For the next month or thereabouts, I will be in our Tucson home. I will have almost a month to visit as many locations as possible for a variety of photographs. The wildflowers were still blooming in the mid section of the state as we drove down.
We came south through Nevada with our three cats, which has its drawbacks for travel, not the least of which is finding motels that accept cats. Now that we are here, it is making me happy to have not left them at home. Two of them have more reservations.
The third came from here. He was a stray that I fell in love with almost twelve years ago. The first time I saw him he was sleeping on our outside carport shelf. He ran for his life and over the next days I would see him, find evidence of his kills, and try to attract him to me. He'd hiss and I'd make welcoming sounds. Then the day came when he came to me-- hissing all the way as we both took a risk when he let me pet him. He shortly after moved into the house. Now that I think of it, sounds a bit like a romance itself.
From then on he's been mine. But the price he has paid for that was to live most of his days on our small ranch in Oregon. I tell him that's the price he pays for being a pampered pussy cat. Once in awhile he comes back with us, and when he does, he rolls in the dust, explores old haunts, and in general loves the desert as only a few can know.
On this trip, he became enthusiastic, began to sniff the air when we were in Beatty. Yes, he's a desert cat; and although I don't let him roam free down here anymore, too many predators (bobcats, coyotes, javelina) come through our property, and he's no longer fast as he was back then, he will be enjoying this place as much as I will until it's time we head back north.
My goal while in Southern Arizona (besides working on the house, hiking, swimming, getting some sun) is to collect photos for a cover and trailer for a western romance which I wrote at least fifteen years ago. The story, set in 1883, ranges between Tucson, Tumacacori, Tubac, Nogales, San Rafael Valley, northern Mexico, and Tombstone. I call it more of a western romance than an historic although it does mostly stay true to life in Arizona of that period.
Western history buffs know that in the fall of 1881, Wyatt Earp and his brothers changed southern Arizona's history forever with the gunfight at OK Corral; and even more the aftermath which is still debated today. Did Wyatt really come back to Southern Arizona and kill a lot of outlaws? Were he and his brothers good guys or bad guys? Surprising as it might be to anybody who has watched the movies about him, talk among old-timers in Tombstone was mixed for who the Earps were or for that matter the Clantons.
I should add, my story isn't about any of that other than how it impacted the area. Whenever someone writes about an historic period, they really do have to know the politics, history, likely attitudes, divisions, and physical reality the people faced.
It's interesting to go to Tombstone even though it's very touristy. I was there the first time in the fall of 1965 and enjoyed it and its museum because it's simply rich in historic events. Boot Hill is a place most go but again it's a tourist spot now.
If our work here at the house goes well, I will be there again soon and hopefully figure out what I can actually use from historic photos of the town back at the time my hero and heroine would have ridden in for the end of their own story. I'd have used the word climax but since this is a romance, I thought I better not-- but a few climaxes might be involved that way too ;).
