Had a very nice crowd last night at Cartwright's next to the True West World Headquarters. This was the last history dinner of the season and we had 49 diners to hear the Ugly Truth About The O.K. Corral Fight. The turkey mole was excellent and several of my neighbors were in attendance including Lonnie and Dita Couch. Lonnie was a subscriber, then let it drop because as he put it, "I got tired of all the damn lists." Ha. We did go through a list crazy period that was driven by sales. But, after I brought Lonnie and Dita in to meet the staff and ask them questions, one of our sales people asked Lonnie, who is an avid trailer rider, what trails he particularly liked and why. Lonnie replied:
"It's not the trail, it's what happened on the trail."
This was a turning point in the direction of the magazine. We often quote his line, especially when planning travel issues. I even framed a photo of them and included the quote which is in our conference room:
When we have arguments about content I often point at the picture and ask, "What do they want?" Of course, the short answer is they want history.
Last night, Lonnie complemented us on our last couple of issues, adding that he used to read the magazine in one sitting, but now it takes him several days to finish one because there is SO MUCH HISTORY. And, he raved about the photographs—"Where do you find all of those gems?!" This, of course, made my night.
Larry Winget was also in attendance and it was great to see him, as were my neighbors Bob and Lynn Hoss. All are subscribers and supporters of our efforts to keep history alive.
This morning, another one of our readers came into the offices to buy books and get the official tour. Meet Milt:
Milt lives in Ahwatukee, Arizona which is about an hour south of Cave Creek. Milt was an Army Ranger (1963-83) in Vietnam and loves the Old West. He was in Old West Mercantile in Mesa about a year ago and saw our magazine for the first time. He bought it and then subscribed. He bought four of my books and I gave him the tour of ground zero where history comes alive.
"It's not the trail it's what happened on the trail."
—Lonnie Couch
