We stayed in a very quaint Inn in Las Cruces. A beautiful old home run by the daughters of the man who built it. They served an old fashioned brekky for their guests this morning in an ornate dining-room filled with pieces of art. It’s always awkward…the ‘where are you from’, ‘where have you been’ etc but we got through it and set off early on the long and, for the first time on this trip, I would say boring, drive between Las Cruces and firstly, Tombstone.4.5 hours of freeway.
I was even hoping to be pulled over by Border Force as LPG said I could be. Cameras up everywhere as yesterday and one point where everyone had to go through a check point. I wanted to be questioned but they took one look and waved me through.
We got to Tombstone. My idea, I really wanted to go there to get a bit of the wild west into me, but a bit of a lunatic idea really. it’s 105F again (over 40) in a dry, dusty town. Firstly the positives. It is a genuinely well preserved town with beautiful, old buildings that went way back. It does look as it would have looked in the days of Wyatt Earp and the OK Corral. The Saloons are bopping full of tourists as are the shops with all sorts of memorabilia. So all of that is OK, very touristy but reasonably tasteful.
We had read that they re-enacted the showdown each day and we of course got sucked into buying tickets for it and for a trolley tour of the town both of which were a ridiculous waste of money and embarrassingly amateurish. The showdown was in an area simulated to look like the wild west, and the show was a cringe., I couldn’t even raise a grin. The trolley trip also a waste of time and money. It was SO hot and sweaty. They only decent thing we did then was find a quieter ‘saloon’ and had a beer.
We were going to go to Bisbee but time was going by so we decided to head into Tucson, have an early meal and doggy bag half of it for tomorrow. More Mexican food, it’s going to be a while before I want to see Mexican food again, but it was/is delicious. Particularly swallowed with a lovely Margarita. Then we came on to our Airbnb. The most beautiful one yet. It is out of town in the hills surrounded by Saguaro Cacti. It is an adobe house in a most perfect setting. Here we have collapsed for the next two nights. Here I have to unpack and repack my luggage to see if I can fit everything in. An enterprise that isn’t looking all that encouraging. It has struck me rather forcefully that there are only 4 more sleeps in the US of A. Tomorrow is explore Tucson day in the boiling heat. Not sure how we’ll manage that. More tomorrow.