We decided to ride at night and rest by day to save the horses and avoid the searing heat of the desert sun. We rode out of Tombstone about sunset after we had watered and fed the horses. (Actually we gassed up the car.)
We stopped at Wickenburg to refuel the horses and water was 47.9 cents per gallon. It was packed in by Burro! We then headed for a camp in Nevada called Las Vegas where we heard life was free, easy and fast. Upon arriving we weren’t disappointed for we wasted no time once we passed through the swinging doors. Wes (Flowers) started playing Blackjack with a painted woman who called herself Flo. Jerry (McGee) favored Chuck-a-luck and I had a hankering for Monte (It’s a GAME stupid!). Anyway Wes broke even, Jerry lost ten bucks and I lost 3.
The sun was starting to rise over the mountains above Boulder Dam and as we were a bit behind schedule we decided to travel by day. We headed Northwest through Nevada for an area in California called Yosemite. The country sure is beautiful! Desert to the East and snowcapped mountains to the West. Before we headed into the mountains we asked an old prospector if the pass thru Yosemite was open. He assured us that it was so we then headed due West.
We reached an elevation of 11,000 feet at the pass and the snow was still 10 feet deep along the side of the trail. We stopped often for the horses to get their breath and drink a little snow. At one of those stops we had a snow ball fight and Jerry and I did Wes in good.
Wildlife was abundant as we saw deer, coyote, cats, wolves and a fat forest ranger that took us for $3.00 for riding thru the park!
We hit Angels Camp Friday night, bunked out and anxiously waited for Saturday to slap leather in the Western States Fast Draw Championships.
Note:
George Narasaki founded the Sundowners in Berkeley, California in 1958. The original five-member group practiced at a gun club in San Leandro until their move in the late 1960’s to Bob Keeney’s Buckeye Ranch in Lafayette, California. Membership in the Sundowners was by invitation only. During their time at the Buckeye Ranch the club grew to fifteen members, all top Fast Draw competitors. Besides George their roster included well-known west coast Fast Draw Champions Van Gentry, Ken Gentry, Francis Carlos, Ed “Fast Eddie” Hawkins, Jerry Black, Bob Grilli and Helen Stransky. The club found itself in an envied position in the world of professional Fast Draw since Sundowners were regularly taking championship honors home from many of the biggest Fast Draw events in California and the surrounding western states. If the Sundowners showed up at a Fast Draw contest participants knew they were facing some tough competition and it would be a fight for the prize! Sundowners competed in three of the four famous Colt Sahara Walk and Draw National Championships held in Las Vegas, Nevada. Sponsored by the Colt Firearms Company and the Sahara Hotel and Casino from 1959 through 1961, this contest was one of the most prestigious competitions in the 50-year history of the sport. The event drew hundreds of competitors, a huge crowd of spectators and reporters from all over the US and Canada to watch the best in the sport compete in an old fashion walk down western gunfight. The contest was held at the height of the Hollywood Western era prompting all the major Hollywood production studios to send some of their most recognizable cowboy stars including Clint Eastwood, Rodd Redwing, Peter Brown, Jock Mahoney and others to the event to promote their movies and TV shows directly to their target audience. Not only did the Sundowners participate in contests, they hosted many championship level events including the 1964 California State Fast Draw Championships in Concord, California. Typical of the large Fast Draw clubs the Sundowners were also active in organizing gun safety presentations and fund raising events for the communities in which they lived. In the early ‘70s George’s family and his construction business had grown to the point where he decided to step away from the world of Professional Fast Draw. He disbanded the Sundowners, hung up his guns, sold most of his equipment and fully immersed himself in his life responsibilities.