Do you remember when!

Just old pictures I discovered.

Car Across Cochise: Lordsburg

Lunch at the Kranberry Café: actually quite good.

And across the street,

Needless to say, we stocked up. You never know how many shells you’ll need in a year. But just a word of caution: the cruise missiles and the nuclear weapons are way over priced.

Forewarned is forearmed. Shop carefully.

Car Across Cochise: Willcox

Willcox, Arizona is very proud of its native son, Rex Allen. Frankly, I had never heard of him before. Karla claims she didn’t know who he was either.

But Willcox is also the home of somebody else. I don’t remember his name right now, but Karla was pretty sure he sang the song “El Paso”. So of course, we broke into song, “Out in the west Texas town of El Paso, la da la da la da la da”.

We were asked to leave town.

Car Across Cochise: Chiricahua National Monument

Not all of our time was spent pursuing dimwitted destinations.

Chiricahua National Monument is absolutely beautiful.

A recent fire left eerie visions, which I photographed poorly!

Car Across Cochise: Tombstone

We all know the story: OK Corral; Earps, Clantons, some other people; bang-bang; dead.

But in Tombstone, it lives on. ‘The town too tough to die’ repeats the story over and over, dozens of times a day, seven days a week.

Karla and I had fully intended to stay sober until noon that day (it was Sunday, after all), but my über-sensitive sister was becoming visibly rattled by the dead and dying littering the dusty streets.

I thought it important that we duck inside the nearest saloon and wet our whistles.

And after that we did a lot of things that were really neat.

Or at least that is what Karla tells me.

There would have been pictures, but my camera was acting weird that day.

Car Across Cochise: Felicity

As we zipped eastbound along I-8 in southern California, nearing the Colorado River, we noticed a blazingly white church on an obviously man-made hill.

Guess what? We took the next exit and explored!

Felicity, California’s population is zero. At least that is according to the latest census data.

 

With that said, it should be noted that there are more ‘Arm of God Sundials’ (à la Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel) per capita in Felicity than on any other place on earth. (I would say ‘in the universe’, but apparently there is a replica or two on Alpha Centauri and the counterclaims are getting litigious. I want nothing to do with that little brouhaha.)

There is also a sweet little section of decayed stairway from the Eiffel Tower. (Note to self: next time you visit the Tour Eiffel, take the elevator instead of sprinting up the stairs without a prior, independent inspection.)

But the coup de grace is this cute little pyramid, which I neglected to take a picture of. And inside the cute little pyramid is the Center of the World. Hey, the Board of Directors of Imperial County, California said so. I’m not going to question their authority.

 

And yes, I have been certified!

Car Across Cochise: Bombay Beach

Early in our adventure, Karla and I found an amazing place to retire: Bombay Beach, California.

Located on the shores of the Salton Sea, there is an amazing amounts of sunshine, near zero chance of snow and… and… give me a moment here.

I thought that would be enough to sell Richard, but I was wrong.

Oh, come on. Fresh coat of paint and new curtains in the kitchen and this place would be cute as a button.

You people, you lack the vision to see the possibilities!