TAKING THE OFF-RAMP

taking the off-ramp What, No Siren? No Flashing Lights?

BELIEVE IT OR NOT, this contraption, known as a mule litter, was a prefabricated, government-issued conveyance copied from the French cacolet during the Civil War for transporting wounded soldiers from the battlefield. If you think it looks impractical and ungainly, well, it was. But the surgeon general's office purchased hundreds of them and Assistant Surgeon Edgar Mearns, a post physician at Fort Verde from 1884 to 1888, documented the elevated stretcher's use (at least once). Though a vast improvement over a bone-jarring trip in a travois (a sling between two poles dragged behind a horse), the mule litter required specially trained mules and was no joy ride, and definitely not for the acrophobic.

No thanks. I'll walk to the hospital.

Never ride your horse through the kitchen.

Don't tie your horse to the chuckwagon.

Ride downwind of the chuckwagon so as not to stir up dust.

No one eats until Cookie calls.

No peeking in the pots.

If Cookie flies a white flag above the chuckwagon, it means that women are present, a warning for cowboys to watch their manners and language.

If a cowboy gets up to refill his coffee cup and someone yells "man at the pot," he's obliged to refill everyone's cup.

Eat with your hat ON.

Eat first, talk later.

A cowboy never takes the last helping of anything unless he's sure everyone else is done eating.

Chuckwagon Etiquette

DURING OLD WEST CATTLE DRIVES, the heart of a cowboy's home on the range was the chuckwagon. "Cookie" would rise long before daybreak and make coffee, fry bacon and stir up sourdough biscuits for the Dutch oven. As soon as breakfast was over, the wagon chef rode ahead of the rest of the outfit, making sure there was a hot meal waiting when they arrived at the next camp. The cook had a lot of responsibility and commanded respect. Because cowboys knew how important it was to keep Cookie in good humor, they followed these rules of chuckwagon etiquette (left).

These Boots are Made for Walking

HIS HANDMADE BOOTS are almost too fine for walking, but have appeared on well-heeled celebrities like Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Clint Eastwood, Ralph Lauren and Paul Newman. Legendary bootmaker Paul Bond, 91, has been creating handmade leather cowboy boots for almost six decades. Still involved in design, Bond says the most important point in fine bootmaking is "fit, fit and fit."

Paul Bond boots are made from exotic leathers like tanned ostrich, kangaroo and alligator skins. Custom craftsmanship means hand-stitched trim and multiple choices of heels and toes. The Paul Bond brand is sold worldwide with prices ranging from $459 to $4,500.

Still riding at the head of the herd, the 15,000-square-foot Paul Bond Boot Co. factory and retail barn houses a large selection of custom boots at 915 W. Paul Bond Drive, just off Interstate 19 in Nogales. Information: (520) 281-0512; www.paulbondboots.com.

TRIMBLE'S TALL TALES

RESIDENTS OF THE TOWN OF MOCCASIN in Mohave County on the Arizona Strip have to drive 360 miles and travel into three states just to reach the county seat in Kingman. State Route 389 heads from Moccasin north into Utah, then over into Nevada. From there, the most direct route crosses back into Arizona at Hoover Dam and then travels southeast a hundred miles to Kingman. As the crow flies, it's only about 140 miles, but the crow takes the scenic route over the Grand Canyon.

Saguaros' Desert Reign

ARIZONA'S GIANT SAGUARO CACTUS reaches an average height of 50 feet and a weight of 10 tons. That's a lot of cactus no matter how you measure it. Yet, when you realize that this desert wonder begins life as a seed the size of a pinhead so fragile that it needs a nurse tree to shield it from harsh desert elements, it's almost heartwarming. But wait. Before you get all tender-hearted about the struggling little saguaro seedling, consider scientists' suspicions about the fate of all those sheltering nannies. As time marches on and the cactus seedling grows by inches over decades, it eventually kills the tree that shelters it by robbing the surrounding soil of water and nutrients, thereby clearing the way for its own slow march skyward. A full-grown saguaro has another characteristic that many other plants can't claim-after soaking up the moisture from a good desert rain, saguaros can survive more than a year without another drop of water.

Belting Out the Blues in Flagstaff

DELTA BLUES IN DRYLAND ARIZONA? Though that might sound like an oxymoron to some, it's here and it's the real thing. It comes in the person of Tommy Dukes and his Blues Band. Dukes, a member of the Arizona Blues Hall of Fame, has been wailing the blues on his guitar for more than 40 years.

Born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Tommy sang gospel, went to local "juke joints" and listened to blues on the radio. The experiences of his youth, especially hearing blues legend Jimmy Reed on the radio, put Tommy on his way.

At age 10, he moved to the little town of Winslow by the Santa Fe Railroad tracks, where he still lives. He taught himself to play on his brother's acoustic "box" guitar. By the ripe age of 14, says Tommy, laughing, "I was playing Jimmy Reed. I had it down to a 'T.'" For a few years, he played bass guitar in clubs in Pinetop and McNary, then headed for the big time in Phoenix. By then, he was playing lead guitar. "I bought me a Silvertone, an electric guitar, then another one from the Sears catalog."

Now Tommy's favorite guitar is a Fender "Strat." What he plays depends on where he's performing, and it's not always straight blues. Some soul, some R&B-"I like to mix it up," says Tommy. But it's the blues that move him. "I just love the blues it's like a part of me. I couldn't change if I wanted to."

Tommy plays regularly in Flagstaff at the Hotel Weatherford and San Felipes Cantina.

Information: www.azreporter.com/tommydukes.