September 20, 2003
Went up the hill last night to Prescott. Stopped and had dinner at Young’s Farm. They were trying to close (7:40 pm!), but we snuck in to the dining room. Kathy commented she hasn’t had that good of a salad in over a year (Turkey salad, I had the bar-b-que beef sando, $25 cash, includes tip). Got into Prescott around 8:30, went up to Ed M.’s cabin. Big horse trailer in his driveway (Ed’s house sits about 50 yards up the hill). Had to rouse the neighbor to move it. Irritating. I actually wanted to park behind him and make him have to come up to the cabin in the morning and wake me and then I was going to tell him to go to hell, and if he wanted to fight I was going to grab a tire iron and cave in his skull and throw his lifeless body across the fence and let the buzzards pick at it all day until his wife found him and called rural metro but it would be too late because I’d be back in Maricopa County beyond the reach of the law. Instead, Kathy talked me into braving his dogs and yelling at him over his back gate. His wife came over and moved the gooseneck so we could get in. This morning as we left he met us out by his garden and gave us four fresh cucumbers from his garden. I gave him a Bad Man book and a True West. We bonded and will probably be friends for life.

At nine this morning, I took Kathy out to the Kingsland Racquet Club so she could do a palates class and I went down to Sharlott Hall Museum for the Second Annual Book Fair and set up our booth. Nice people. Met the owner of the Palace Bar on Whiskey Row. Also a Virgil Earp researcher who does a first-person narrative on the Earp bro. Sue H. and Mike came up from Phoenix to help out. Sue made several great contacts for us.

Picked up my wife from the gym at 12:30 and brought her back to our booth. Kathy went across the street and got coffee and lunch to go at a local bakery. She asked if they had weak or strong coffee and the waiter said, “There is no such thing as weak coffee, only weak people.”

Only sold about five books, but turned on quite a few Prescottonians to True West magazine. I gave each person who stopped and looked a test: “Are you really interested in the Old West?” All those who hedged or gave me that mamby pamby, “I like a lot of things,” didn’t get a free mag. My favorite response was from a big ol’ Earth Mama gal who said, when I gave her the pop quiz, “I lived in a tee pee for fifteen years, does that count?” Here’s your magazine, Ma’am, you are True West.

Took off at four for Cave Creek. Sailed down the Black Canyon until New River when everything came to a crawl. They’re building an off ramp to deal with all those Anthem jerks (Hi Ted) and it’s causing major traffic problems. Sue and Mike said they had an hour wait coming up.

Got back around five. Had dinner at El Encanto ($41 cash), came home, walked the dogs and came out here to write this up.

“I dream for a living.”
—Steven Spielberg