Day 6, Part 3: Thursday, April 27th, 2006
El Paso, Texas to Tucson, Arizona
The eerie desolation of the roads west of Hachita pales in comparison to the turbulent drama I experienced in the Boot Heel, and soon I find myself at the Arizona border, where a lonely cluster of rocky mountains is waiting to greet me.
The Neon and I take an unexpected lunch break when we discover a monument to Geronimo on the side of the road. Apparently, the great Apache chief finally surrendered to federal forces in the mountains just east of this spot. The monument--which dates back to the days of the WPA--claims that this marked an end to hostilities between the Indians and the US Government "forever."
In the town of Douglas, I re-enter the world of cell phone service and and give Jeff a call to let him know where I am. From there, I head north and pass through copper mining country and the town of Bisbee, which serves as the seat of Cochise County. After driving by the massive Lavender Pit/Queen Mine outside of town, I'm surprised--and disappointed--to discover that the rest of Bisbee has become a tourist trap, replete with little specialty stores and middle-aged Californians, partaking in "High English Tea" in the late afternoon.
Two such tourists even invade my courthouse picture.
"Have you taken a look inside?" one of them asks me. "It's PRIMO art deco!"
Neither of them listens when I try to explain how my courthouse project doesn't involve the inside of any of the buildings, so I forget about them and take a picture of this Catholic church instead.
A few miles north of Bisbee is Tombstone, where there was apparently some sort of gun battle at this place called the OK Corral, a long time ago.
To this day, law and order in Tombstone are presided over by a Marshal, not a Sheriff.
