Day 5

It's officially near the end of Day 5 of our travel. There wasn't much to report yesterday except for a very long drive across western Texas and a fantastic dinner at State Line BBQ in El Paso. It was phenomenal. We continued to drive for several more hours after dinner all the way through New Mexico and ending up in Willcox, AZ. It was a very long drive with the highlight being going through a border control checkpoint where we got asked if we were American citizens and were all related. I guess they decided we weren't smuggling any illegal aliens as they didn't make us open up the haul trailer.

Last night, we realized that we were only about an hour from Tombstone so we decided to put off driving and make a quick stop which ended up being an almost all day stop. I am so glad we decided to make the detour as it ended up being a blast for both us and the kids. We got to see a gunfight, take a stage coach ride and learn more about the way brothels and ladies of the night operated than I ever needed to know. Perhaps the most interesting part of the day was a tour of the Bird Cage Theater. It is one of e few buildings to survive both of the major Tombstone fires and is completely original. When it was closed down, they literally just boarded it up with everything still inside, so when they reopened it as a museum, everything is still original, including bullet holes from shootouts. The last show posters are still on the wall. It was like walking back 130 years in time. They haven't done any restorations so it is pretty much like it was left, right down to the whiskey barrels in the basement. It was a combination theater, casino and brothel. Talk about a multi-purpose facility. We even got to see Wyatt Earp's house, but not Virgil's since some hoodlum kids burned it down while playing with matches on the lot in 1998. I can't even begin to describe how excited I was about going to Tombstone. I was like a kid in a candy store. The people that live and work there even dress up in old western garb. It was well worth the lost time on our trip.

Now, we are on our way to Phoenix for the night. Our original goal was to make it to Flagstaff, but we've decided to make it an early night and then on to the Grand Canyon in the morning. We are thinking about staying at a lodge in the park overlooking the canyon, but haven't completely made up our mind.

To our family and friends, we love and miss you guys.