March 14, 2005
After a beautiful weekend, it turned cold and windy this morning. Rather cloudy now (4:15 PM).

So, after all of my painting studies on Wyatt Earp and company flagging down an eastbound freight train at Papago Station, I get this Email from my historical contact Neil Carmony:

"Papago Station, 12 to 15 miles or so east of Tucson was just a siding with maybe a water tank. Evidently it didn't have a regular station house."

Now this totally changes the dynamic of the scene. If Earp showed his badge to a depot agent or employee of the Southern Pacific Railroad and had him flag down the train, that is one thing. But if Earp and crew arrived on foot at a lonely water tank at midnite and decided to flag down the next train with an undershirt or handkerchief, that's another matter entirely. For one thing, imagine what the engineer and fireman must have thought, approaching in the dark, chugging along and up ahead are five men standing on the tracks bristling with shotguns. Does the term "train robbery" mean anything to you? There is some evidence that the engineer was not pleased with the unscheduled stop and may have made the Earp boys ride in a cattle car. Even if they got to ride in the engine compartment, imagine their nervousness as they approached Benson as wanted men and looked suspiciously at the depot in case Sheriff Bob Paul had telegraphed ahead for their arrest (we know he telegraphed Tombstone to that effect).

Anyway, my big, grand painting is now in limbo. I also asked Neil where 11-12 miles east of Tucson would put the "station." Would that make it beyond Wilmont Road? I may drive out there on Sunday and take a photo or two, looking back towards Tucson. I want to see how much of the Old Pueblo shows up, especially at night.

Finished a cool little scratchboard this afternoon titled "Blaze Away!" It's of a gunfighter (imagine that!) ripping off a shot. Nice smoke effects which I stole from a Shoot magazine layout, showing modern shooters at a SASS event (Single Action Shooters).

The NAU Book Festival (April 15-16) sent me a request for a bio. I whipped one out. Here's the first two lines:

Born in Iowa and raised on Route 66, Bob Boze Bell knows a thing or two about tourists and telling the truth (you can guess which locale cancelled out the other).

"It is with words as with sunbeams, the more they are condensed, the deeper they burn."
—Robert Southey

"The way I write, most people get a rash."
—BBB