b'B Y B O B B O Z E B E L LThe Birth of Ghost RidersSongwriter Stan Jones recalls being just a lad sitting atop a windmill outside of Douglas, Arizona in 1924 when a big storm blew in and an old cowpoke, Capp Watts, was working on the windmill with him and said, Dont be afraid, it is only the clouds stampeding and the Ghost Riders will get them rounded up soon and everything will be alright. From this experience Jones wrote Ghost Riders In The Sky.A Six Inch Rain Every summer, in July and August, we get the big dust storms that freak out everybody who is not from Arizona. And, by the way, A Gully Washerwe never called them Haboobs until about five years ago when some meteorologist fromEvery tenth dust storm, or so, we get what the back east, foisted it upon us. For us Zonies,oldtimers called a gully washer, which means, its merely another season in hell, but weliterally, the gullies, which are dry 11-and-a-half endure it, because, hey, it keeps the riff-raffmonths a year, run bank to bank and take out out. What most outsiders dont understand iseverything in their path. Heaven help you if you that a six-inch rain in Arizona means a dropare out in one of these on horseback (which of rain every six inches.happened a lot more in the old days). Those old birds knew first hand what it meant to be soaked to the bone.Braggin RightsThe bestpart of the summer storm season is when we get to ride up north for a little escape from theOn Sale Now!heat. Up there in the cool pines, weVisit Store.TrueWestMagazine.comgather round the campfire and theand order your copy today!stories grow larger andeveryone has to break out the hip boots. Or, as my grandmother used to say, Right as rain.ArizonaRealCountry.com April 2022 15'