Young Snowbirds » classic cars

1956 Ward LeFrance Pumper – Classic Fire Truck

Rob — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 01:34:19 +0000

We drove past this fire truck just about every day when we were staying at Sea Breeze RV Park. Every time I went to the gym or we drove to Corpus Christi we saw it. It just sat there along the fence, under the tree, all alone, asking to be loved. We planned a couple of shots.. some basic ones, some using a special technique that would result in an HDR Photograph of a fire truck and then a technique Dar has used in the past called “painting with light.”

We drove up to the lot where the fire truck had been parked for what seemed like years. We got out and I began extending the legs of the tri-pod. HDR Photography requires that each shot taken has to be exactly from the same location but then with the different exposures and such within each photo. I am only beginning to understand the technique, so forgive me if I get some of it wrong.

As we took our time having a look, and choosing the angle, a fellow from across the street approached me.

“What Y’all doing?”, he asked.

Ah ha.. the owner of the truck obviously, living across the street, had parked the fire engine here and then forgotten about it. Barking dogs had roused his suspicion, and he must have looked out the window.

“Well, ” I began to say when another truck came around a corner a little up the street and then pulled across the road coming to a stop in front of mine.

I turned my head to see who I soon came to learn was Lupe J Jimenez, the actual owner.

In less than 5 minutes, one fellow was on his way across the street to check us out after having called the owner to say “there’s some people messing around with your fire truck, you better get your arse over here!”

Click the image of the fire truck for a larger version

While Dar continued to take photos, I introduced myself to Lupe and assured him that we were simply photographers wanting to capture this amazing classic vehicle. I couldn’t help but ask about the neighborhood watch they had in effect and comment on how well it worked.

“We all take care of each other”, he said, that much being obvious.

Fire Truck For Sale

We chatted about the history of the fire truck and what he plans to do with it. In short, we learned that he may have bitten off more than he could chew with this one, and is more interested in selling it than doing any sort of classic auto project. If you’re looking for a used fire truck for sale, I’ve been given permission to give you Lupe’s phone number and email address. You can reach him at 361-728-4373 or by email lupejj (at) charter (dot) com. Might be (dot) net though.

Before he left, we explained that we wanted to do a second set of images taken at night where we use the special “painting with light” technique, and that if he heard any reports of people around his fire truck with a lot of flashlights, not to be alarmed… it was just us again.

Painting With Light

Bear with me as I attempt to explain how this is done.

The photo above is a combination of about 7 different photographs. The tripod is set up and for between 1 and 2 minutes, the shutter is kept open. It’s completely pitch black out, with little or no ambient light. While the shutter is kept open, someone begins to light up or highlight sections of the truck with a flashlight… bringing attention to certain details. For example, the headlights and the chrome around the headlights or the hood ornament, the wheel wells and the door handles. Then the shutter is closed.

That’s right. There are people within that photograph. However, you dont see them because a) it’s pitch black and b) over a long exposure, the person actually becomes a ghost in the final image.

Then, it’s done again, but highlighting a different aspect. For instance, for 2 minutes in one of the shots, I’m behind the drivers side door waving the flashlight into the passenger area, through the front windshield (from behind) and then through the cherry on top of the cab. Then in yet another shot, Dar goes to the rear and lights up the rear wheels and the piping along the upper rear of the fire truck.

Details in the trunk of the tree and the lower branches are lit up in another shot as well.

The only real “trick” to watch out for is not to point the flashlight directly at the camera. Doing so results in a “hot spot” or “trace” effect.

During processing, all images are combined and the result is what you see above. A 1956 Ward LeFrance Pumper fire truck, in the dead of night, surrounded by darkness, but “pained with light”. Very cool stuff.

It took a day and a night to get the photographs we wanted and I would like to thank Lupe for allowing us access to, and his time spent with us, telling us about the fire truck. It was great getting to know the owner after having driven past it for so many weeks. By all means, please get ahold of Lupe if you’re interested in making him an offer. It’s not too often you find a classic fire truck for sale.

Classic Corvettes On The Beach

Rob — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 01:23:30 +0000

A little over a week ago, the owners of Seabreeze RV Park in Portland invited us to a private showing of their classic corvette collection. Today, WE invited them to bring their favorite corvettes to Seabreeze so we could do a photo shoot of corvettes on the beach. Classic cars, classic corvettes, the beach and a sunset, what could be better?

They brought three Corvettes. How do two people drive three Corvettes? Regardless, we brought them down to the very edge of the RV park onto the beach that disappears into Nueces Bay and began positioning them. When all was said and done, we were late for potluck supper, but this is what Dar got:

The blue corvette you see here is a vintage 61 placed on top of a brand new 2007 corvette drive train. Ottos says that it’s 400 pounds lighter but with the same horsepower.

We found out later that they would NEVER have taken the cars onto the beach. Dora said something like “Not for 1 in a thousand people would we ever do that.” Well, we’re glad to be the ones they trusted enough to get the shots right.

Day 62 Corvettes and the Beach

Darlene — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 16:03:05 +0000

I was walking back from having a shower when the owner of Sea Breeze RV park, Otto, flagged me down in one of his vintage 1960 Corvettes. He wanted to know if Rob and I would like to come see all of his classic cars. He was showing someone else too and thought I might like to take some photos – uh, yeah!

