Tucson, AZ – My fists were up, ready to fight. The cowboy was squared off in front of me, only a few inches away. He was a young, muscular lad, barely 23. Very handsome too with blue eyes, a cheeky personality and a perfect set of gleaming white teeth. The mid-day sun was beating down on both of us. Although it was already near the end of November, the 80F temperatures beat down on the pale desert sand and reflected back a heat that felt closer to 100F. Three. Two. One. I swung at his nose and on cue he dropped to the ground. As he stood up, cherry red blood gushed from his mouth and trickled onto his chequered shirt. I turned away in horror. He just kept on smiling.
Luckily for both of us, it was just fake blood and I hadn’t really punched it. It was all part of a stunt. My old university friend and I were at Old Tucson, the film studio set for over 300 Wild West films and TV productions since 1939. The cowboy was one of three stuntmen performing in the afternoon demonstration of how to execute action scenes. I was asked to volunteer in the acting out of how to throw a punch. I have to admit, that even though the blood was fake, it still made me squimish and when I whenced the compare said, “Now pretty lady, it’s customery after a fight to give your oponent a kiss.” Sensing my hesitation, he added, “You don’t have to kiss him on the lips! His cheek will do.”
The Hollywood Stunt Demonstration was just one of a dozen daily performances on the schedule, although it turned out to be my favourite. Their entertaining routine had me in stitches during the half hour show that including gunfight shoot-outs, leaping from three story buildings, and a Die Hard inspired roaring flame explosion at the end.
For the movie buffs, the studios also put on a historic walking tour where you explore the streets where movie stars from John Wayne to President Ronald Regan to Elizabeth Taylor and Kurt Russell have roamed and worked over the last 75 years. I don’t know my “Rio Bravo” from my “Tombstone,” but I still enjoyed the movie trivia our guide Marty shared with us. Particularly amusing was to learn that John Wayne forgot to take is 20th century gold watch off during a filming of an old Wild West movie.
There were also can-can shows, train rides, horse-drawn carriages and just about everything else you could think of for an ‘amusement park’. Although, not a movie buff, I still enjoyed the day out.
My local expert guide John, and friend of over 20 years, had arranged an action packed two days for me which also included a tour of the International Wildlife Museum, where the cavernous room of stuffed mammals was the highlight; going underground for an exploration of the rather warm – 70F – and dry Collassal Caves; and a part shuttle ride, part trek through the magnificant Sabino Canyon where the fading yellow leaves of cottonwoods next to a creek contrasted with the suaguaro catcus hugging the mountain hillsides.
Between all of that we added in Saturday kiddie soccer matches, cuddles on the sofa from his three kids, a Thanksgiving production at the school, and dinner with his brother, another friend from my first year at University in LeMars Iowa.
It was so much fun explore a new place. It made me miss my travelling days and started to give me itchy feet for my next adventure. It was also just lovely to catch up with an old friend, one who was just as easy to talk to 20 years on as the day I first meet him, despite our lives going different paths and many years often passing without speaking. As I headed back home on I-10, only a few days out from Thanksgiving, I thought it’s the opportunity to have these types of experiences and the luck to have such amazing network of friends in my life that I’m most grateful for.
