031014 Murder in the streets ....

Tombstone was the next location on our cross country tour.  We were there this morning.  I had read that Tombstone had been largely turned into a tourist trap.  This is more or less true.  The place where the actual gunfight was held has been walled off, and reenactments are held behind solid walls.  The actual location of the gun fight was not in the OK corral.  They may have passed through or near the OK corral which is on Allen, but the actual approximately 30 second gun fight took place in an open lot on the next street, Freemont.

We chose to not pay to see.  I'll watch the movies.  :)

All that said, we were able to walk the same streets as Wyatt Earp and his brothers, Doc Holiday, and the "Cowboys", etc.

The newspaper Tombstone Epitaph was open and free.  The original office is a museum now with the original printing press and other equipment.  It also shows the long career of the founder and original publisher.

Another place I wanted to see was Boot Hill.  This is the final resting place for Billy Clanton, Frank McLaury, and brother Tom McLaury.  They were killed at the gunfight at OK Corral by the Earp brothers and Doc Holiday.

That is still open to the public.   Probably hard to privatize a real burial ground.  From the information we received, Boot Hill was largely forgotten about for decades and reverted to the natural state.  A local concerned citizen revived interest in Boot Hill and through study of old records and information from families many of the old burial sites were found, remarked, and is now maintained.

Note the born and died years.  This man definitely saw a lot in his 100 years.

Note this picture is of the Jewish Cemetery at Boot Hill.  Interesting to note there was a large enough Jewish community to have their own section on Boot Hill.  Remember, Boot Hill was, in the beginning, the main cemetery for all of Tombstone, not just the bad guys

After Tombstone, we quickly drove over to Tucson and checked in to a camp ground for the next two days.  We're using this as some partial down time.  We needed to get familiar with the RV Parks coin operated laundry.  We had a lot of clothes in need of cleaning.  With a trip this long, we'll see the laundromat a few more times.

Tomorrow, we plan to visit the Desert Museum.  Also, we hope to hook up with an old friend who lives here in Tucson.

Revised 4/14/14.  New or rephrased narrative and added pictures.