He had us meet at a secret location where he showed us EIGHT classic corvettes, all predating us. He has one that he’s redone with a new 2007 chassis on a 1961 body, it’s gorgeous! They’re all lovingly restored to perfection and he’s been featured in Corvette magazines and car shows for his efforts.

Just a couple old cars sitting around in Otto's secret storage facility

He also has 5 or 6 (I lost count) old Chevelles and a Modal A that is Dora’s (his wife). He owned it previously and sold it, and she was very upset as it was her favorite car. 10 years later it was up for sale, so he bought it back and gave it to her. We didn’t se any of these cars, we were told they are at another location.

I took a few photos, but it’s hard to make art inside a dark building with no lighting control. I was formulating ideas for a photo shoot on the beach though.

1961 on a 2007 chassis

Inside the '61

hood of the '61

Classic black

Dora and Otto have had an interesting life, it seems. If I had to guess their age I’d say late 60′s, maybe 70 (they have a son 5 years older than me). They’ve done cotton farming, have some cattle, own a palm tree farm, a car wash, and an RV park. But he’s quick to tell us “we’re not wealthy you know”. Rob cracked up at that one. Maybe they aren’t wealthy, according to Otto, but they do pretty well we think. Their stories are great, we enjoy listening to them and they seem to enjoy showing their cars (they take great pride in them) and telling tales.

Being it was Valentine’s Day, and it was sunny and warm, we took the afternoon off and went to the beach over at Port Aransas on Padre Island. There’s two ways to get over to it – a short ferry ride, or around the long way driving through Corpus Christi. We took the ferry.

The beach was fairly busy, but not overly so. We parked on the sand and walked around for a bit and vowed to bring the RV over to camp on the beach for at least one night at some point.

A rare photo of me

Rob was too much in my face, can you catch my gesture?

I've got a new Photoshop plug-in filter, it's pretty funky hey?

We ate a late lunch at sort of the first place we found – not a great idea. Mostly all deep fried fish, shrimp, oysters and fries. Texans really like to deep fry stuff – well pretty much everything including, get this – cheesecake! But they did have a salad bar! LOL. Texans are among the states with the highest obesity rates – not hard to see why.

boat pier at Port Aransas

great duck photo hey?

Pile of oyster shells outside restaurant we did NOT eat at

We LOVE pelicans, they are SO cool!

This ship takes people out for a day fishing on the open sea - this is their haul for today.

Continuing on south west on the island, we popped into Pioneer RV park, which was recommended to us. It’s very nice and a short walk to the beach (over the sand dunes), but at premium prices. It reinforced our park choice, we’re very pleased with Sea Breeze RV.

The last stop was to try and get a sunset, but we were on the wrong side of the island and you can’t get to the west side as it’s a closed area (national park). There isn’t any beaches facing the bay really anyway. So we stopped at Mustang Island Park. This is the view from there as the sun set.

Our car next to the beach

Day 47 – Bisbee and Queen Mine Tour

Rob — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 22:08:26 +0000

Bisbee Arizona is a great little artist community about 30 minutes south east of Tombstone, 90 minutes from Tucson, famous for its copper mining and town built into the side of the Mule Mountains. It’s a lot like Prescott, Arizona and just as old. Historically, Bisbee came to be because of the Queen Mine, and everything surrounding the mining of gold and copper, however, when mining became less profitable in the 1970′s and the miners left, hippies invaded the town and brought it back to life.

Bisbee was once the biggest city between St. Louis and San Francisco, bustling with miners, shopkeepers and rollicking nightlife and even its own stock exchange (now a bar). Bisbee at it’s largest had a population of 20,000 people and has the Arizona’s oldest ball field and first ever golf course.

We walked down Bisbee’s winding streets, narrow passageways and climbed many of the stairs through the town(they have an event annually called 10,000 steps – a marathon of sorts). A drive later took us up to the top of a hill looking down over the town where we could see all the places we’d been earlier, including Brewery Gulch, which if I had know about earlier, would have investigated more thoroughly. I did however have opportunity to speak to the owner of a new micro brewery not yet open.

Hippies

I really get a kick out of the hippie invasion that took place back in the 70′s. When we visited Prescott in October of 2009, I was having a beer in the local saloon when to my luck, was sitting next to a couple in town for a Prescott reunion. I found out a lot about the history of Prescott including when “the hippies came” (as she said in a hushed voice and looking over her shoulder). Next she asked me “you’re not a hippie are you?”

I think of that exchange often and laugh. It’s like hippies are evil or something.

As for Bisbee, the town bumper sticker clearly states:

“Bisbee Arizona, a liberal oasis in a conservative desert”

They first showed up and began to restore a few stores on the main street back in 1970′s. Then more showed up, duplicating what had been started. Eventually (I’m told), the pot smoke was so thick, it literally rolled down the winding streets, wafting through town.

Some call them hippies, others call them “artistic free spirits”, but however you refer to them, they’ve restored Bisbee, call it home, and do their best to describe the history of the area to tourists.

