Just got back from a trip to the Southwest. A short rundown of all the excitement. Enjoyed Hermin's Hermits at Jackpot, Nevada and won 200 bucks in the MGM at Las Vegas and got sick on the roller coaster at New York New York casino. Got my glasses smeared at Glitter Gultch from some fine lady and shed a tear at Liberace's museum. Took the tour thru Hoover Dam, ran off the road out of Oatman on old Route 66 cause I was site seein and lost a fan belt on the London Bridge in Lake Havasu City, bought some junk at Quartzite and got sunburnt in Yuma soakin up rays while sippin Margaritas!

Went on to Tucson and did nothing. Then on to Tombstone and saw the OK corral. Wasn't what I expected cause everyone was tryin to sell somethin. But it felt great to pack a 38 snubnose down the same streets as did the Earps and Mclowrys. Adobe Lodge motel is right across from the Crystal Palace so the drinks flowed! Stopped at antique shops in Bisbee but didn't stay long cause them people are different! Left the car and weapon on the US side and walked into Naco, Mexico. Not for tourist, believe me! Bought one of them blankets with a hole in it cause I was cold and some Mexican Policia were laughin at me when I walked by. I told the big one to suck my nuts and I guess he knew English cause in 10 minutes I and wifey were at the station. Short 500 dollars and 2 hours later, we were back on our side. What a wonderful country we have!

On to Phoenix, Wickenburg, Prescott and thru the strangest town in the world, Jerome. Took a helicopter ride and saw the canyons of Sedona and damn near fell off a rock on the south rim of Grand Canyon and gained some more air time! Saw the sites at Bryce Canyon and on up to Mormon land and then home to Central Idaho. You all live in a beautiful country out there and I hope it stays that way always!

-- Boswell (cjseed@webtv.net), February 26, 2001

Answers

"...shed a tear at Liberace's museum..."

You do realize that Liberace was what you so affectionately call a "butt-ranger" or "fudge-packer"...don't you, Boz? I am delightfully surprised by your sentimantal, but graceful, retraction of so many past slurs.

-- Break out the cookies and milk (aimless@national_raffle_association.org), February 26, 2001.

welcome back...got pics?

-- Uncle Bob (unclb0b@aol.com), February 26, 2001.

Yep I got 3 rolls of film but I don't have a scanner to show ya! And yes I did get quite sentimental at the Liberace museum cause of his one of a kind talent and because we named our deceased hampster after him. Liberace if you remember last month got a ten pound weight dropped on him and died. Momma taught him how to sit at a tall piano and pound on it with his nose wearing his blue sequined jacket and play You Are My Sunshine.

-- Boswell (cjseed@webtv.net), February 26, 2001.

Bos-

I'd tried to tell ya to stay outta Mexico! You were lucky you got off cheap, both in terms of cash and time! Perhaps there's a lesson for ya there, in terms of controlling what you say. Oh well, live and learn (I hope) bud. And the folks in Bisbee and Jerome, are just like Liberace (the human performer), if ya get my drift. So people who are not much different than your idol! So sorry you didn't take advantage of your time in Tucson to go to the Desert Museum. You missed a great education in ecology and understanding the envirnoment in the fragile Southwest. BTW the Adobe Motel isn't exactly across the street from the Crystal Palace, but what the heck! Glad you enjoyed most of your time in the scenic southwest! You were just a little early for the anticipated grand wildflower display!! Maybe next time!

-- Aunt Bee (Aunt__Bee@hotmail.com), February 27, 2001.

Interesting little travelogue, Boswell. Aside from the border crossing, it sounds like a great trip. Your journey through my old stompin' grounds brought back a lot of memories. I've tipped a couple hundred beers between Oatman, Havasu, Prescott, Sedona and Jerome. I particularly like Prescott. It's the quintessential "small town, USA". (It was the town used in the filming of the movie "Billy Jack".) I remember being in Presott during summer evenings when the town would put up a screen and projector on the courthouse lawn and show recently released Hollywood movies free to the public. What a unique thing to do.

-- CD (costavike@hotmail.com), February 27, 2001.

Aunt Bee, I did go to the Nature Museum! All four of us went out there to see old Tucson but it was too late in the day besides the whole thing burned up in 95 so all the movies that have been made out there were done before it was destroyed. So we went to the museum with 1 and a half hours left. Crawled thru that cave and almost got stuck. I was most fascinated by the buzzards. Wanted to see the big planes out in the desert but didn't. And the Adobe is actually across from the Tombstone Epitaph and it's right next to the Crystal Palace. They're replacing the wood sidewalks in that area so it was fun to watch for quarters when they would lift a board.

-- Boswell (cjseed@webtv.net), February 27, 2001.

