Indian Bread Rocks Bowie, Arizona Dispersed Camping

 

After over a month in Tombstone, I really wanted to be somewhere quiet, so we spent a night at Indian Bread Rocks Dispersed Camping area.

We squeezed the LQ into this campsite - scratching both the truck and trailer on brush and branches. We really need to pick up some pruning shears at a hardware store.

There is a vault toilet, but no water that we saw and a nice picnic area for day users.

We put up our portable corrals for the horses and they did fine. There are free range cattle in the area. The cattle were very interested in grass hay that our horses dropped on the ground.

This was primo stuff for the cattle.

Ari rode down the road to see if we had picked the best place to set up camp and he felt we had. The road gets narrower the farther you go on. It is a three to four mile dirt road getting into the camp.

Lots of baby calves vying with the adult cows to get to the dropped hay.

Given that the riding was limited and Ari was annoyed by the cattle, we only spent one night here.

It was quiet and pretty and, of course, free.

Ride and Eat in Tombstone, Arizona

 I had been really, really looking forward to riding into Tombstone, tying the horses up to a hitching post, and eating on an outdoor patio and just soaking in the Western atmosphere and the history.

Of course, the reality is always so very different.

First off, I broke my foot. Surgery is scheduled for this Wednesday, so I decided if I want to ride into Tombstone and eat - it is now or never. 

It's about a 40 minute ride from the Tombstone RV Park & Campground into town. It is a nice easy flat trail that basically parallels the freeway and set far away from any traffic noises.

You ride through a small residential area right into Tombstone.

The Four Deuces Saloon on Allen Street has outdoor patio seating and a solid hitching post to tie up your horse. They will even offer your horse water. 

There is a rake and manure bucket handy - just in case you need to clean up after your horse.

Ari tying up Lennox

My horse did fine being tied up to the hitching post. Lennox was anxious the entire time. He didn't understand what was going on - although we have done ride and eats before. 

We went into town on a Monday in order to avoid too many tourists, but there were still people taking selfies with our horses - as well as the sounds of gunfire from all the shoot outs in the distance.

The gunfire didn't bother the horses at all. They are used to it from cowboy mounted shooting. But the strange people made Lennox really nervous.

The saloon doesn't serve food, but allows you to order food from across the street at the OK Cafe. You phone in your order and someone from the cafe walks it over to deliver it to you. 

The menu is burgers, hot dogs, chili, and sides. The food was actually pretty good.

The horses kept an eye on us while we were eating...and vice versa.

I really had a great time, but Ari was upset by how amped up Lennox got.

Mercutio was fine. He took the entire adventure in stride.

 

Broken Foot, Broken Axles

 On Wednesday, I had my fourth set of x-rays on my spiral fracture and the news was not good. The doctor said it is a severe fracture and not healing well. There was some very slight bone growth, but for all intents and purposes it was like a brand new fracture - even though it is two months old. He advised staying off my foot entirely to allow it to heal, no more riding, and continue use of the bone stimulator.

Then on Thursday, Ari took the LQ in to be serviced. The left turn signal wasn't working and he wanted to check the brakes as the tires weren't wearing right. 

The left turn signal issue was caused by an electrical issue. Our son, Isaiah, had installed upscale LED headlights in our truck. Apparently, they were overloading the electrical system and causing a feedback - which shorted out the turn signal. It took a couple of hours for them to figure it out. Once they replaced the headlights, everything worked fine.

The uneven wear on the tires were caused by the Dexter axles - which had bent. Apparently, Dexter axles fabricated between May 2020 and December 2020 were not heat treated properly and are defective. Our trailer is unsafe to haul as the axles were ready to crack. The damage was not caused by overloading the axles but because the axles were not strong enough to handle the load.

Because the axles were under recall, the axles and tires will be replaced under warranty, but it will take a month to get the replacement parts. 

The RV repair place said the LQ is unsafe to haul without the repairs, so they towed it back to the RV park for us. When the parts come in, they will come and pick up the LQ. At least this way, we can live in our LQ and not out of suitcases.

So, we are stuck in Tombstone until April. I had to contact all our upcoming stays to shift dates and change our route so we wouldn't have to totally change everything.

On the plus side, we will be some place long enough to get vaccinated for COVID-19. I was able to get us appointments in Sierra Vista - about 20 minutes away. We were in and out in less than 30 minutes. We got the Moderna vaccine and should get the second shot the beginning of April - right around when the LQ is getting fixed.