Queen Mine Tour

Our first order of business was to go deep inside the earth at the old Queen Mine. We were each given an overcoat and a hard hat. A battery was strapped to us and a light attached to that. The temperature in the mine was about 50 F, so wearing our coats and a second coat, we looked like the stay puffed marshmallow man. As we stood there in our gear, looking through the museum, it was brought to our attention that the Bisbee mine had produced over 3 million ounces of gold and 8 BILLION pounds of copper along with many other minerals.

Going into the mine, we took an old mine train. We straddled a seat facing forward snuggled up next to the person ahead of us and was pulled inside one of the shafts along a track laid down many years ago.

Inside the mine we saw how the miners placed their charges, blowing up sections for new operations. We climbed sets of stairs into large caverns and saw where mules were kept, spending practically their entire life inside the mine. Born inside, their eyes became adjusted to the low lights. Once they couldn’t work any longer, they were taken out of the mine but had bags over their heads. Every few days, a slit would be cut into the bag allowing a little more light in, until they were adjusted. After a long life inside, they lived the remainder of their lives outside doing other duties.

Double seat toilet on a mine car used by miners

Of the few shots I took with our little camera, one was of the toilet system the miners used. A mine railway car had two holes on top where they would sit and do their business. Our tour guide said he could not confirm that two men ever used it at the same time, and that he certainly didn’t. The mine tour guides are all ex-miners, many of them from this very mine or another in the area, so they are well suited for the tour job. We learned that one man was assigned to toilet duties, removing the cars, cleaning them and returning them to the miners. I don’t want to say “shitty job”, but someone’s going to say it, so might as well be me.

The Queen Mine tour was about an hour and a half long and quite worth it. Of the little I knew about Bisbee, it was the mine tour that I knew most about prior to coming.

Touring Bisbee

Our visit was pretty basic. We left the Queen Mine and drove back to town. We pulled our car into the first space we found as we had heard that parking in Bisbee was a bit of a challenge. What we discovered was that we had chosen a spot on the very edge of town and our walking tour of Bisbee this day would take us from one end, clear through to the other.

As we walked, Dar photographed.

These two photos above are some of the many houses that are just abandoned up in the hill.

Dar talked to this photographer in town for quite a while. His prints were mostly Cibachromes (prints from slides) which was impressive.

Lunch at the High Desert Market and Cafe

We made it all the way through town and by 3:00 we were hungry. When asking some locals where to eat in Bisbee and requesting whole food or vegetarian options, it was the High Desert Market that came up.

All the way through town, like you’ve thought you made a mistake, you’ll see the Iron Man and the High Desert Market.

We continued walking, found the spot and had lunch. Because we both love food so much, we wanted to write an entire post about the High Desert Market and Cafe so that others wondering where to eat in Bisbee would have an answer.

After lunch, we walked back through town so we could get our car and take some shots from the roads high above Bisbee, then go photograph the Shady Dell RV Park that we’d heard so much about before returning for dinner (they only make one meal for dinner and you can have that, or something left over from lunch).

Bisbee Chocolate Shop

On our way, we walked along the opposite side of the street. One of the shops we found was a chocolate shop where they make their goods directly from the source. Chocolate is the only commercial operation in Arizona creating chocolate from the actual imported cacao beans. We stopped in, sampled some and bought some to take home. As we left the building, we saw them making the chocolate through the window in the side of the building.

The road we took was very narrow, and in most places wide enough for only a single car to make it through. Bisbee residents were quite adjusted to this and gave way, often times backing up to allow another a wider space to pass. Houses were built above the road and below the roads and we found ourselves saying “we could so live here.” Bisbee really is an interesting place to visit.

Tucked out of the way around one turn was a garage without a door. Inside was an old Chevrolet that begged to tell its story.

Classic Cars In Bisbee

click image to see full size HDR image

From above, we realized there was much more to see, and so we made our way to Brewery Gulch where the Stock Exchange and Bisbee Jail were located.

Bisbee Arizona RV Parks

bisbee arizona rv park shady dell

When Darlene was first looking online for RV parks in Bisbee, we still weren’t sure where we were going to stay. Dar wanted to stay in Bisbee, but I had never heard of the place, and was quite adamant that I wanted to live in Tombstone, so we scratched Bisbee off the list.

After visiting Bisbee, my attitude changed considerably. Tombstone has history, there’s no questioning that, but it’s a tourist town catering to people interested in the old west, the gunfight at the ok corral and everything Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp. Tombstone is about saloons and stage coaches.

Bisbee, while offering incredible history, has better food, art and culture. Certainly more modern and offering better accommodations for the weary traveler which Tombstone does not. In one art store, Dar was asked “Where are you staying?” inquiring about where in town we were spending the night to which Dar replied “In Tombstone actually.”.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she replied.

And that is how it is.

We visited the Shady Dell RV Park because of a photo we saw of Dots Diner. The Diner is part of the vintage trailer park and Dar wanted to get some photos. We liked what we saw for sure, but weren’t able to get any specific info about RV’s parking there. Later we found that they do have RV hookups but mostly act as a “motel”. The other rv park in Bisbee is located in town, and called the Queen Mine RV Park. We didn’t actually see it.