CD, we drove thru Prescott because we were tryin to make Sedona before dark so we could pick motels but my God they are a little spendy around them parts. All parts of Arizona are just about as pretty as it gets. And we wanted to get to Sedona so we could see one of them there spaceships and some of the aliens. Everybody else down there has seen em!

-- Boswell (cjseed@webtv.net), February 27, 2001.

yo boz, check-out drudge report--still tink madcow is a joke???

-- al-d (dogs@zianet.com), February 27, 2001.

Got a question for Aunt Bee, Flash, CD or someother knowing person about one thing I noticed that stood out as you drive thru Southern Arizona. Why is it that all them there Saguero cactuses that stand high and proud along the hiway and maybe out over the hills also, seem to be rotted all along the base? Some of them seem to be hangin on to a thread of life.

-- Boswell (cjseed@webtv.net), February 27, 2001.

Why is it that all them there Saguero cactuses that stand high and proud along the hiway and maybe out over the hills also, seem to be rotted all along the base?

Mad cactus disease...

-- Uncle Bob (unclb0b@aol.com), February 27, 2001.

Uncle Bob, does that mean the juice from them sick cactuses will do you in if you try to live off it in case you run off the road and you take a short cut to town to get a wrecker? Cause I got hot and took my pants off and put em over my head for protection and I got thirsty, So I wacked off a piece of cactus and sucked on it to cool down. I probably got somethin worse than Monty Zumas revenge! Please tell me it ain't so!

-- Boswell (cjseed@webtv.net), February 27, 2001.

Bos when are ya gonna fess up and tell people you really live in California? I hate to blow your cover, but this is getting to be too much.

-- (Keeping@you.honest), February 27, 2001.

Bos when are ya gonna fess up and tell people you really live in California?

Damn, he's my neighbor?

-- Uncle Bob (unclb0b@aol.com), February 27, 2001.

I don't know much about California and only been there once. Ain't goin back either! Especially San Francisco. You don't turn your rear to nobody down in them parts! Hell the reason you can't get a BJ in California anymore is because all the cocksuckers moved to Idaho.

-- Boswell (cjseed@webtv.net), February 27, 2001.

That is a good story and I know that it is a story. Now, why don't you tell the truth. Sure you took a trip, but what really happened in Mexico. Could it have been that you had one to many margarita's and to much time in the tanning bed that you stripped off all your clothes and went running around the hotel naked singing you are my sunshine.

-- Bullshiter's Daughter (nm1jt@juno.com), February 27, 2001.

Told a Mexican cop to suck yer nuts huh? That's about as fucking dumb a thing to do as anything I've ever heard. That's right up there with anything a drunk does after saying "Watch this..."

-- Uncle Deedah (unkeed@yahoo.com), February 27, 2001.

Okay, the bit about Mexico was stretched a little. I told the big cop he was sittin down on the job and out to earn his keep and he got angry. Actually he got really pissed! He said somethin about stupid hillbillies should stay at home and he had me stand and he felt me up. Kind of embarrasin! He wanted my Budweiser cap and my Roy Rodgers pocket knive so I give it to him and we left. It was still a close call!

-- Boswell (cjseed@webtv.net), February 27, 2001.

bos,

Anytime you want info about the Sonoran Desert, go here:

http://www.desertmuseum.org/

They have a very cool search engine, and all you want to know. For example, if you look at the article on Saguaros and insects, you will find that over 400 insects depend on the Saguaro for survival. I suspect the Saguaros you speak of, were at the end of their life,(200 yrs old) beginning to dematerialize back in to the ecostream of the desert. The black at the bottom was the aging process setting in, and the insects beginning to use the dying flesh for food. Everything is recycled in the desert, due to the precious resources of water being so rare. Thus the abundance of insects that make the dying saguaro their home for a time. Read, research, and learn! Hopefully the next time you visit the desert, you will have a better appreciation of what it takes to survive here, be you plant, insect, or mammal!

-- Aunt Bee (Aunt__Bee@hotmail.com), February 27, 2001.

I like this site

-- Uncle Bob (unclb0b@aol.com), February 27, 2001.

Yep, those are two great sites. Wish I had them before I left. Didn't have any idea those things were that old. They could have pricked Geronomo or Billy the Kid or smelled the blood at the Alamo. I'm gettin tired of pine and fur trees already so it's time to go back. Open country is where it's all at.

-- Boswell (cjseed@webtv.net), February 27, 2001.

Hey thanks UB!

Would ya hotlink the site I listed? Thanks in advance!

-- Aunt Bee (Aunt__Bee@hotmail.com), February 28, 2001.

Link to Aunt Bee's Desert Site

-- Uncle Bob (unclb0b@aol.com), February 28, 2001.

Thanks Uncle Bob!

Anything you want to know about the Sonora Desert flora and fauna (sorry flora, not you!) is there, just fyi!

-- Aunt Bee (Aunt__Bee@hotmail.com), February 28, 2001.