Dodge City - Gun Smoke

Well the connection to the TV series Gun Smoke is very loose here. Beyond the shared city name, a statue of Marshall Matt Dillon and a few 'medallions" on the road - the town doesn't really boast anything from the TV series. It was an interesting stay - just not what we expected.

We didn't go to the Boot Hill museum. The cost is $16. That seems reasonable in the summer when the 'stores' are open and gun fights happen in the streets and can-can dancers are in the salon. When I asked why there wasn't a discount in the winter when none of this happens - he said the price is the same all the time but all those things are more of a 'bonus' for the summer people - lol! Good try but nope!

We did travel southeast to see the metal sculptures of M.T. Liggett - not really sure what message he is trying to convey though.

We also traveled southwest to see the Dalton Gang Hideout and Museum. That was really interesting - mainly due to the one long discussion with the curator before the tour. He had some stories....! I love that the museum states that there is no pure proof that the Dalton Gang used this home and escape tunnel to the barn as a hideout, but that doesn’t make this place any less fascinating. He said that the owners - the Dalton's sister and her husband - left the home not long after the brothers died. The new owners were unaware of the existance of a tunnel. One night while they sat eating - a gunman popped out frightening them. The story goes he realized that the sister no longer lived there and scooted back through the tunnel before he could be identified. Of the 5 Dalton brothers - 3 died that day in Coffeyville , the eldest was a lawman and died in the line of duty a few years before, another died in a similar gunfight trying to rob a bank with the Wild Bunch. Only Emmet, who was shot many times that day in Coffeyville, somehow survived. After serving 15 years in prision - he went on to live and work peacefully in Hollywood assisiting with films about his famous brothers.