I’m glad to be able to say that I lived in Tombstone, if even for 3 days, but next time, it would easily be Bisbee.

As for the RV Parks, we drove out past the mine location to Shady Dell RV Park which is technically a vintage trailer park with some RV hookups. For a trip back in time to the 1950′s, consider the Shady Dell. They were closed when we got there, so don’t have all the details about the RV Options, and after phoning them 3 times, have yet to be able to speak to anyone.

We made it back to the High Desert Market for diner, but it didn’t turn out how we expected (they were out of the advertised meal – so we had lunch items again, but equally as tasty). Then, a short drive later down Arizona 80 and past the lights of Sierra Vista, we were back in Tombstone. We decided to spend one more night at Big Nose Kate’s Saloon for our last evening in Arizona.

Images in this post are available for purchase on the Her View Photography online gallery at Zenfolio.com.

Day 46 – Gunfight At The OK Corral

Rob — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:22:42 +0000

After a night of karaoke at Big Nose Kate’s Saloon on the main strip of Tombstone the night before, we took the opportunity to sleep in a few hours. We wanted to make sure we saw the gunfight at the OK Corral and the Tombstone Epitaph. We had been told that when visiting Tombstone, we should plan a few days to see all of it, but we only had a single day, so we had better make the best of it.

Our first order of business was to get tickets to see the Gunfight at the OK Corral, after which, we could then wander down main street to the far end, working our way back to the corral. As I had mentioned yesterday, our first night in Tombstone, the OK Corral was quite literally a block from where we parked our RV. Stagecoaches run tourists around town, to the various attractions, and offer tours as well. Our RV Park owner informed us quite specifically to take one color coach, and not the other (I dont remember which – sorry). Another example of Tombstone politics.

As we walked down the boardwalk, crossing intersections, gunfighters dressed in period costume beckoned us towards their specific attraction, all guaranteeing the “best gunfight in Tombstone”. Hard to say who to believe, but as we’d been to the Six Gun Saloon the night before, we thought we’d visit them first.

Caesar the Tombstone Biker Bird

We wandered past the Crystal Palace Saloon where we met up with Caesar the Tombstone Biker Bird and his owner Paul. I would have sworn that I had seen a motorcycle heading out of Tombstone earlier, with a parrot on the guy’s shoulder, and I was right.

Tombstone Biker Bird

I learned that Paul, who runs a motorcycle patches shop called Dreamwalkers, is also known as the Birdman of Tombstone and is a bit of a local celebrity. I took the opportunity to speak with him about his motorcycle riding parrot, the Tombstone Biker Bird, in this little video.

Gunfight at the Six Gun Saloon

The Six Gun Saloon was quite a different story in the daylight. The big doors on the far side of the saloon were all open, showing off the set where the gunfights were to take place, and the bar was full to capacity. Was it too early for a margarita? We thought not, and for $2 each, we ordered a couple.

The Six Gun Saloon puts on a great show, if I do say so myself. The actors were all mike’d up so we could hear the discussions between them. They played out the various stories from the town and between gunfights, the narrator explained how events unfolded. It really was good for understanding the history of this town.

Gunfights of Tombstone

We left through a side door onto the street with the intention of grabbing a quick tour of Tombstone on the trolley before catching the “official” gunfight at the OK Corral. Best as I can tell, there are three different gunfights.

Six Gun Saloon
Helldorado Town
OK Corral

The Six Gun Saloon gunfight does its best to explain various portions of the events surrounding October 26, 1881. I say the “events surrounding” that date, because the actors tell the story of events leading up to the gunfight, the actual gunfight and then events that took place in the days and weeks later as a result of that afternoon. Six Gun Saloon gunfight costs a small $5 entrance fee, and the actors ask for tips when they’re done. Quite educational.

The Helldorado Town gunfight is one we didn’t see, but were told that it was more of a comedy type of gunfight and is supposedly the best one of them all. I think that depends on what sort of entertainment you’re looking for, factual or just pure fun. As I recall, Helldorado cost a bit more, and if memory serves, it was $10 to $12, but included a bunch of other things with it. If you find out, please let me know in the comments so I can correct this.

Then there’s the official gunfight at the OK Corral. $10 each, but includes entrance into the corral, the Historama, the museum buildings next to the gunfight sight and a special commemorative version of the Tombstone Epitaph, the local paper, with headlines and story describing the events that took place that day in 1881.

We already had our tickets for this one, but we wanted to squeak in a quick tour before seeing it.

Tombstone Trolley Tour

The trolley was $10 for two, but with our ticket stubs from the Six Gun Saloon, we saved $2. As he took us through town describing the various places, he made it a point to select a very specific set of other businesses and bring them to our attention. Either that they had the best food, or to save our trolley ticket as it would save us money on one of their services too. It didn’t take us long to begin putting things together, and realize that depending on who you talked to, and where you talked to them, they’d say one business was better than the other, or to direct you to a specific place.

Dar here: the trolley guy actually mentioned a motel that his mother owned and a cafe in it I think. That sort of referral stuff went on a lot is what Rob’s referencing.

It became so frequent and so obvious to us, that I started to refer to it as Tombstone Politics. I was to learn more about this later.

