Today was one of exploration and looking for signs that the desert wildflowers are starting to bloom. We took the back roads to Picacho Peak and after checking out this well know landmark used for for centuries for navigation we stopped at Rooster Cogburn's Ostrich Ranch. An ostrich egg weighs 3 1/2 pounds and is equivalent to 24 chicken eggs. Judy got an ostrich duster and Devyn will soon receive an egg which will made 8 very fluffy omlets and a good show and tell at school. We then took more back roads, dirt, to visit Tom Mix wash (named after him when he died there) and the monument where he died in 1940. I know Don will know who Tom Mix is, probably Jean and Margaret too. Judy and I wondered about why he was in the desert and why he had an accident so we planned to Google him. We then went to Florence AZ and stopped for 1 1/2 hours at a great county museum. There we learned Tom Mix had 5 wives, the last from Florence AZ. When he drove through a road blockade, the bridge over a wash (dry stream bed) had been destroyed due to a flash flood, his 1938 Cord convertable flipped over and a metal suitcase hit him in the back of his head. At the museum we saw Apache buckskin playing cards; the story and stuff from the 1888 gun fight between a Florence sheriff and his deputy (who was killed); pictures and the nooses that hung 28 criminals hung at the Florence state penetentary (one noose hung 4 Chinese guys convicted of the same murder); the gallows trap door; the chairs and door from the gas chamber (the gas chamber replaced the gallows after the only woman hung in AZ had her head pulled off when she was hung); info on the suit case murderess; another murderess and lots of other interesting stuff. It's amazing what you can discover in small town free museums. There was lots on local cowboys and ranch life. Judy and I like them much more that large "professional" museums. From there we stopped and a nice Italian resturant and had.....pizza.
