Author Archives: kirkphillips

The history of the American Southwest is written in stone. It is written in silver ore and petrified wood. In lava flows and cinder fields. On the walls of canyons and caves. In the ruins of pueblos. It is written … Continue reading →

The lights dart across the Texas desert, pulsing, merging and then disappearing. Some people believe they are UFOs; others, the ghosts of Spanish conquistadors. A cowboy first reported seeing them in 1883. He thought they were campfires of the Apache. … Continue reading →

Beef. It’s what’s for dinner in Texas. Unless you’re in Hill Country, where it might be bratwurst. In the mid-1800s, tens of thousands of German immigrants settled in central and southwest Texas, which, at the time, was its own country. … Continue reading →

This week, I’m starting a four-week road trip from Austin, Texas, to Antelope Canyon Navajo Tribal Park, Arizona. It will be my longest trip in nearly a year. After three years of nearly non-stop travel, I felt a need to … Continue reading →

Three historic trails lead to Santa Fe, New Mexico. One arrives from Mexico City–El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro (the Royal Road of the Interior Land). For centuries, Native North Americans used the sixteen-hundred-mile trade route. In 1598 Spanish settlers first … Continue reading →

Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit, and as vital to our lives as water and good bread. –Edward Abbey Over four-hundred parks, preserves, forests, seashores, rivers, monuments, memorials and historic sites make up the … Continue reading →

In 1881, Tombstone, Arizona, was the site of the most famous gunfight of the Old West. On one side were the Clanton brothers, the McLaury bothers and Billy Claiborne, members of a loose-knit gang of part-time cowboys and part-time cattle … Continue reading →