The trolley begins and returns to its starting location at the corner of Toughnut and 4th, right across the street from the Big Iron Shooting Gallery and the Rose Tree Inn Museum. You can shoot off a few rounds yourself in the Shooting Gallery and then see the worlds largest rose tree. We toured Tombstone, learning about the courthouse, the hanging tree, the haunted places and ended up at Boot Hill even. They’d drop us off if we wanted, and then pick us up on the next tour, but we had a gunfight to see, so opted out for the time being.

As we exited the trolley and headed towards the OK Corral, I noticed a couple of motorcycles on the side of the street. Very innocent looking to the average person, but having seen both The Long Way Round and The Long Way Down, round the world motorcycle trip excursions by Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman, they caught my eye.

In 2004, Charlie and Ewan set of on a 19,000 mile trip from London to New York by motorcycle, taking… well, the Long Way Round. Taking three and a half months to complete, they drove through Europe, Asia and Alaska before driving through Calgary Alberta, into the US and then straight across to New York

In 2007, they decided to do another one, but this time from the northern tip of Ireland to the southern tip of Africa, hence the name Long Way Down.

I’ve seen both of these documentaries and encourage you to rent them from your local video place, or find them online as they’re an excellent way to understand a journey of this nature.

Seeing literally hours of footage of the boys, these two motorcycles I now saw parked innocently on the side of a Tombstone street set off flags for me.

taken by Rob

It was them!

They were doing it again. This time they were calling it East to West and they were obviously going to be spending more time in the US seeing sights here as well. I thought of blowing off the gunfight at the OK Corral and instead setting off on a mission to find the lads, when I realized that they too could be booked into the same time slot we were for the gunfight.

I couldn’t expect to stop what I was doing to search them out, and as I believe in the powerful power of intention, I set one in regards to finding them and left it to the Universe. How was not important, only the “what”.

Gunfight at the OK Corral

As we lined up for the entrance to the stage area, we filed past life sized replicas of Doc Holliday, Virgil, Morgan and Wyatt Earp facing off with the Clantons, the McLaury’s and Billy Claiborne. Great positioning of the replicas because it shows how close they really were to each other. In what took about 24 seconds, the gunfighters who were between five and ten feet apart, open fired on each other leaving three dead, three wounded and one to run away.

The show started, and through it all, I kept an eye out for Charlie and Ewan. After a very good display of storytelling, we were invited to the original Oriental Saloon, across the street from the Tombstone Epitaph, later in the day for lessons in Faro, by Doc Holliday himself (photo above). Faro is the game of cards that was played in the old west and one which caused Doc to be run out of town (several different towns actually) on more than one occasion (several different towns actually).

Our vantage point in the bleachers offered very few opportunities for good photographs of the action, and the shooting was over too quickly for Dar to capture the action.

C.S. Fly Photography

Leaving the stage area, we toured C.S. Fly Photography studio where Big Nose Kate and Camillus Sydney Fly, the only known witnesses to the shootout, hunkered down. C.S. Fly, or “Buck” as he liked to be called, was known for the many photographs he took of the Tombstone area during that time, and more notably for taking the only know photographs of the Apache, Geronimo, as a free man. He’s also known for his photograph of Tom McLaury, Frank McLaury, and Billy Clanton in their caskets before being interred at Boot Hill Cemetery, west of town.

If you like photography, then make sure you spend the extra time to tour the C.S. Fly studios there on the property.

OK Corral Blacksmith

Tucked away in the far corner of the property is a working blacksmith shop. I ventured over for a look and met Grizz Mace, the OK Corral Blacksmith. We talked for over 30 minutes as he made a few items in his forge and Darlene photographed him. He’s new to Tombstone, but worked as the blacksmith at the Ponderosa previously, and now both of his boys are blacksmithing too.

I though I’d dedicate an entire page on this blog to him, so check out the OK Corral Blacksmith and video too.

Grizz can repair any of the items or implements in the Corral, or make anything they need if required. While not working on Corral specific jobs, he’s creating items to sell to folks who wander by. While we were there, he made a steak flipper in front of us, but other items are available as well.

We eventually made our way out of the OK Corral property and Dar wanted to shop. I remembered someone telling me that the whiskey that Doc Holliday drank was available at the Crystal Palace Saloon, so I made my way there, telling Dar to meet me when she was done.

Old Overholt Whisky

It’s called Old Overholt and it’s been distilled since 1810 by Jim Beam in Clermont Kentucky. Doc Holliday is said to have drunk this stuff, and from what I had been told, was only available in one place. Pretty exclusive for Tombstone, so had to go there to sample a shot. Well I did, and got some video drinking Doc Holliday’s whisky at the Crystal Palace Saloon.

Take a moment to watch the video inside the Crystal Saloon. Let me know what you think.

Dar eventually caught up with me, and we had one of the burgers we heard had rated as “fair” and it was plenty fine. Maybe it was the whisky?

Politics play a big role in Tombstone, and whiskey isn’t the least of it. Maybe we’re just more aware of what’s going on in the town, but it seems pretty blatant if you ask me.

I thought I’d write up a little piece about the politics of Tombstone for your information.

