Day 8. 183 miles traveled
On my previous post I forgot to mention that the State name Arizona means “The Good Oak.”
Also, I forgot to mention the URL concerning boothill in Tombstone, http://boothillgraves.com
Left the hotel early in the morning and arrived at San Xavier del Bac (White Dove of the Desert) about 0800, 1.5 hours before the majority of the tourists began to appear. The mission was started by Father Kino, a Jesuit Priest. Father Kino also started the Tumacacori Mission we visited the previous day. The mission was started in 1692 and the foundation of this church was laid in 1783 by the Spanish Franciscans. At this time you might ask what happened to the Jesuits who began the missions in the Arizona territory. Well, King Carlos of Spain thought the Jesuits were plotting against him, so he had them all recalled back to Spain. I could write more about the mission and the church, but the website will provide complete information. https://sanxaviermission.org/history
I will say this, the interior restoration of the church took place during the decade of the 90s when conservators from Italy came to the mission for three months out of the year to supervise and help with the restoration.
Slide of the church (37) Click hereFrom the mission we drove through the Saguaro National park, took a few photos, visited the visitor center and walked one of the trails. There is a loop road one can take through the park, but since it is gravel, it was not conducive to me driving my little two-seater, low lying roadster through that area of the park.
Saguaro National Park (12 slides) Click here
Upon leaving the Saguaro National Park we continued North on I-19/US89 to intercept I-10 then AZ-77 North through Tucson proper, North bound on AZ-79 to AZ-287 to visit the Tom Mix Memorial.
Tom Mix “…was an American film actor and the star of many early Western movies between 1909 and 1935. Mix appeared in 291 films, all but nine of which were silent movies. He was Hollywood’s first Western star and helped define the genre as it emerged in the early days of the cinema.”
“On October 12, 1940, after visiting Pima County Sheriff Ed Echols in Tucson, Arizona, Mix headed north towards Phoenix on U.S. Highway 80 (now Arizona State Route 79), driving his 1937 Cord 812 Phaeton. He stopped to call his agent at the Oracle Junction Inn, a popular gambling and drinking establishment, then continued toward Phoenix. About eighteen miles south of Florence, Mix came upon construction barriers at a bridge washed away by a flash flood. Unable to stop in time, his car swerved twice, then overturned in a gully. A large aluminum suitcase containing money, traveler’s checks, and jewels, situated on the package shelf behind his head, hurtled forward and struck him, breaking his neck.”
BTW, there had been reports that he got out of his car, walked toward the construction site and dropped dead as a result of the broken neck. At the time of his death he was considered “King of the Cowboys.”
After visiting the memorial, we once again turned back onto AZ-77 to head into Phoenix to spend a fews days with my sister and her husband.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Mix
US_89 from the Mexican to Canadian Borders: Part 6
Part 4: Benson to Nogales
Part 3: Benson to Tombstone
Part 2: Canyon Lake, TX
Part 1: Preparations