October 3 All About Dodge City

Oh, it was so nice to sleep until 9. Since it’s Sunday Bill was patiently waiting for his soft boiled eggs, bacon, toast and fruit. I had fried grits instead of eggs and toast. I thought of Harry when I ate my grits. He used to come to my house for breakfast every Wednesday morning and lots of mornings I’d make grits for him. Now he’s on his own for breakfast!

We kinda lazed around but I hemmed the sleeves of my new top I got in Branson, and repaired Bill’s wind suit pants. Since it’s windy out again today I think we will need them. I did 2 more loads of wash and Bill vacuumed. We got out the oscillating ceramic heater so we can take the chill off and not have to use the furnace. It takes propane so better to use the park’s electric since we’re paying for it. Bill showered at the bathhouse and I waited til my cold water load was in to take my shower. We only have a 10 gallon water heater so you have to be cautious in your hot water usage.


Notorious outlaw Billy the Coach
in the Dodge City jail

I told Bill I was going to change out the cable and see it there might be a problem with it. The other cable worked fine. He then informed me that we needed to put the splitter on as we both had shows on tonight at the same time. He went out to do it and discovered that the problem with the first cable was the copper wire inside was too far in to make a connections. I took both ends off and fixed them and we finally got both tvs going. Then we had a quick lunch and headed into town. Boot Hill didn’t open til 1 so we were in no rush. The video was OK. I’m sure Bill knew but I didn’t realize Bat Masterson had also been a deputy and sheriff here. Dodge City was not quite as tame as it was under Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke. There was no Matt Dillon or Miss Kitty, but there was a Long Branch Saloon. Dodge City was a cattle town. The Texas longhorn cattle, millions of them, were driven through here. The cowboys would be ready for some food, drink and women at the end of the several month drive and would have gotten paid when they got here so they would spend lots of time and money in the saloons and they got pretty rowdy. There were gunfights and just shooting up things. Eventually the town grew both in size and civility due to a string of strong lawmen. The Boot Hill cemetery is on a hill and has 32 graves, 1 of which is a woman and was the last person to be buried there. Her name was Alice Chambers. Those rowdy Chambers! The original stores, shops and saloons along Front Street burned down and the second ones were of brick. Then the city officials in the 1950’s went against the wishes of the people and had the buildings torn down to make parking. Several people/groups bought some of the buildings and moved them to where they are now in the “new” complex and in 1958 the current replica of Front Street was built with smaller but all of the names and businesses that had been there in the beginning. The bricks from the buildings were used as the walkway in the museum. The museum has a lot of information about the Indians in the area when the trail went through and the history of some of the cattle ranches that sprang up once the longhorns were no longer allowed to come through. That was because of a disease they developed and the state I guess banned them from being driven here to keep the local animals from catching it. At that time people developed the area into farming and cattle ranching instead of relying on cattle drives to survive. The last part of the museum has lots of memorabilia of the Dodge City movies made and of course, lots of TV Gunsmoke photos, etc. They even have a 1950’s TV playing the show and a western couch and chair you can sit down and watch an episode or 2.

At the Long Branch Saloon

Painting from the original Long Branch

Next we started at one end of Front Street and checked out all the buildings and exhibits. In the summer they have gun fights and more historical interpreters. We started in the general store where we sampled the fudge, Bill ended up buying some fudge to go. Next door was the Long Branch Saloon where Bill moseyed up to the bar and ordered a Sarsaparilla. The bartender was in costume. They have shows on the stage in the summer but we just sat and took in the place and people. They have 3 paintings and a clock from the original saloon. Then we walked through the interiors of the buildings which some have one kind of business in front and a different one in back. There was a doctor, printer, milliner, drugstore, other saloons and at the end was a photographer where you could dress in period clothing. No one was working today. We visited the Victorian House, the school, the blacksmith and the church. And that was the end of Boot Hill and Dodge City. The reason the cemetery is called Boot Hill is because it is on a hill and most of the cowboys were buried with their boots on or put behind their head as a pillow.

On the way home we filled up the truck and went to a Dillon’s Grocery. What a nice store. Reminded me of Publix, prices and all. We won’t have a chance to get anything til we reach Albuquerque, so thought we better get more lunchmeat and bread. I did my last load of laundry and Bill drained the tanks in preparation to leave by 8:30 tomorrow. We had half of the leftovers, leaving the other half for tomorrow. I don’t like having to cook after driving most of the day and it will be about 275 miles. We try to never do over 300 miles in a day because as the driver it is more stressful than driving a car.

We watched our Sunday shows of Desperate Housewives and Bill watched something in the bedroom and I watch Brothers and Sisters as I typed on the blog and downloaded the photos. Got all but today posted so hope I have internet tomorrow.