Tombstone Epitaph

The next natural progression was a tour of the Tombstone Epitaph, the local newspaper, founded in 1880 by John Philip Clum. One of the first writers for the paper was Bucky O’Niell who I’ve mentioned previously in our adventures from the Grand Canyon.

Not a lot to see at the Epitaph, other than historical printing presses and such.

However, once leaving the building, we noticed that Doc Holliday from the gunfight was opening up the door to the Oriental Saloon across the street and ushering in a few people.

We scooted over and joined them.

Over the next hour (at least), Doc Holliday taught a few players including Dar, how to play the game of Faro. Not only did he show how to play it, but how to catch the dealer cheating at it (which was always, and the usual reason why Doc was run out of so many towns by angry mobs). While he taught the game, he regaled Doc’s history through dentistry school, his time in Texas, coming to Arizona and his eventually alleged death.

Fascinating to say the least. And I mean the cards, the cheating AND Doc’s history.

If anyone from the OK Corral corporation is reading this, let it be know that whomever is playing the part of Doc Holliday does a fantastic job at it. It’s with ease that we can say that one of our best experiences in Tombstone was our interaction with this man.

It was late. We headed back to our motorhome at Stampede RV Park to get the car so we could head up to Boot Hill ourselves.

Boot Hill Cemetery

With minutes before closing (yes, the cemetery closes), we headed out to Boot Hill to see what was there. The victims from the gunfight at the OK Corral were buried there (C.S. Fly took the only photo of the boys in their caskets you know), along with a few other notables. I’m still trying to figure out how the cemetery became privatized and are able to charge an admission. We had 5 minutes till close. We could “browse” Boot Hill, but when we heard the bell, we’d have to leave. Dar got some quick shots, but nothing worth sharing, while I ran around seeing what I could see.

The best photo’s came when we left the property.

Just off the entrance was a fantastic old hearse that seemed to catch the light just right as the cars drove past on the highway.

This is more of that HDR Photography that Dar has been experimenting with. It’s working out as far as I’m concerned.

Dar here again: this one’s actually not HDR, sorry Rob. I learned this new little layering technique from Ben Willmore at his workshop in San Antonio and it applied perfectly to this series of images. I combined about 5-6 images into each of the shots above, to get the final image.

She wanted to end the night with some homework for a course she was taking and I thought I’d spend some time back at Big Nose Kate’s.

By the time I got there at 9:00 Saturday night, they were closing up shop for lack of business. I moseyed over to the Crystal Palace Saloon, where there was a live band, and had a few more Overholt, washed down with beer, just as it was hundreds of years ago. A full day in Tombstone it was indeed. Tomorrow – Bisbee.

Epilogue: as it turns out, the motorcycles I had seen with the East to West website address were in fact NOT Ewan and Charlie, but rather a couple of other blokes raising awareness for Dalit Children of India. While I was at the Crystal Palace Saloon (which had free wi-fi), I looked them up on my blackberry. Turns out their time in the US was paralleling ours and they had been to the same places as us. Very surreal. Have a look at their around the world motorcycle travel blog as well. I’ve got their website as a permanent tab in Firefox and check in on them every day.

Images in this post are available for purchase on the Her View Photography online gallery at Zenfolio.com.

Day 33 – Meteor Crater and Winslow Arizona

Rob — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 05:44:34 +0000

I take full responsibility, as visiting the Meteor Crater and Winslow Arizona were my idea. Since seeing the movie Star Man with Jeff Bridges and Karen Allen from 1984, I’ve always wanted to see the Meteor Crater. As for Winslow, well, while only 17 miles from it, one has to get a picture “Standing on the corner in Winslow Arizona,” doesn’t one?

We planned a 2 day trip, to visit the Meteor crater and Winslow on day 1, then on to the Grand Canyon the next day after spending the night in Flagstaff.

Meteor Crater

Barringer Meteor Crater just outside Winslow Arizona

The Meteor Crater is 43 miles east of Flagstaff on the 40 and 202 miles from our location in Goodyear and quite frankly, not as big as I thought it would be. It’s impossible to see without paying the $15 entry fee and proceeding through some serious security gates. Very odd. It’s over a mile across, 550 feet deep (currently, but changes all the time) and about 2.4 miles around. Oh, and it’s pretty old too.

The Meteor Crater was used in the early 70’s as a test ground for NASA astronauts as they practiced for lunar crater exploration. Various viewing scopes were fixed in place aimed at historical points around the location, some to sights of early drilling, one to a life size cutout of a man in a space suite along with a full size replica of the US flag on the moon positioned at the very bottom and a few other things.

Obligatory "He and She" in front of the crator shot

Now I dont’ remember the weight of this exactly, and with all the details of the various parts of the actual “hurtling through space” and “final impact” of the object you know, but I seem to recall that this little bugger I’m pictured with is about 1100 pounds. I do remember though that it’s a meteor that makes its way through space and a meteorite that makes the impact. In space it’s one thing, while after impacting the earth, it changes name. Either way, this little 1100 lb bugger displaced 300 to 400 MILLION tons of earth when it hit 50,000 years ago (exactly).

