Bird Cage Theater”. At this theatre there are “birdcages” (rather like theatre boxes) – these hang from either side of the main hall and are said to have been used by prostitutes.

Our impression of Tombstone? It definitely has an historic feel, but its a dusty, rather run-down place trying to eke out a living from tourism. The “Gunfight at the OK Corral” is re-enacted several times daily (you have to pay $10 to go and see this) but it's a very amateurish affair – I guess most people have seen too many good Westerns in the past to be impressed! Like Western films, which probably no longer appeal to most people, but have a “cult” following, the town is dated and doesn't have much to offer. We are told that some people come to live here solely to be able to “act out” living in an old town of the Wild West – ie to sit around in the saloon bars in cowboy hats.

We enjoy our little tour of the small town in a tiny open-sided bus, with the driver giving us a running commentary on who lived where, and what they did, and pointing out the various landmarks.

We have lunch of chilli bean soup in a little wooden cafe, but have to send it back as it's not hot enough; our waitress is nice, but the woman behind the bar has a face like thunder. Before we go there for lunch, I had earlier in the day asked to use the toilets, as there are no public toilets around; “Face-like-thunder” told me,

“Our toilets are for customers only” ,

but the man behind the bar overruled her, and says I can use them. I can see their point of view, but it's not exactly encouraging to tourists needing the loo. And think what business they could generate by being friendly.

We see another gunfight, as we purchased tickets for this earlier in the day, before we realised we wanted to see the “Gunfight at the OK Corral”- there are about 15 people watching this second gunfight, and it's a poor attempt at comedy. Pardon the pun, but just a load of cowboys. You feel sorry for the actors when people don't laugh at them.

By this time we are hot and sticky and tired; the temperature is over 30º C and the sun is beating down. As we drive back to our hotel, we are stopped at a road block, with the sign “Border Control” displayed above a kiosk. We're not at the border with Mexico, but are close to it; this area has problems with illegal immigrants crossing the border. The Border Control Officer is extremely friendly to us,

“You're from England. That's cool. What part?”

We stop at a local supermarket to buy a bottle of wine; we can eat at a diner next to our hotel, and spend the evening chilling out in our lovely air-conditioned room. Tomorrow evening we're on the train again; we should arrive in Los Angeles at 5.30 am Friday morning, so it'll be just a short overnight trip this time.