h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I once saw a television interview with Butch Cassidy's sister. I am guessing that it was made about 25 years ago now. It was fascinating.

Well? what did she say?

Oooh you can't leave it like that! What'd she say, what'd she say?

Sorry. I didn't mean to leave you hanging, so to speak.

My fascination mainly stemmed from the fact that this was the first time that I comprehended just what a short period it had been since the "wild west" .... if, indeed, it has actually ended!

My memory of the detail is a bit hazy now and I can't remember the interviewer. No doubt there is some old cowboyphile out there who will know of it.

For what it's worth, however, I recall that she was quite a bit younger than Butch: she did not exactly grow up with him. In the interview she related some discussions that had taken place within the family and more particularly she recalled him coming back home after he was supposedly killed in .... was it Bolivia?.... and then leaving again, never to be seen by her again. However, I think also that some mention was made of some ongoing contact between Butch and his mother. She found it very difficult, I think, to reconcile the contrasting veiws of Butch as the returning son and his more infamous reputation.

Cool. It is strange to think that Butch Cassidy's sister was alive and giving interviews just 25 years ago - I always regarded it as being well in the past. It's not really so long ago.

.... and this was the revelation for me, too, and why it has stuck with me over the years.

Trying...so hard... not to say"Howdy, Howdy, Howdy!!"
Hmmm... Living in a part of the States that sports not only Tombstone(3 hours from me), but the now burnt-and-rebuilt cabin of Zane Grey - writer of many a cowboy novel - a 45 minute drive from here - I'm inclined to convey to you, my friends, what it's like to live here in the Southwest, over on the other side of the Rockies from the Great Plains...
Ooogh.
I've lived in Phoenix since - gasp! - '68.
Back then:
Clear, blue skies, many many citrus groves, a decided lack of crowding. (Due, perhaps, to the fact that in July it can reach 45C easily...) Favorite pastimes for the local kids: finding an irrigation canal and floating along in the cool, clean(Really! It really was, having been pumped directly out of the underlying aquifer.)water; if your family was a little better off or lived in a farming community, riding horses; bicycling; or riding dirt bikes.
I could list a lot more. Don't forget the rodeos. Plenty of year-round stuff. I will expound upon more if requested.
Here and Now:
2.5 million people in the county of Maricopa. Haze, and dust from the ongoing construction of many, many housing tracts - most of which used to be farmland(remember the citrus groves?).
The Wild West, Part I
Hmm. Not a lot of Cowboys - the real kind - make their home close in to Phoenix. Most folks of the cowboy sort work farms - or cattle ranches - that are well outside the city area. There are some farms still around where I lve - the west side of the desert valley that Phoenix is situated in - but they are isolated islands of agriculture, surrounded by - you guessed it - housing developments. Many of the farmhands are illegal immigrants; farmwork didn't pay well when I worked on a dairy in 1977, and it doesn't now, but compared to the wages they have to live on down home - in Mexico(4 hours from my house)- no bad attitude from me if they do it. More on that subject another time.
The Wild West, Part II
Guns and the average Arizonan
In Arizona it is legal to openly carry firearms - and people do. The view, however, is not what you would have seen, say, 100 years ago: firearms on every hip. In the city, there are those that carry openly(a relatively small number), and those who have concealed carry permits(relatively quite a few more), and, of course, the criminals. They NEVER carry openly. Why advertise, right? Occasionally - that is to say, a few times a month, more or less - some criminal will pick the wrong house to break into or the wrong "victim" on the street, and find himself staring down a barrel, soon to be arrested; A small number of others find themselves in body bags, having pushed the boundaries of their victims a little too far. We also have a more sinister/stupid form of criminal. Known as: the Drive-By Shooter. Gang members or wanna-bes - cowards, as a rule, unless surrounded by a number of others of similar makeup - occasionally, in the dark of night, roll by a late-night party where a lot of kids are, and fire into the crowd. This is supposed to be some kind of "test of manhood" - to shoot strangers from a darkened car and speed away.

I suppose the sh##heads really think they're special, afterwards.
Not quite the same, say, as Ike Clanton(famous bad guy) confronting Wyatt Earp(famous lawman*) in the streets of Tombstone for a face to face gunfight(yes, it really happened).
I'll relate some more history another time if you folks like; a more interesting variety, as it is about how it used to be around here, back in the late 1800s...

*At times in Wyatt's life it was hard to tell if he was a good guy or not - even when he was the Law in Tombstone!!

Cordially yours 'til next time...
Ironkowboy

"Not quite the same, say, as Ike Clanton(famous bad guy) confronting Wyatt Earp(famous lawman*) in the streets of Tombstone for a face to face gunfight(yes, it really happened)."

Didn't quite happen like that. Billy Clanton didn't have a gun- he was killed in cold blood.

I think you have the outline of a really good entry for the edited guide, Ironkowboy - or indeed several. All I know of the old West is what I've seen in the movies, and I suspect that applies to many people on both sides of the pond - and as for the new West, if I can call it that - well all I know is what I've just read! I'm interested, and I'm sure lots of others would be interested. If you'd like to create an entry or two and gain a wider audience, check out PeerReview to see how it's done.

Incidentally, if you'll activate your page then people can drop by and say hello (or howdy, if you prefer! ) - and you'll get a proper welcome from an ACE like myself. You can do this by clicking on the Edit Page button on your Personal Space and typing something - just 'Hi' will do.

In the meantime, here's a page of handy links I made that I like give to newbies - A794991. If you need a hand with anything, just click on my name to go to my personal space and leave a message for me.

See you around!