I’m glad to have taken the time to go to the Meteor Crater, to be able to say I’ve been there and cross another item off my life list.

“We’re off to Winslow,” we said to the guard as we made our way out of the security check point.

“Not much of a place” he said which we thought was odd at the time.

“We’ve got to get our picture taken while ‘Standing on the corner’,” we said back and with that made our way to the car.

Driving past “Two Arrows” we saw the two giant arrows at the now abandoned gas station on the side of the road. A few miles later we encountered “Two Guns” Arizona, but had no such attraction as the arrows. Interesting to see two towns named the way they were in the short 17 miles to Winslow.

Winslow Arizona

We pulled off the highway and onto Route 66, to make our way through historic Winslow.

“Not much of a place,” we thought, echoing the guard’s sentiment.

Lots of old buildings in disrepair, houses, shops etc and more motels in a short space of distance than I’ve ever seen before in my life. The little town is more or less split by two one way streets going east and west and on each side of the street are motels and more motels, most relics from the early days of Route 66’s history, some still functioning while others boarded up along with most of the rest of Winslow’s business district.

Standing On The Corner Park

At one four way stop, we happened to see some people taking photographs when we realized we had stumbled upon “Standing On The Corner Park”, a small space dedicated to the city and the famous lyrics by The Eagles, from the song “Take it Easy.” There sat a bright red flat bed Ford on the street and a brilliant mural behind a lone statue with a guitar. We pulled over and parked.

After convincing the local homeless man that we’d like to have our picture taken “without” him in the picture and to move aside, we took a bunch of photographs. That done, we decided to walk the street a little further, camera firmly in Dar’s hand.

Rob and the Flat Bed Ford in Winslow Arizona

This is one of my favorite shots and I’ve seen nothing like it before. Dar used a wide angle lens and literally stood against the opposing wall across the street while I tried to stay behind the lens and hold the American flag down so it was straight. You’ve really got to love the wide angle lens, you know?

I thought about all the people who’ve made their way here simply because of The Eagles song “Take it Easy” and wanting to have their picture take “Standing on the Corner in Winslow Arizona”. I thought of my friend Bob Garon who himself told me that he had to come here just for the photo. We arrived to a couple standing getting a photo and we left a few hours later after seeing an entire high school wrestling team take a group shot at the location, meaning more to their coach than the team, I’m sure.

Surprisingly, just about all the shops were closed for the day and this was 3:30 on a Saturday. Again, very very odd.

La Posada Hotel

I had heard about the La Posada Hotel somewhere earlier, but paid no attention to it because, why would I care about a hotel in Winslow Arizona? Well, we stumbled upon the La Posada and decided to take a look.

Front Gate at La Posada Hotel Winslow Arizona

Walking up to the doors from the Route 66 street side provided an excellent opportunity for some architecture photography by Darlene. This hotel was certainly old and while not in the state of disorder the town’s other motels showed, it still had it’s own issues. If the cars out front were any sign, it was certainly a working hotel.

I left Dar outside to take photos as I went through the two paint chipped doors, one with a note to “use the other door”.

What lay inside stunned me.

From the outside, one would have NO idea what the insides offered. I was to soon learn that National Geographic Travel magazine listed La Posada Hotel on their 2009 “Places to stay” list

A 1929 railway hotel originally designed as a centuries-old fantasy Spanish hacienda. Saved from demolition by historic preservationist owner in 1997: hand-painted glass windows, tin chandeliers, some original six-foot-long cast-iron tubs. Planting of original garden based on sustainable desert plants now underway. You can still come here by train: Amtrak stops twice a day. 37 rooms; from $109.

Trip Advisor rated La Posada Hotel as #3 on its list of bargain hotels in the US while readers of Conde Nast Traveler chose it as “one of the best places to stay in the world”.

The La Pasada Hotel was the creation of Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter, a name having very little meaning as I stood exploring the hotel and grounds, but I get ahead of myself.

After walking through the front doors, I was so blown away by what laid ahead of me that I sat down on the couch to watch a little movie looping on the flat panel TV across from a beautiful couch, just past the doorway to the reception and gift shop. The DVD playing was part of a documentary / movie being made about the hotel and was made available to the hotel owners for display, but as it was unfinished, was not available for sale or professional showings. Here I sat, just 10 feet into the front foyer, Route 66 a few feet past the doors I came in, watching and waiting for Darlene to follow.

Fifteen minutes had easily passed when I realized Darlene was not coming into the hotel. I left to find her outside still photographing the bits and pieces of the hotel. After a few minutes of the video I had watched, I looked at the front entrance way with new vision. I took my time and soaked it all up. What first looked like disarray in fact was part of a historical restoration by the current owners. Like a good muscle car, the owner was taking care of the inside before turning his attention to the outside. I stood on the front steps and watched Darlene make photographic magic. When I slow down, and see the things she sees through the lens of her camera and her eyes, everything we do and all the places we go make more sense to me. This seems to be especially true of architecture and historical places. Her eyes work differently than mine and I’m grateful for being able to experience the art of her eye.

I encouraged her to enter the building and see what awaited her.

As we ventured past the point where I had sat earlier, and saw into the lobby and down the hallway around the corner I hadn’t yet made it to, I said “Holy shit!”

