Dusty Roads

We spent 3 nights at Catalina State Park. It's still hot here, just in case you were wondering. Despite the warm weather, we decided to take a 3 mile hike to the Romero Pools via the Romero Canyon Trail.


We thought you might be interested in the "Desert Hiking Safety Tips" given to us at Catalina State Park:

1. Never go into the desert without first informing someone as to your destination, your route, and when you will return. STICK TO YOUR PLAN.
2. Carry at least ONE GALLON OF WATER PER PERSON PER DAY of your trip.
3. If you have water - drink it. Do not ration it.
4. If water is limited - keep your mouth shut. Do not talk, do not eat, do not smoke, do not drink alcohol, do not take salt.
5. KEEP AN EYE ON THE SKY. Flash floods may occur any time "thunderheads" are in sight, even if it doesn't rain where you are.
6. Do not sit or lie directly on the ground, it might be 30 degrees hotter than the air.
7. A roadway is a sign of civilization. If you are lost and find a road, stay on it.
8. When not moving, use available shade or erect shade from tarps, blankets, etc. - anything to reduce the direct rays of the sun.
9. KEEP CLOTHING ON. It helps to keep the body temperature down and reduces the dehydration rate. Cover your head. If a hat is not handy, improvise a head covering.
10. While walking, REST FOR AT LEAST 10 MINUTES AN HOUR. If you are not normally physically active, rest up to 30 minutes each hour. find shade and prop up your feet. Loosen shoes, but do not remove. You might not be able to get them back on swollen feet.

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We were feeling a little dangerous, so we took the suggestion of a friend and headed southeast to Tombstone - The Town Too Tough To Die.

Want to buy an old high school?
We were shocked when we saw it for sale, but later discovered a new school was built a few years ago.

Tombstone was not a gold mining town like surrounding communities, but a silver mining town. It was named Tombstone after its founder, Ed Schiffelin, whose friends said that all he would ever find in this area would be his own tombstone.


I grabbed a copy of the Tombstone Times. It shares local authors' fictional murder stories, comics and a crossword, a brag page for community members and their families to announce birthdays, anniversaries, and other accomplishments, advertisements for restaurants and upcoming events, and a look back at old newspaper articles.


My favorite article was by Joyce Aros, Frontier School Days. She briefly describes the struggles of a child's daily life and then elaborates on their experiences at a primitive school. She gives an example of an Eighth Grade Final Exam from Salina, Kansas in 1895.

There are 5 sections with times to complete each section:
Grammar, 1 hour
Arithmetic, 65 minutes
U.S. History, 45 minutes
Orthography, 1 hour
Geography, 1 hour

There are roughly 8-10 questions in each section... but they aren't multiple choice. Here are a few examples from each section. (I'll give brownie points to anyone who can answer them all - correctly!)

From Grammar:
Give nine rules for the use of capital letters.

From Arithmetic:
If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50 cents a bushel, deducting 1050 lbs. for tare?

From U.S. History:
Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?

From Orthography:
Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.

From Geography:
Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific Coast in the same latitude?


And my second favorite has to be Tasting Tombstone's History by Sherry Monahan.
This month she defines vocabulary used in Tombstone in the 1880's. Here are a few:

• Croaker: term often used in Tombstone to describe the pessimists in town.
• Smile: to take a drink.
• Mixologist: a bartender.
• Yankee notions: items made in New England.
• Tenderfoot: someone new to the West, or an inexperienced person.
• Demi-Monde: women who have lost their social standing due to sexual promiscuity.
• Assayer: someone who examines ore for silver or gold.

Everywhere we looked there were books and articles about Wyatt Earp. Again, my knowledge of the Old West is minimal, so while I had heard of Wyatt Earp, I still didn't know much about him. This led us to watching the movie Tombstone a few nights later. Now, it is Hollywood, so the movie itself didn't provide much of a story. But we were able to recognize some spots in Cohise County where the movie was filmed and get a few details on Mr. Wyatt Earp and the famous OK Corral shootout.


Now a stop in Tombstone wouldn't be complete without a visit to Boothill Graveyard to view the serious, but comical headstones.


Richie and I have taken Sally on some less desirable roads - including dirt. As a result, we are constantly petting Sally and encouraging her throughout the dusty potholes and promising to never take her on another dirt road again.


Of course, we know we will take dirt roads again... but it somehow comforts us to coax Sally... knowing that if we do this, she will continue to be reliable and safe - no matter the terrain we put beneath her.


I know you have all talked to your appliances before - even your computers... so I don't feel so weird anymore in talking to our car.


And a drive through Gleason - a ghost town along, you guessed it, a dirt road!


We camped at Chiricahua National Monument where we were surrounded by jutted rocky mountains. I was wondering if we'd hear tumbling rock while we slept (like hearing the glacier crackle on Mt. Rainier), but it was a peaceful night.