Dressed in cowboy hat and boots, I’m walking across the San Antonio Missions Visitors Center parking lot with my four-year-old son when a docent...
On a Mission in San Antone
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Road Trip
Fort Courage Isn’t Here
Bob Bluthardt is used to the question, “Where is the wall?” After all, visitors have seen those pine palisade walls in B-Westerns, and plenty of...
The Great Northfield Raid
Robbing the First National Bank in Northfield, Minnesota, wasn’t the best career move The Boys ever made. The Boys included Frank and Jesse James,...
Cassidy Country’s Cool
It’s hard to get in a Butch Cassidy frame of mind in downtown Denver, but I’m trying. For one, I tell myself that the rooms in the Burnsley...
Looking for Joe Leaphorn
Few novelists today are better at exploring the American West and expanding its literature than Tony Hillerman. That’s right. I mean Western...
Custer, Cowboys and the Man in Black
Johnny Cash is playing on the ol’ stereo. Okay, so that’s not news—his music is practically always playing on the stereo. But this is appropriate...
The Hanging Judge’s Town
The sky is blue, the sun warm, the birds are singing and the noise of traffic is practically nonexistent, yet there is gloominess, a feeling of...
No Horsin’ Around on Billy’s Last Ride
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...
“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...
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...