Literally a few feet past where I was sitting, the inside of the hotel opened up. Down the hallway past the former lobby was a staircase to a second level and off to the right were short stairs going up to a ballroom and outside a sunken garden. The tin work, art by a local artist accompanies the new owners art along side as much of the original work as possible.

Looking East from the West Wing rooms through the cinderblock court, past the lobby

The Ballroom

Hotel La Posada was originally the Arizona headquarters for the Santa Fe Railway and when constructed in the very late 1920’s had a budget of $1 Million dollars. The La Posada Hotel website says that with grounds and furnishings, the hotel was rumored to have exceeded $2 Million dollars, or $40 Million today.

My words fail to capture what my eyes experienced in this wonderful hotel. We took a walk out the other side and found the railway tracks still used today by Amtrak, delivering guests to the hotel making stops twice a day.

Train side entrance of the La Posada Hotel Winslow Arizona

Train Station Winslow Arizona

Walking through the hotel, we discovered more history including weddings that have taken place, renovations made by the railway that destroyed original art in favor of a doorway and famous guests including Jimmy Stewart, Shirley Temple, Albert Einstein, Amelia Earhart, John Wayne and Presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman.

We left the hotel to walk back to the Standing On The Corner Park and our car, wanting to drive around Winslow just a bit more before settling in on a way to best describe the town.

Virtually absent from people, we got a few more good shots at the park including some with the flat bed Ford that we hadn’t taken previously. After another 10 minutes alone, we drove up the street and then back down the other side of Route 66, heading West now on the other one way street. Finding a postcard and mailing it to a friend back in Edmonton, we drove the rest of the way out until spying a native art store for Darlene to peruse.

For the life of us, we could not figure out what Winslow’s industry was, what was its reason for being here? Why would there be so many motels lining the roads? Only since doing more research on the little town did we discover that Winslow was chosen as the headquarters of the Santa Fe Railroad, as it still is today, and a great place to build a resort hotel. Being a short distance to many Arizona sights to see, the community developed from tourism. The airport was the only all weather airport between Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Los Angeles, California when built by Charles Lindbergh and paid for by Howard Hughes who were also guests at La Posada Hotel. While Winslow is located on one of the busiest railroad lines in the United States and has 100 trains go through it each day (we saw 3 of them as we stood out front of the hotel), the I-40 bypassed the little town in 1970, leaving Route 66 available for local residents, tourists and history seekers.

After seeing a drug deal go down in front of the Circle K while Dar looked for Wifi, we left thinking Winslow was more or less “a shit hole.” an “odd little town.”

Our evening meal was found through Restaurant.com and a short 5 minute drive from our Motel in Flagstaff. We ate at the Himalayan Grill, continuing our vegetarian theme while eating out. Truly wonderful place with exceptional food, serving sizes and prices. Our greeter was Nepalese and after looking at a photograph of the Himalayan countryside, asked if I’d been. I explained that I had hiked to Mt Everest Base camp a short 16 months previously and we chatted about Kathmandu and other Nepal attractions. Our waitress, also Nepalese took our order. We chose the vegetarian platter and had more than enough food after a day of sitting and driving. We’d easily rate it a 5 out of 5 stars and recommend it to anyone when eating in Flagstaff.

We settled in for the night thinking of tomorrows adventure, the Grand Canyon.

Images in this post are available for purchase on the Her View Photography online gallery at Zenfolio.com.

Day 7 – Death Valley California Part One

Darlene — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 04:01:06 +0000

The day started early at 7:30am and it was a little nippy in the RV to say the least. It was about 66f when we went to bed, and prayed we’d have enough propane to last the night – NOT! It was a balmy 46f in the morning and Dar was only saved from freezing to death due to the unselfish act of Boo sleeping on her pillow pressed up against her cheek all night to help keep her warm. That, and the electric blanket.

A quick pack up and we were able to hit the road and actually be driving down the highway by 9am, after finding out the deal with getting more propane on Tuesday morning.

As we had gassed up the car the night before, we headed straight towards Death Valley Junction. A “town” if you can call it that, with a population of a grand total of 3! We drove right past the famous Amargosa Opera House Rob wanted to see, so we had to stop. Dar took a few photos and a bathroom break was in order, as well as a stop in the café to see what they offered. The lady told us we could get a tour inside the Opera House for $5 each, check with the hotel staff – so we did!

Amargosa Opera House in Death Valley Junction

Well worth the $10 it cost to see Marta Beckett’s 40+ year labor of love. Marta was a dancer who had fate drop her into this location by way of a flat tire. She bought the old Corkhill Hall and made it her own, performing there herself. When audiences dwindled to none, she painted her own audience onto the walls of the hall, all of them wearing formal Victorian attire. A quick search for her name will tell you more of this amazing woman who still lives there, now well into her 80’s. There is a book about her story, and apparently soon to be a movie as well. We didn’t get to meet her but she still lives on the property and is recovery, we’re told from hip surgery.

After our stop in Death Valley Junction to see the Opera House, we traveled into Death Valley to see more. Our first stop was Zabriskie Point.

Page 2 – Zabriskie Point