Escapees January-February 2024

skpstops

Outlaws, as well as respectable citizens, are buried together at Boothill in Tombstone.

Discover History and Fun Along Arizona U.S. Route 80

Traveling along Interstate 10 in Arizona, you may exit in Benson, on Arizona U.S. Route 80, to spend a night or two at Saguaro SKP Co-Op or to visit Tombstone. On a re cent trip, I discovered there is much more to U.S. Route 80 than historic Tombstone. B efore you head south, stop by the Benson Visitor Center for a fun experience of “operating” a train. Yes, you read that right. Benson's history as a stopping point on the Southern Paci fi c Railroad line is in the city's culture. The visitor center allows everyone to try the train simulator for free and earn a souvenir “Benson Train Engineer Certi fi cate.” How it works: You sit down at an actual train control ler, and as you learn how to operate the train, a model train overhead starts to move. You can watch the train’s

progress throughout the visitor center by a camera mounted on the front of the train. Other exhibits include a real-time look at the prog ress of trains throughout the area and another showing just how much there is to discover along U.S. Route 80. From here, head south to St. David. There are two attractions here, an art gallery owned by Tim Trask and Holy Trinity Monastery. Mormon settlers of 1877 were part of a group that initially was to settle in Lehi, Arizona. St. David, established due to the Mormon Battalion having earlier passed through the San Pedro River valley, in 1846, was named for one of the founders. David W. Patten was an early Mormon apostle who died in the 1838 Battle of Crooked River, in Missouri. Early St. David settlers played an essential role in establishing surrounding settlements, such as Fort Huachuca and Tombstone, as they did much of the

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ESCAPEES Magazine January/February 2024