Shootout at the OK Corral and other fancy stuff

The OK Corral shootout re-enactment was high on the list of things to do, after breakfast at the OK Café (Thursday, April 9).  Funny thing about breakfast.  I recognized the guy, Billy, from the Birdcage Theater from last year.  He was the one who gave me permission to write and publish the story and photos for my blog.  It was nice to see him, say hello, and thank him one more time.

Once we’d finished breakfast, it was time to wander around as town opens up around 10 a.m.  We saw the stagecoach rides getting set up and starting to give people rides, the hawking by the cowboys to get customers for the shootout show, people eating ice cream cones, stores opening so we could view their wares. 

The boys.

The stagecoaches were starting to haul folks around.

And that’s how Chuck got his top hat.  He’d been looking at one in Las Vegas, but had not purchased the one he liked.  Now he was looking here.  And what do you know, he found the absolute right one.  It looks great on him, and pretty soon he had a top hat in a hatbox loaded onto the rack of his bike.

That's one mighty fine looking hat there, Mister.

We viewed various pieces of old west history and saw the reenactment shootout show.  It was fun, as there was mandatory audience participation, with yelling for the good guys, and booing of the bad guys.  I absolutely adore yelling “BOO!!!”

They even provided sunscreen.

Who to yell for as there's both good and bad here.  Go get 'em, Wyatt.

One bad guy, two good.  Who's got the best hand here?

Bang, bang, they shot them down.

The bad guys didn't fare too well here.

Only one bad guy lived, the one who caused the clash.

The good guys.

The bad guys, who live to fight again in a couple of hours. 

There were lots of other things to see ... including seeing Chuck acting like a tourist.  Yahoo!!!

We’d now spent enough time in Tombstone and it was time to mount the iron horses and ride out of town. 

Every time I saw one of these as a kid, I'd beg my mom to let me ride.

We headed to the Pima Museum to pick up Chuck’s camera, and then we sped off to another tourist sight, the Titan Missile Museum.

This is a photo of a photo, but you get the picture!!  The Titan II was the largest and most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile ever built by the U.S.  The missile's top speed was about 16,000 mph, more than 20 times the speed of sound.

The surveillance system on the grounds above the missile silo was called an AN/TPS-39.  Because of the TPS crews often called them tipsies.  The scoop-shaped units projected a motion-sensing radar beam around sensitive areas of the complex.  In the 25-year history of the program intruders were never a serious problem.  In fact, four-legged intruders were the majority of the problems.

The Titan Missile Museum was once upon a time a very top secret place.  Now Complex 571-7 is all that remains of the 54 Titan II missile sites.  It’s a National Historic Landmark with a one-of-a-kind museum and a deactivated missile that showed us the technology used by the U.S. to deter a nuclear attack from the former Soviet Union during the Cold War.  It was peace through deterrence, and apparently worked as there was no nuclear war.  At least, not yet.

The idea was that to be credible the missile had to be able to survive an attack and still function.  That's why it was kept underground in a massive concrete and steel silo that is protected by these doors. 

 

This how we entered and exited the underground silo.

We walked through this door that weighs 760 tons and could be opened in 20 seconds using a hydraulic winch.  The door is now locked half open to show that the complex is no longer operational.  In fact, every few years dignitaries do a walk through just to check.

We then walked down a long corridor that took us to the control room.

The Titan II missile could launch from its underground silo in 58 seconds.  Our guide went through the scenario of how they would be notified to launch and how many people had to have a variety of codes and what they had to go through in order to hit the actual launch and point-of-no-return button. 

We went through the entire countdown to launch.

This missile could deliver a nine-megaton thermonuclear warhead to a target more than 6,300 miles away in about 35 minutes, and destroy an area of about 900 square miles.  The 54 Titan II missile complexes were located across the U.S., with 18 each at Little Rock, AR, Wichita, KS and Tucson.  They were on alert 24/7/365 for more than two decades, from 1963 to 1987.  The people staffing these complexes did not know what their “targets” would be as they were on a “need to know” basis and did not need to know that piece of the puzzle.  They only had a piece of the information. 

Titan II could be stored in its silo fully loaded at all times and was the first missile that could be launched directly from its silo reducing its vulnerability to attack, huge advantages when dealing with an enemy.

By the time we had gone through the launch scenario, I had a nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach.  It was a scary thought to realize we were 58 seconds away from a nuclear war at any time during those years.  Okay, maybe not 58 seconds in reality as it would take a bit more time to get to that point, but it was a frightening prospect just the same.

Then it was time for dinner, and to say good bye to Chuck as he was headed back home to get ready for the trip back to Alaska.

 

Up in the air

Beauty of flight; beauty of the road.

