Ep. 143: Tombstone | Arizona RV travel camping

Hey, welcome back to Grand Adventure! I'myour host Marc Guido, and as you can see behind me, even though some folks arequarantined or under stay-at-home orders right now in other states, there's noshortage of people camping here on Lone Rock Beach at Lake Powell.

We're herefor one night, we're on our way to Tombstone, Arizona, so come along with uson this episode of Grand Adventure! Stay tuned.

So, we love it here at Lone Rock Beach.

We covered this way back in Episode 13, so if you'd like to know more about thisarea on Lake Powell, the area around Page, check it out right here on the screen.

We'll put a link so you can go back and watch that episode, the earlyepisode number 13.

We're just here for one night, and I've gotto tell you, it is refreshing to see this many folks out camping.

We couldn't get near the water if we tried, unless we squeezed between, between a couple of other campers.

I didn't want to do that.

We're only herefor one night.

It's not going to kill me to be a couplehundred yards back from the water, so we're going to spend the night here, get back on the road in the morning, and head on down to southern Arizona to thearea surrounding famed Tombstone.

If you're able to get out right now andyou're not in an at-risk group, plummeting gas prices are making this anexcellent time to travel by RV.

So we made it to Tombstone! We are camped, we're boondocking in the Coronado National Forest about 11 miles north of town.

Almost all of that is dirt road.

Ten of those miles are on Middlemarch Road, andI've got to tell you you can get almost any type of rig up here.

That road isgraded and it is so wide, I think you could even land small aircraft on thatthing.

Yeah, the last half mile or so down Forest Road 687 is a little narrower anda little rougher, however it's also graded and we've even seen huge classA's back here, so there is plenty of room to get almost any size rig.

And there area ton of different spots! It's a beautiful site.

It's right at thefoot of the Dragoon Mountains, which have kind of a unique place in history.

At thenorthern end of the range, up around Dragoon Springs not far from here, theIndian warrior Cochise actually engaged two battles with — believe it or not — someConfederate war soldiers during the U.

S.

Civil War.

So it's kind of a neat history, in addition to the wonderful history in the town of Tombstone itself, site of theGunfight at the OK Corral.

Now I know how much you guys love when we bring youthose drone shots, so let's get a bird up in the air to show you around thecamping opportunities right here along Forest Road 687.

And if you saw our last episode on the Rover Roamer, we'vegot it hooked up here, just so I can tie her up when I need to.

It's working outlike a charm.

For more on the Rover Roamer, click the link up on the top of thescreen.

Tombstone's place in western folklore wascemented by the Gunfight at the OK Corral.

One of the last boom towns in theAmerican frontier, Tombstone's population grew from only 100 to around14, 000 in less than seven years in the 1880s, thanks to local minesthat produced $40 to $85 million in silver bullion, thelargest productive silver district in Arizona.

Tombstone had a bowling alley, four churches, an ice house, a school, two banks, three newspapers, and an ice creamparlor, alongside 110 saloons, 14 gambling halls, and numerous dance halls andbrothels.

But there were tensions simmering beneath the surface that boiledover in a deadly conflict.

On one side were the Cow-Boys, a loosely knit gang ofruffians committing crimes ranging from border smuggling to cattle rustling.

Theywere Democrats who sympathized with the southern Confederate States.

On the otherside were the miners and townspeople, largely Republicans from the northernUnion States.

After the Cow-Boys killed a stagecoach driver and passengertransporting silver bullion to Benson, tensions came to a head.

Virgil Earp wasthe region's deputy US Marshal, and his brothers Morgan and Wyatt Earp, along withlegendary gun man Doc Holliday, were temporarily deputized.

Matters actuallycame to a head not at the OK Corral, as legend has it, but instead in a vacantlot a short distance away on Fremont Street.

Some 30 shots were fired in 30seconds, and when the dust settled, three Cow-Boys lay dead in the dirt.

Two months later Virgil Earp was ambushed and seriously wounded inTombstone by a hidden assailants.

Less than three months after that, Wyatt and Morgan Earp were playing pool together late at night in a hall onAllen Street when a shot fired through the window killed Morgan.

Convinced thatjustice was out of reach, Wyatt Earp formed a posse that hunted down andkilled the four men he believed to be responsible.

Today, Tombstone caters to tourists looking for a taste of the old Wild West.

Unfortunately for bar owners and shopkeepers in town, Tombstone ispositively deserted during our visit, thanks to the medical crisis currentlysweeping the world.

Boothill Graveyard, where the three Cow-Boyskilled in the OK Corral shootout are laid to rest, is so named because most ofthose buried there “died with their boots on”.

So thank you very much for coming alongwith us to Tombstone Arizona! We're going to stay here a few more days, and next weekwe'll bring you a glimpse at the nearby town of Bisbee, a wonderful little artscolony and collection of historic buildings right down near the Mexicanborder.

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