April 20, 2006
Cleaned out a huge portion of the garage this morning, so Eric from 24-Hour-Mobile-Car-Care could start the ‘49 and get it back in the garage. Eric was still working on the carburetor when I left, but when I went home for lunch I found this threatening note: “Start this car every day or I’ll turn you over to PCS (Protective Car Service).”

Working hard on the Wham Robbery for the next issue’s Classic Gunfights. One of the suspected robbers has a hilarious handle and if I saw it in a movie I wouldn’t believe it. His name? Sheriff Marshal. Yes, this is allegedly his actual given name. Imagine someone stumbling into a whore house and yelling out, “Is that you Sheriff?” And everyone clears out the back. Funny. But true.

Other Magazines Get Grief Too, Like This Letter From A Fellow Saddle Nazi to A Certain Magazine
“Dear Cowboys & Indians: I am a happy subscriber of your fine magazine. I just finished reading the article on Robert Duvall. I was very disturbed to see the cover of Mr. Duvall in his ‘Western’ wardrobe sitting on a 1980's calf roping saddle with nylon horn knot. How stupid do they think the viewers are? Why spend Millions of dollars on sets, wardrobe, weapons, and talent and then put the main star on a saddle worth $250 that totally is wrong for the time period???? I would be more than happy to furnish Mr. Duvall with an AUTHENTIC saddle for his next show, just have him contact me. He might as well have been sitting on the hood of a 2005 Chevy Crew Cab Pickup, it would be just as authentic. GREAT ACTOR, GREAT PERSON, don't ruin the show with cheap saddles.”
—David Carrico, professional saddle provider

“Stress comes from putting yourself in the position of constantly reacting to others' input.”
—Sara Schurr

Status of Operation Fifty Bonus Circ Locations
I received some great suggestions this morning from many of you regarding our expanded circ efforts (see yesterday’s posting). Here’s a smattering of them and their suggestions:

J.Rae’s Suggestions for additional outlets:
• Steamboat Arabia Museum/Gift Shop, Kansas City, Missouri
• Pony Express Museum/Gift Shop, St. Joseph, Missouri
• Frontier Army Museum/Gift Shop, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas
• James Farm Museum/Gift Shop, Kearny, Missouri
• Patee House Museum, St. Joseph, Missouri
• Boot Hill Museum and Front Street, Dodge City, Kansas
• Historic Franklin Hotel, Deadwood, South Dakota
• Midnight Star (saloon/gaming), Deadwood, South Dakota
• Bullock Express, Deadwood, South Dakota
• Fort Abraham Lincoln Museum/Gift Shop, Mandan/Bismarck, North Dakota
• Wyatt Earp Boyhood Home Museum, Pella, Iowa

Many more ideas, and here they are (below)!
—J.Rae

• Dalton Defenders Museum, Coffeyville, Kansas
www.coffeyville.com

• Darke County Historical Society Garst Museum, Greenville, Ohio
www.garstmuseum.org

• The Coppock Wing houses the Annie Oakley Collection

• The Archer House (Historic Inn), Northfield, Minnesota
www.archerhouse.com

• First National Bank of Northfield (Bank Museum), Northfield, Minnesota
www.northfieldhistory.org—J.Rae

“A lot of good places on your list so far. The hotel you're looking for in Cimmaron, NM is the St. James. It was built when the Sante Fe trail was still in operation & has an impressive roster of frontier characters, shootings & ghosts.

“You might consider contacting the book stores in NPS historic sites. You feature them in numerous articles & it should be a good partnership.

“When I have a little more time I will get you a few more Colorado locations. It seems like your distributor up here needs to get you better exposure in the high visibility locations... supermarkets, Walmart, etc. I rarely see your product on their shelves.

"We are developing a B&B to compliment our chuck wagon catering business and would be happy to distribute some of your mags. I could pass some out during my rounds in my horse shoeing/blacksmithing business. We could use the same approach as the drug dealers... ‘first one's free!’ Maybe the printed word could back up the tall tales I've been tellin' em all these years.”
—Lloyd Britton

Some more suggestions, these from Tom Carpenter:

• Grand Canyon West Ranch
www.grandcanyonranch.com

• The old Diamond Bar Ranch,Tap Duncan country. Hundreds of folks arriving weekly, including many international travelers, coming and going for helicopter rides and overnight stays, all of them interested in the old west. There are several cabins and (sigh) a few teepees for overnight guests--with no television or radio. So, you have a semi-captive reading audience.

• X Diamond Ranch (www.xdiamondranch.com) in Greer. A slice of heaven that has several cabins and a store for placement. Lots of press coverage, usually booked heavily throughout the summer and not everybody who stays there likes to fish . . .

• Shady Dell Trailer Park in Bisbee (www.theshadydell.com) for people who like to catch their breath by reading between bouts of randy sex triggered by Herb Alpert albums played on the phonograph in the Tiki Bus . . . or so I'm told.

• Noftsger Hill Inn B&B in Globe (www.noftsgerhillinn.com). Old schoolhouse converted into B&B.

• Fort Beale Mercantile in Kingman (www.fortbeale.com) because some people still know how to read in Kingman, and want something other than the Army Field Manual No. 21-76.

• And of course, in Denny's everywhere, for insomniacs like me who grow weary of reading the auto trader while we peck at our scrambled eggs and listen to the only waitress bitch about her bunions and her deadbeat ex-husband to the line cook whose meth recovery is about to go south again.

“Back to bed now, Tommy, work awaits in a few short hours . . .”
—Tom Carpenter

Favorite Onion Headline de Jour
Heinz Factory Explosion Looks Worse Than It Is

“We live in an age when unnecessary things are our only necessities.”
—Oscar Wilde