A Little History from the American West

Sometimes my little brain makes some crazy connections.  So, here we go, and please stick with me – I promise to wrap this all together at some point.

I am taking a R.I.P.P.E.D. exercise class which is new at our gym (big shout out to Kelly, our fantastic instructor!)  RIPPED is a crazy acronym for a fun total-body workout including cardiovascular, strength, agility, and coordination training.  It uses canned music specific to each segment of the workout and one song is called “Barnyard Boogie.”  It’s a catchy mix of country and rap, and though I cannot catch all the words, it talks about being wanted in Tombstone and through Arizona and making a pit stop with Doc Holliday.  Then the song goes on to talk about rodeos, dancing, swinging your partner, etc.  Now, what really caught my attention was referencing Doc Holliday along with all that physical activity.  I happen to have read a lot about the good Doc and know that he participated in neither rodeos nor must have done much Do-Si-Do-ing because he contracted TB at the age of 20, began wasting away and died at only 36 years old.

Here is where the crazy connections come in.  My parents were big Colorado history buffs and as a child we spent many a weekend in Colorado ghost towns, mining towns and graveyards.  Does that sound fun?  Well, not really.  I think we were bribed by a trip to Pat’s Twist- O-Cream and a cone on the way home.  One of the big draws was the beautiful town of Glenwood Springs where TB patients would come to recover (in actuality, mostly to die) in the 1800s, and where the famous gunslinger John Henry “Doc” Holliday died.  While our family was vacationing there this summer, we visited the cemetery and the memorial erected there.  My parents must have been snickering in heaven.  My brother-in-law Mike took these pics of the memorial the town of Glenwood Springs erected in honor of the famous gunslinger.

Now living in Arizona, the connections to Doc continue.  The town of Tombstone in the southern part of the state is where the gunfight at OK Corral took place and that’s where the legend of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday really took off.

Mary Doria Russell who wrote a great novel Doc and contributes articles for publications such as True West Magazine has been one resource for brushing up my memory about those events.  In October of 1881 the shootout between the Clanton Gang and Wyatt Earp’s “lawmen” was reported by the Tombstone Epitaph on the AP wire via telegraph, carried around the world, and Wild West history was born.  To this day, the tiny town of Tombstone recreates the gunfight daily, drawing thousands of tourists a year.  Russell writes, “In life, he had few friends, but in American mythology Doc has become clever Odysseus to Wyatt Earp’s stalwart Achilles—a source of detached amusement and witty commentary. Wyatt’s the hero, but Doc is the one we love.”  John Henry was born with a cleft palate in 1851, a condition that most babies died from, but his own uncle was a surgeon who repaired his defect using a European procedure in the US for the first time.  His mother addressed his speech impediment by inventing a successful speech therapy for him.  He was much loved and raised as a wealthy Southern gentleman in Georgia, and received the finest medical education available at the time – Doctor of Dental Surgery.  Hence, “Doc” Holliday.  At only 22 years old, he left everything he knew and loved, to come to the American West, hoping the dry heat would prolong his life.

How did this brilliant man get the reputation of gun slinger and gambler?  It turns out the dental practice he started suffered from a severe recession, and he could make more money gambling in one night than from practicing dentistry for a year.  He met up and became friends with Wyatt Earp, a young lawman, in Dodge City, Kansas, and their lives became intertwined and still are – 150 years later.

Of course, Hollywood has always loved this story and has recreated it as history and fiction based on the events.  Some of the famous Wyatt Earps:  Kevin Costner, Kurt Russell, James Garner, Jimmy Stewart and Henry Fonda.  Some of the famous Doc Hollidays:  Val Kilmer, Stacy Keach, Dennis Quaid and Jason Robards.

In my book, Val Kilmer was the best.  He made me think he was a well-educated, young, ill and genteel Southerner who happened to have a gun in his hand and really had nothing to lose.

Doc was buried at the Linwood Cemetery in Glenwood Springs.  For some reason, that cemetery is up the mountain from the town and is quite a hike to get to.  I cannot imagine why the town transported bodies and buried them up there, but it’s a beautiful town and hopefully a good resting place for John Henry Holliday. But alas, I don’t really associate Doc Holliday with an exercise routine.

What I’ve Been Doing

I had a super fantastic week.  I saw out-of-town friends for lunch Monday and dinner Tuesday.  We headed to LA and the Getty on Wednesday (more on that coming soon), Universal Studios on Thursday, Disneyland on Friday with family and dinner with friends on Saturday.  Phew!  This week it’s going to be getting back to my routine and LOTS of working out and NOT LOTS of eating.

What I’ve Been Reading

I’ve been reading a hard copy book this week and it’s taking me forever to get through it because it’s old and the print is small and sort of runny.  Another reason I like my Kindle.  Anyway, it’s a mystery I’m not loving but by an author I do love, so I’m sticking with it, but it’s not worth mentioning here.  When I saw my friend Jill on Tuesday (!) she recommended This Tender Land so it’s on my request list.  It’s by William Kent Krueger who wrote Ordinary Grace which I loved!  Looking forward to that.  On audio I’m listening to a Kathy Reichs’ Bones series book which the famous TV show is based on.  I’m now interested in seeing if I like the series, so I’ll be checking that out on streaming this week.  I’m listening to Spider Bones which is number 13 in the series, so I have a lot to catch up on if I want to listen to the series.  I finished the audio of The Sign of the Book by John Dunning.  It’s the second in the Cliff Janeway series I listened to, but might be number 4 in the series.  Those take place in Colorado during the time when I lived there, so I enjoy that.

What I’ve Been Eating

Well, with all that going out nonsense, you can imagine my kitchen didn’t get much use this week.  I did manage to make some chicken tortilla soup in the crockpot for our football dinner yesterday.  Just to be clear, John is the one watching football. I spend Sunday in the other room curled up with cats and a book. I’m sure there are a thousand good recipes online for this soup, but it’s super easy with ingredients we always have on hand and can be made stovetop or crockpot.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Ingredients

• 2 chicken breasts
• 2 cups frozen corn
• ½ onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, pressed
• 1 can diced tomatoes (with or without chilies)
• 1 can tomato sauce
• 2 cans water (I rinse out the tomato cans and put the water in the soup)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• ¼ tsp cayenne
• ¼ tsp black pepper
• 1 tbsp (or to taste) green chilies or chopped jalapenos
• 1 tbsp chicken Better than Bullion
• Corn tortilla chips
• Grated cheese (optional topping)
• Sour cream (optional topping)

Directions

Place all ingredients except tortilla chips in pot, bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer.  Cook for an hour stovetop and 6 hours crockpot.  Shred chicken. Top with chips and your favorite toppings