I am trying to find people in the area who can ride with Ari and who can ride my horse, since I am not supposed to ride for the next six weeks.

Tombstone RV Park & Campground - Tombstone, AZ

 Traveling across the country and not stopping in Tombstone, Arizona when you have horses seemed like a waste, so of course we are spending a good week here in Tombstone.

We are staying at the Tombstone RV Park & Campground. Our horses are sharing a really good-sized pen with a small shade shelter.

This is one of the tent sites at the campground

We have full hook-up and a really nice pull-through site.

There is a heated pool which is making us both extremely happy.

Our niece, her husband, and our great-nephew came down to spend the weekend with us. They are staying at a motel a few blocks away. Ari is getting some much needed dog time.

Jayden came early on Saturday morning so he & Ari could ride into town.

While Jayden & Ari were off riding, Dayna, Steve & I played tourist in the town of Tombstone. Our first stop was the Boothill Cemetery to pay our respects.

The largest grave is for the Clayton gang - of the OK Corral shoot-out fame.

The tombstone reads:

Here lies George Johnson Hanged by Mistake 1882

He was Right

We was Wrong

But we strung him up

And now he is gone.

Dayna and I visited the OK Corral and watched the re-enactment of the gun fight. The re-enactment was high camp - lots of humor and some gun play.

These are the stables at the OK Corral where the horses were kept.

There is also a small blacksmith area.

We walked around the Tombstone area. Tombstone has basically been preserved as a tourist attraction with a lot of souvenir shops, saloons, and restaurants. It is not as nice as downtown Nashville or the tourist area of Jackson, Wyoming, but it is fun to walk around.

Lots of costume shops where you can buy Western costumes that you would never wear except on a stage or at Halloween.

There are several small museums charging from $5 to $15 with displays like this one where you can see items from the 1800s. You can see similar items if you go into any antique shop for free. However in the antique shop, they probably won't be labeled or displayed as nicely.

We paid $5 to see the "World's Largest Rose Bush", which is quite impressive. It must be really something in the spring and summer when it is in bloom.

I am not sure if this bridle was ever actually used on any woman or if some blacksmith created it as a joke and then sold it to the museum as an actual thing.

Turns out that these were used in the 15th and 16th centuries in Scotland and England, but there is no recorded use of them in the "New World" or North America.  The label is dated 1632, so I am not sure how it found it's way in a museum celebrating a town that was founded some 200 years later. I would be interested to learn exactly what the provenance of this device actually is.

Hay Creek Ranch - Oracle, AZ

 

You take a narrow winding dirt road to get into Hay Creek Ranch, but overall the road is not too bad. 

There are easily 20 LQs here and a lot of equestrians. This is probably the most equestrians we have seen in months. Everybody appears to be actively riding as well.

Some of the campers say they got here in October and plan to stay through March.

Most of the horses are in covered stalls. 

When we first arrived, there were no stalls available, so our two horses shared a large round pen. There was no cover, but it was fine. The next morning they were assigned to some stalls when some campers moved out.

I had a doctor's appointment on the day before we arrived. X-rays show that what had been a partial fracture is now a complete fracture and the bones are now farther apart and mis-aligned. So, instead of the break healing, it had gotten worse over the past three weeks. The doctor says it is looking more probable that we are looking at a nonunion fracture - where the fracture doesn't heal. He recommended a device that promotes bone growth to see if that would work. The device has a pretty good success rate - close to 90%. Otherwise, I would be looking at possible surgery in about four months. 

Now, Ari and I had to make a choice. We figured we had three options. Option 1: Bag the trip. Head back to California. Get proper treatment for my fracture and possibly try our trip again in six to nine months. Option 2: Stay in Arizona and wait out the four months to see if I would need surgery, and if I needed surgery, it would be a minimum of 12 weeks before I would be able to ride. Option 3: Stay the course, keep our travel itinerary, use the bone healing device on the road, continue to stay off my feet as much as possible. The doctor said I could ride as long as I didn't overdo it.

So, this morning we went on a ride out of the camp. We did the Ridgeline Trail, which is a relatively flat, easy ride. 

We only rode for about two hours 

We met some fellow campers coming back from their morning ride as we headed out.

I was in a considerable amount of pain by the time we got back from the ride, but I was glad to get out. I think this may be doable as long as we keep the rides relatively short and we don't ride every day.