Our destination on Tuesday, April 7, was the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, the home of more than 300 planes on a setting of 80 acres.  There are five hangars that house 150 of the planes, and the others sit out in the open sun, waiting for people like us to take their photos. This was 100 years of aviation history, and there was no way to take it all in in a single day.  So I just took photos … and will share a few of them with you.

The Starr Bumble Bee was designed and built for the sole purpose of taking the record for world's smallest aircraft.  The Starr was named after Robert Starr and its first flight was made Jan. 28, 1984.  The record for the smallest aircraft only lasted about eight months when one of Starr's former partners built and flew an even smaller aircraft.  However, Starr was credited to give Starr the record for the smallest biplane while the other guy took the record for the smallest monoplane.  I liked it  because it was black and yellow.

A Warthog?  This is one mean-looking aircraft.

I like that some of the planes sport paintings, and their "kills."

One of my favorite things that I saw at the museum.

There were so many planes to photograph, it's hard to decide what to show.

The tail on this one is beautiful.

These props are on one of the Air Force One presidential planes.  This one was used by presidents Kennedy and Johnson between 1961 and 1965..

I really got into shooting props.

This one was a favorite.

This little plane was carrying quite the load on its back.

This one's for you, Hobbs, a Marine jet.

This plane was quite elegant looking with its black and gold paint scheme.

My favorite ... the guppy. 

What did we do after taking photos of all those planes?  Take a tour in a bus, of course, of the boneyard, after showing a photo ID.  This is the place where there are planes that will no longer fly, some that could fly again if needed, and some that are being cannibalized.  The boneyard is at the U.S. government’s 309^th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, and encompasses 2,600 acres with more than 4,000 stored aircraft.  Wow.  Who has ever seen so many planes in one place?  Not me.

 

Most of the planes stored in the boneyard have a protective coating on them, kind of like a shrink wrap.  It can be easily peeled off if it becomes necessary to either put a plane back into use, or to get a part off of it for another plane.

Engines from some of the planes are stored in large barrels.

Planes big and small have the coating on them.

Other engines are removed and when they are too large to store in the barrels, are also covered with the protective coating.

 

This one is for my friend, Sharon at Bird TLC, who loves owls.

The planes are lined up in beautiful, organized rows.

And they look great both coming and going.

These graffiti-covered planes were awesome.  I don't know how they were painted or why, and it's probably not real graffiti, but they were very cool planes.

I didn't think to seek these out when we were inside of the yard.  Oh well.  You get the picture.  Haha!!!

The only thing is that Chuck lost his camera, and didn’t realize it til later.  We tried to call the museum but it was closed. 

The next morning, April 8, we called the museum first thing.  They had found the camera so we’d go pick it up … yay!!!  The sad thing was that Jaz was leaving us and heading back to the coast to do some family vacationing.

So Chuck, Dewey and I were off and running to Kartchner Caverns State Park.  These caverns were discovered in 1974 by a man and his friend who had been cavers from a young age.  After much searching, they found these caves and kept it secret for 14 years while they worked it out for the area to become a state park so it could become developed while keeping it safe from vandals and thieves.  It's a "wet" cave, a living cave, with formations that continue to grow.

This is a photo of a photo from a book on the caverns, just to give you an idea of what they are. 

The park is a gem.  You are not allowed to take cameras, purses, bags, water or other items into the caves to protect them.  There are four metal doors you go through, and a path with 18-inch walls on either side to catch lint or other debris from your body or clothing.  If someone accidentally touches something it is marked by the guide and cleaned up the same day.  It’s marvelous how they work to keep it pristine.  The caves were humid and way warmer than I'd expected.  The humidity averages 99 percent all year, so no wonder I felt like I was breathing water.  And the temperature was way warmer than I'd expected, being 67 degrees, but still cooler than what can be an outside temperature of triple digits during the summer.

The cave we visited, the Big Room, was the first one the men discovered.  It's also home to an average of 500-1000 female bats who return every spring to give birth and raise the baby bats.  So as to not upset the mamas and babies, tours of the Big Room are discontinued from April 16  through October 14.  It’s fascinating and was an enjoyable tour, even without being able to take photos.

After the caves we were off to go to Tombstone, in search of the OK Corral and Boot Hill.   And maybe even a top hat for Chuck.

Tombstone is always a great time.  We first stopped at Boot Hill and the boys wandered around while I sat on a bench and chatted with a lady from Michigan.  I’d done it last year so I didn’t think it had changed too much from then, other than the plants being a little taller.  It’s not as though there’d be any new graves.

Nuff said.

But I needed some type of graveyard photo, so here it is.

We found the hotel where Jaz and I stayed last year … it’s biker friendly. 

Just another evening in Tombstone, the town too tough to die.

 We decided that since the town mostly rolls up the mats early, we’d be up and going to do tourist things in the morning.  The OK Corral shootout was high on the list of things to do, after breakfast.