theboondork's RV blog

I'll be moving on tomorrow

2/7/2023

There's more important things in life than clicking the pics, but I'm not sure what that would be.

The Birdcage Theater.

I visited the Birdcage Theater today. I had been there before, probably ten years ago, and since it's a museum, it doesn't change much. It's probably one of the most famous places in Tombstone outside of Boot Hill, and oddly enough, Boot Hill and the Birdcage Theater are both run by the same person.

The Birdcage was featured prominently in the movie "Tombstone," the Birdcage is one of the more interesting places because so much of it is original and not fake, like the movie sets in "Tombstone" the movie.

I chose a weekday to see it because it can get pretty crowded on weekends, and it's hard to get pictures when the place is full of people. But by camping here, I got there when it opened, so I had the place all to myself.

I'll be heading back to the Pima County Fairgrounds tomorrow morning, and hopefully, the mess from the Gem and Jam Show people will be cleaned up by then. One thing I've noticed is some groups of people seem more messy than others. For instance, events that attract city people tend to have a bigger mess to clean up after they're gone. But the rodeo people and the horse people hardly leave a mess at all, not counting the horses of course.

I'm not exactly sure what causes that; maybe it's because city people tend to believe the government should take care of everything for them, or maybe they're used to having someone clean up after them, or perhaps they don't feel responsible for what they do. But whatever it is, I've noticed that people who are more country-oriented don't just throw things on the ground; they clean up after themselves and their horses.

Theboondork

I hope you can read the information at the bottom of the picture

The theater stage.

I like the yellow glow of the old kerosene lights, but these have been converted to electricity for safety sake.

The Birdcage Theaters floor where the cheap seats would be.

The $25 per night box seats at the theater. And when Doc Holliday and the Earp brothers were here the average working man made a dollar a day. So this was a high-class place to be.

Three more portraits I took of Tombstone locals.

Gotta admit, I have a gift for making people look grungy and ugly.... I guess I wouldn't make a very good wedding photographer.

I just had to take a picture of this monster as it was driving by me in Tombstone. I looked it up on the Internet and this thing is made in Germany and you can get them on the Mercedes van body. They start at about $300,000 and go up from there. It looks like a class "C" but uglier.

8 Comments

OFM

2/7/2023 07:45:09 pm

After seeing several of the latest rage of travel vans here at Falcon, I am getting the feeling that the pickup campers and the travel vans are about equal for camping/traveling uses. Has your feeling on that matter changed any now with more experience on your current rig?

Tom

2/7/2023 08:48:53 pm

I'm becoming more and more comfortable in the Lance, and I feel that I no longer have the need or the desire to live in something the size of the Arctic Fox. And I think the only thing I miss about the Arctic Fox is the huge amount of storage space that it had, but looking back on it, I stored a lot of stuff that I seldom used or I could do without, and so far, I'm not really missing any of it.

I'm seeing a lot of the small fiberglass rolling egg-type trailers, and I think that the Lance has just as much space as those small trailers have. When I think about it, what I've really lost in the Arctic Fox, other than the stress of hauling it around, is the distance I have to walk from one place to another in the trailer. The Lance has a bathroom, kitchen, bed, and a table with a place to sit. The Arctic Fox had all of those things, and there was just more space between them. But I'm finding out I really didn't need all that space between those things; I've got plenty of space outside that I can use when I want to move around.

But I don't think I could've gone from my house to a truck camper. I needed something in between that was spacious with plenty of storage room so I could figure out what I really needed and what I didn't based on what kind of life I wanted to live, and now I think I figured it out at least based on my current situation. That may change as I get older but right now I'm happy with my more mobile lifestyle and living like a turtle.

Tom

Judith

2/7/2023 08:17:48 pm

Well now, the Birdcage was a pretty elegant place, Fatima included. That monster thing is interesting in the last photo, I guess people will just take things as far as they can. Well, who knows, maybe it will go anywhere and last a lifetime with low maintenance. Or something.I don't exactly know what to think.

2/7/2023 09:02:41 pm

The birdcage was a high-class place, but when they were no shows going on it was mainly a saloon, a gambling establishment, and a place where a few ladies of suspect morals lived... And worked. But that was still considered high-class.

It was a rather huge clunky-looking RV, and it had some weird European tags on both ends, so he must've shipped the thing from Germany. I see those superexpensive, rugged, heavy-duty RVs like that in my travels, and so far they seem to be boondocking in the same places I am. In fact I took the picture of that one as it was coming out of the boondocking campground where I'm staying.

Tom

Linda

2/8/2023 01:04:25 pm

I think grungy or gritty is an appropriate look for residents of Tombstone so your portraits look just right to me. Why am I suddenly remembering the movie True Grit?

2/8/2023 04:08:35 pm

Maybe it's because John Wayne was kind of grungy and gritty in that movie. I think I've got every movie John Wayne ever made. He wasn't the greatest actor in the world I just liked his character. And no matter which movie was in he always played the same character.... John Wayne.

Tom

Indigo

2/10/2023 08:59:57 am

Dear Sir Dorkie The Boondocker … thanks for allowing my withering humor from a previous post. And … Oh now there you go again with yet another ghost. To quote The Grateful Dead: trouble ahead, lady in red, take my advice you’d be better off dead! How many hours do you have to stand and wait for a lady dressed in floor-length red to walk by The Bird Cage Theater? And btw, my apologies for just learning blog posting etiquette. It seems you have to jump on the current post within minutes in order to join the party? But I couldn’t let this ghost sighting go unnoticed.

2/10/2023 04:06:25 pm

Don't worry Indigo, just as in my own life there is no etiquette in my blog. Feel free to come and go as you please. I have no rules, nor do I have a desire or the ability to correct anyones spelling, or grammar. Humor is appreciated, and any questions will be answered to the best of my limited abilities.

I didn't have to wait long at all for the lady in red, a lot of the folks in Tombstone dress in period costume so it's very easy to get a picture of a cowboy, a Sheriff, or even a lady in red.

"Truckin" has always been my favorite song by the Grateful Dead. It reminds me of the time when I had just got out of the Air Force in 1969 and I was trying to grow my hair long and be as much of a hippie as I could, and "Truckin" which I believe came out in 1970 became my anthem.

Tom

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I'll be moving on tomorrow

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