Cowboys and Indians

I had never heard of Cowboys and Indians, The Premiere Magazine of the West, until my friend, who lives in Big Horn, WY, called to say there was an article about the polo field near their home in the current issue. They had built this beautiful home there several years ago, and we were fortunate to finally visit them when we flew our small plane there a few years ago.

So, I promptly picked up a copy with Tom Selleck At Home on His Ranch on the cover and much to my surprise found the entire issue thoroughly entertaining and interesting.

The teasers on the cover of this Special 15th Anniversary issue are:

-Cowboys: Men Who Made the West
-Boots: Envy-Worthy Kickers
-National Parks: The West's Best.

How apropros since we just returned from visiting two National Parks: Mesa Verde in Colorado and Canyon de Chelly (pronounced Shay) in Arizona, where we had taken tours to learn how the Indians lived 300 AD. It was interesting to note that we had actually visited over the years nine of the 15 listed as the best . We had stayed in two of the four "Lodge Envy" resorts listed in the parks: The Ahwahnee at Yosemite Nat'l Park (where two deer walked right past me as I was headed to my cabin from the main lodge). We actually never stayed at Old Faithful Inn, but we watched the rain come down and ate lunch there once. El Tovar, at the Grand Canyon, which hosted Zane Grey, Albert Einstein, and Teddy Roosevelt, among others, underwent a $4.5 million facelift shortly after their centennial.

In 1995, Sharon Stone called and cowgirled her way onto the first celebrity cover of C&I to promote her movie, The Quick and the Dead, about a female gunslinger. That changed everything for the Western-lifestyle magazine. Movie-star covers became a staple for C&I, allowing them to find a niche where celebrities and the West melded into Americana. Consider John Wayne, Robert Duvall, Sam Shepherd, Sam Elliott, Robert Redford, Kevin Costner, Harrison Ford and Tom Selleck (again) and Tommy Lee Jones as appealing cover cowboys.

I, who have never really been in to cowboy/cowgirl gear, was even fascinated to see the selection of great boots. Check it out: Star Boots Jolly Roger, inspired by the movie, Pirates of the Caribbean.
Cool features: Skull-and-crossbones inlay on toe and heel.
Best worn with: A leather motorcycle jacket, big loop earrings, and lots of chunky bracelets that jingle.
Why cowgirls like them: They're Nancy Sinatra-tough.
Sheryl Crow wears a pair of the Old Gringo Cowgirl boots with pink inlay breast-cancer-awareness ribbons on the toe, shaft and heel of the boot.

The story about best-selling author, Robert B. Parker, provided more education. Fans of Parker's 2005 Western novel, Appaloosa, are eagerly awaiting the film adaptation, starring Viggo Mortensen as Everett Hitch and Ed Harris (who also directed the movie) as Virgil Cole. Appaloosa--which costars Renee Zellweger and Jeremy Irons--is slated for a fall release.

I highly recommend you pick up a copy of this July, 2008, issue (try Border's), while it's still on the newstands.

Beware of Ethanol

Proponents of ethanol tell us that it can significantly reduce our dependence on oil for transportation fuel. Truthfully, I never gave it much thought one way or the other.

Since our experience with it on our recent road trip, I have paid more attention to what I read, and in a recent "Parade" magazine article, it states: Since 2005, U.S. energy policy has mandated that billions of gallons of corn-based ethanol be mixed into gas every year. Last year, more than $3 billion of taxpayer money was spent on subsidies to achieve that goal, and 20% of the corn crop went into making the biofuel. Now, a new U.N. report cites our emphasis on ethanol as a contributor to high food prices. Scientists also believe than an expanding "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico, which is killing aquatic life, is caused by increased fertilizer runoff from Corn Belt states."

Now...my only purpose here is to warn you that it's important to know if you are getting ethanol in your gasoline and/or how much. We had been averaging about 28-29mpg in my new Honda CRV. Not great, but we can live with that. One time, 32 mpg, another 34. Not bad. So, on one long stretch through Northwestern Oklahoma, off the interstate highways, we had 340 miles to cover that day before reaching our destination. No problem. However, this just happened to be an area where there were few tiny towns and NO gas stops, and no cell phone reception. We were becoming increasingly concerned as the gas gauge headed for empty. We made it to our destination with about one-half gallon to spare (22.5mpg).

When we later mentioned to people we met along the way, they quickly added, "Oh yeah, you get 30% less mileage." This effectively adds $1.25/gallon for the mileage traveled.

While I'm a rather adventurous person, that's one scenario I'm glad we didn't have to play out.

Tombstone, AZ

Remember the scene in High Noon when the streets are empty, waiting for the gunfight at twelve o'clock sharp?

Well, we started our trip early on in Tombstone. What an interesting and fun town, which was established in 1877. Billed as "The Town Too Tough to Die," it is truly a Historical American Landmark. Tombstone is America's best example of our early western heritage. It is well preserved in Tombstone's original 1880's buildings (not a stage-prop town) and artifacts featured in numerous museums.

We were there the end of May, before the kids get out of school, so there was hardly a soul on the street, except the usual suspects: stagecoach driver, dance hall girls at the Bird Cage Theatre, roaming the streets, looking for customers, etc. It reminded me of the scene portenting doom.

We took the Tombstone Trolley tour around the city to hear all the interesting facts. In its heyday, this mining town brought in $22 million a day! Home of Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday and Bat Masterson, it was famous for the Gunfight at the OK Corral. At the trolley site, we met a gentleman, in his 80's, who retired here after traveling the country, playing Abe Lincoln in a one-man show. He did resemble the President.

We asked where the locals ate and ended up at the Depot Restaurant, four blocks from the tourist area. We can vouch for the beer on tap, the chili and the patti melt and onion rings. Remember, this is the start of our three-week vacation. So, we ate whatever we wanted. Met another couple who was on the trolley and overheard us asking the driver about a good restaurant. The first question this Florida couple asked us was, "What's the price of gasoline in California." At that time, it was under $4 here, over $4 there. More on gasoline in my next post.

Vacations

Oh my...been back a week from a three-week road trip. Almost forgot how to blog. But I must get back to it, because I have so much I want to say about our trip. I would not call this a relaxing vacation by any stretch of the imagination, but it was interesting.

Seeing aging family members was the main reason we planned this trip to the Midwest, and now that we're home, we realize how important it was that we did spend the time with family.

We knew that this time of year is not the best weatherwise, since there were tornado warnings all over the place. Early on in our trip to White Sands, NM, as it looked threatening, I said, "I don't mind if it rains, but I don't want it to hail on my car." Of course, the words had no sooner left my tongue than nickel-sized hail fell with a large clunk. I couldn't imagine that there would be no damage to the car, but for some reason, not a mark on it when we arrived at our destination.

Three weeks is a long time to be away, but I doubt that we could have done it in less time since we spent several long days in the car. Covering barren landscapes, particularly in Texas, with no cell reception made me particularly uncomfortable. Unbelievable how we could have lived without that convenient communication just a few short years ago. XM Satellite was a godsend, although we were gone so long, I swear they repeated the same songs over and over.

More tomorrow...just needed to keep in touch!