Bisbee/Tombstone, 2022 Day 1- Boot Hill

 The first day of our trip to Bisbee and Tombstone, Arizona, 2022. Plans are being made to make another trip down by the end of this year. Honestly one of my favorite road trips. Unfortunately, some of the photographs have been lost through technical failure and corrupted transfers. 

The day dawned with excitement. I got myself ready to check out of the hotel in Scottsdale. The plan was for Mike to come load out early in the morning. The earlier we got on the read, the better our adventure will be. We were headed to a yacht in Bisbee, about a three hour drive from the house in Queen Creek. He got there and we made our way to Queen Creek to drop off and pick up a few things for our adventure. The heap would still be there when we got back. After we unloaded, we got loaded. We smoked up, grabbed refreshed road bags, snacks, and more weed. We were on the road by around eight in the morning. The first destination was Boot Hill Cemetery. 

One of the aspects of road-tripping I enjoy most is to watch the scenery change as one travels from one's home base to one's destination. This trip certainly did not disappoint. As the scenery passed, it changed from the stark beige with spots of green landscaping to a more lush and green scene that is similar to that of the high deserts of Utah and Wyoming. I brought along my camera, of course. As a self-published author, I've discovered the value of putting a little effort into one's photography skills. I couldn't wait to channel my inner photog.  The landscape is stunning and I realized that I lost track of the conversation. I was not used to seeing green mountains anymore. Sure, the locals get to see this every day of their lives. To the average tourist its a new world of wonder. 

We gratefully arrived at Boot Hill Cemetery. Finally a chance to stretch out. I write ghost stories and Boot Hill is popular for those who are active in that particular realm. I, myself, have a particular area of interest in final resting places and places of violent deaths. Since this was a vacation, I was not planning to do any kind of investigation, I took snaps of gravestones of interest. I wasn't trying to catch anything with my camera, but I did happen to catch something, it would be a total bonus. It's kind of like selling something that was given to you second-hand. The bonus there is nearly 100% profit. I am writing this the morning after we got back. I have yet to go through the photos. I wandered around and read headstones and was reminded of how far we have come as a society as far as eliminating diseases that killed most of the children buried there. These diseases are preventable today. The stones serve as reminders to those who lived and died through the relative taming of the Wild West. Sadly, human cruelty, that led to the violent deaths of those who rest there is still in full force through Modern American Society. I fear those dark elements will last forever. Of course, there was the usual exit through the gift shop. I got my first souvenir of the trip.

I was struck by the grave site for one Mrs. Stump. Judging from the ornate iron fence and care put into the site that she must have been well loved/respected in the community. She died in childbirth. Since Roe vs. Wade was recently overturned by the Supreme Court, I paused to reflect on this huge step back in women's healthcare. According the the Descriptive List provided by the kind and friendly staff of the graveyard, Mrs. Stump died from an overdose of chloroform, given to her by the doctor to ease the pain of childbirth. I pulled back and thought about my own experiences with childbirth. The best birth I had involved very little medical involvement. There must have been some sort of complication yet misunderstood by the average country doctor at the time. Historically children were brought into the world with their mothers attended by midwives and/or other women in the family. Doctors were called in only in the case of emergencies. With advances in medical knowledge and technology, we Americans still have the highest infant mortality rate in the developed world, if the news is to be believed. Even with those advances, childbirth still remains one of the mysterious miracles of life.