Friday, Greg started his solar install (he owns RV Solar Solutions and does solar installs for RV’s on the road) and Lee worked on wiring a permanent outlet for our macerator pump
so we don’t have to run out a 50′ cable to clip it to the truck battery every time we want to use it or our freshwater fill pump. So Kelly, Cori, and I went to do laundry and to the grocery store. I am not a huge fan of laundry mats, but it’s certainly much nicer when you are with friends, plus as these places go it was clean and all the machines worked. That night Bill and Kelly cooked ribs and wings for the group. Bill makes the best ever chicken wings (I’ve included his recipe below) and we were all very happy by night’s end.
Greg working on the install
Bill and Kelly cooking
Yummy ribs
Amazing, restaurant quality wings
Beautiful sunset that night
Saturday, Lee and I took the day to ourselves and went to see Johnny Ringo’s grave. The grave is along Turkey Creek out in the middle of nowhere next to where his body was found, and on private property. The owners of the property allow visitors, and although they don’t charge anything they have a small donation box. We actually left $10 in it, because the grave site was beautifully maintained and we appreciated the fact that they allow visitors between 8am and 6pm. It’s also a beautiful drive in and of itself and took us very close to Chiricahua National Monument, which we also drove over to see. Unfortunately their scenic drive is closed down, but they have lots of hiking trails I would like to try out on a later occasion. It was a really nice day and meant a lot to Lee to be able to show it to me since this area had such a huge impact on him 20 years ago.
This was the road we went down to see the gravsite
Lee got this shot of one of the many beautiful hawks we saw along the drive
The gate to walk back to the gravesite
You do need to watch for snakes along the path
The ranch house of the folks who own the property
It is really beautifully maintained and there are worse spots for a a final resting place
He was found in the crook of an oak tree by teamsters, with a bullet in the right temple. The death was ruled a suicide, but many people think it was murder
The original oak tree is the log to the left
The creek itself was beautiful and the largest body of water we had seen in awhile
The view from the gate
This is cattle country and they stayed pretty close to the small bodies of water
This bull was beautiful, but the horns were wicked scary
We stopped so I could get pictures of this hawk in the tree
He was a big one
Look at the muscles in those legs
The Chiricahua National Monument had some beautiful rock formations
And since it’s at a higher elevation some plant life I have not seen
The property started as a guest ranch and eventually was turned into National Forest
On the way back to Kartchner, we stopped in Willcox and ate at The Dining Car, which is a restored train dining car with a BBQ smoker in the front. Lee had the Beef Brisket sandwich for $9.99 and thought it was excellent. I had a salad, which was not so great, but that’s my fault. Not sure what I was thinking ordering a salad at a BBQ place.
Wall mural in Willcox
The Wilcox train station
The smoker fot the BBQ is in the front
Loved the old piano in the back
We called it an early night, but Cori/Greg and Bill/Kelly went to a show in Old Tuscon and had a good time. You’ll have to read about that in their blogs,though. The next day, we all decided to go see a Western town re-creation and movie set that Cori found, Gammon’s Gulch. It was only $8 (cash only) and the tour was given by the long-time owner and creator of the property, Jay Gammons. We all really enjoyed it, as he took the time to explain where many of his collectibles came from and what movies they were in. He rents authentic antique props to film companies and rents out the entire town as well. For only $750 a day, it is a bargain in the production world, and he also rents it our for parties and weddings which would be fun. After his tour he also lets you walk around the town for as long as you would like taking pictures. The only sour note for the day was when the owner’s wife wouldn’t let Lee take some aerial shots of the town with his drone, even though he offered to give them an immediate copy of the materials for their use at no charge. It’s unfortunate that people really don’t understand how drones work and are often so negative against them, because the footage would have been stunning. Still, we took lots of pictures and had a great time, culminated by another group dinner of orange chicken and rice and a fantastic game of Cards Against Humanity
(a truly terrible game that leads to all kinds of laughter).
The wild west town
Jay the creator and owner was a hoot
This lamp was in the movie tombstone
Sherrif’s Office
The jail was built and I loved the detail of the hangman’s noose right outside
We couldn’t go into the church because it was recently infested by black widow spiders. It is the desert after all
The general store was full of items collected or donated
This old french ice chest was pretty neat. The only one I have ever seen that was round
I loved the barber pole which he made exactly like the most common poles of the time
This well is a movie prop and can be moved throughout the town
He has numerous old cars in various stages of repair which Bill liked
They made this casket which was in the Sharon Stone movie The Quick and the Dead
The salon was great, although apparently swinging doors were not that common in the Old West
One of my favorite parts of the tour was when Jay played this old piano
And then the banjo which was awesome
He found this beautiful light fixture and cleaned and repaired it. IT pulls down from the ceiling
Here are pictures of people either he or his dad have worked with. His Dad worked quite a bit for John Wayne and Jay got to meet him as a kid. What was believable about the stories was that they weren’t to over the top. Plus he told us who was nice (Sam Elliot) and who was a pain (Michael Landon).
The old trunk in this bedroom was beautiful and has been in his family for over 100 years
This beautiful bar was an original and I loved the picture to the right, which he hurredily explained to me was art. I actually agree. Beautiful painting
I find flyer recreations like this fascinating as it says something about the times and the people
We walked up the hill to an old mine recreation
Bill was the only one brave enough to go into the “Bat Cave”
The view from up there was nice
Recipes
Bill’s Amazing Restaurant Chicken Wings
- Fresh chicken wings from meat department
- Frank’s Hot Sauce
(Bill swears this is the best)
- Butter
- Oil
- Blue Cheese or Ranch dressing optional
- Cut chicken wings into drums and wings
- Boil in hot oil submerged for 8-12 minutes (small are 8 minutes large are 12)
- Let drain on paper towels
- Toss with mixture of equal parts hot sauce and butter
- Serve with blue cheese, ranch, or alone
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