There are times when I really hate Billy the Kid. Such as now, head aching, hearing my horse’s hooves thundering in the distance and looking up to...
No Horsin’ Around on Billy’s Last Ride
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Johnny D. Boggs
“A Glorious Sight to See”
I’ll be the first to admit: I know nothing about the Battle of Spokane Plains. Actually, I know little about the Pacific Northwest, except I admire...
Billings Fills the Bill
She was one of my first loves. She stood watch over Main Street of my hometown, ancient brick with the year 1905 near the top of her facade. I used...
A Trail of Two Cities
I’m sneaking across the Missouri River, as it may be safer traveling incognito. It seems I ticked off a resident or two the last time I mentioned...
Following Wyatt Earp
Heavily armed men are lying in wait for me when I pull into the Holiday Inn Express—enough to make me nervous. I try to make it to my room...
More than Just O.K.
If only all my deliberations were like this one. I’m off to Oklahoma and trying to decide where I should stay. Yes, I’ve heard that joke: Why did...
Forgotten Trail of Texas Jack Omohundro
They came out in droves for William F. Cody’s funeral back in 1917. Some 25,000 folks passed through the capitol rotunda in Denver, Colorado, where...
Long Before Texas Hold ’em
Disgusted, Wild Bill Hickok tossed down his cards on that fateful August 2, 1876. Hickok had joined the table at Nuttall and Mann’s No. 10 Saloon in...
Riding the Hi-Lo Country with Ol’ Max
In 1,018 years, Max Evans has done just about everything and somehow lived through it—cowboy, calf roper, artist, prospector, mystic, actor,...
All Trails Lead to Casper
“The wind is all,” Jon Chandler writes in his brilliant novel Wyoming Wind. “The wind is ever present.” Boy, he wasn’t kidding, even if he was...
West Texas in the Daylight
All those years when I hung my hat in Dallas / Fort Worth, I told myself the best way to drive across West Texas was at night. I mean, what’s there...
More Bucks and Other Changes
Peanut shells litter the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo’s “green room.” A minister prays with a young cowboy, preparing him for his bull...