In a town where the people who dress in 1880s style are usually paid actors or business employees, a group of 30 people dressed up on a quest to ride like Wyatt Earp in the Wild West.

All the horseback riders were told was that they were about to embark on a vacation by riding horses for five days in the 95-degree heat of Tombstone. They were going to follow the roughest, toughest mountain trails and vast open ranges, given only the destination they would end up but not the way they would go.

They would be on a horse that they had never ridden before, next to a person they had only known for a few hours and it was going to cost them $1,850 each.

Sounds like a real adventure right?

Well that was more than enough to convince a group of 30 horseback riders to drive down to town and spend five days getting to know folks who share the same passion for the Old West as they do.

Steve and Marcie Shaw dress as if they were born 130 years too late. The couple owns Great American Adventures out of Tijeras, N.M., and both worked on the idea to do the Wyatt Earp Vendetta Ride from Oct. 12-16.

The ride was the Shaws’ idea to encompass the historical values of Tombstone and to try and shadow on horseback the trail of Wyatt Earp’s posse when it stormed against the cowboy faction.

“I’ve been wanting to put together a ride since I saw that movie (Tombstone),” Steve Shaw said.

In June, Shaw took a trip to Tombstone  to see where and if the Vendetta ride could happen. He hooked up with a Jeep tour guide and used historical documents and knowledge that came from other historians to see the places that Wyatt Earp’s posse had traveled.

He later brought in his horse wrangler who was responsible for providing insight on how they were going to get a large group of horses to the destinations they wanted to go.

“The way a Jeep goes on a trail is not necessarily the way you would ride a horse,” Shaw said.

The historical destinations they rode to were Pete Spence’s wood-cutting camp where Florentino Cruz was killed in the Dragoon Mountains. They rode to the Whetstone Mountains where Earp’s posse killed Curly Bill Brocius.

They saw Johnny Ringo’s believed-to-be haunted gravesite and they rode along the San Pedro River and locations that were frequently visited by Earp such as Charleston, Fairbanks and Contention.

Once they determined that a large group of riders could make it past some of the rough parts then Shaw started advertising to see if anyone else was interested.

Shaw said he hooked up with Bob Boze Bell, executive editor for True West magazine. Shaw said this was a godsend. Bell came out for the event where he led a two-hour private tour of Tombstone for the Vendetta riders.

“This is a hobby of passion,” Shaw said. “I love the Old West.”

He doesn’t turn much of a profit on his adventures. He doesn’t do his rides to make a living he does them for the joy.

“I do about one or two rides a year so if I was trying to make a living off this then two rides a year would barely be enough to put food on the table,” Shaw said.

Both Shaw and his wife are retired from corporate positions.

Shaw said when he plans an adventure ride he also likes to add in adventures that other outfitters would typically look past.

During the first night in Tombstone, he organized a skit at the Crystal Palace where actors ran in screaming during dinner proclaiming that Wyatt Earp was riding hell-bent-for-leather and was looking for deputies to join in killing cowboys.

The Vendetta riders were given certificates and customized deputy badges that had the dates of the ride engraved on them. It made the five-day adventure have a sense of purpose, said Shaw.

Shaw has been working with Kevin McNiven for the past 10 years. McNiven mainly wrangles horses for movie sets. McNiven is based in Wyoming and trucks his horses all over the nation.

“These horses we were riding are movie stars trained for gunfire and not to shy away,” Shaw said.

Shaw said all of the people who rode the event had some sort of experience at horseback riding, but it varied. Most, including himself, had never ridden open desert and its hard rocky terrain so it was a new challenge.

“They don’t have a Tombstone in Florida,” said Larry Auerbach, when asked why he made the trip out.

Auerbach came from Port St. Lucie, Fla., to participate. He said he has done a lot of pack type trips and cattle drives but he wanted to ride where Earp actually rode and to stand where he actually stood.

Bill Simpson came from Monroe, Ga., to take the ride.

“I loved things western all my life,” said Simpson. “I love the western history and the mystic.”

Simpson said he has ridden all over the west and runs a cutting horse business. Cutting horses are trained for cattle herding events where the rider and horse are judged on how efficiently they can separate a cow from a herd.

Rob Arntzen traveled from Winnebago, Ill., for the ride. “Shaw has a reputation, so I know his rides are going to be good,” Arntzen said. His favorite part? The ride down Allen Street.

Colleen Rich and her husband read about the ride and came down from Scottsdale. “I’d go again next week if they did it,” Rich said. “It’s an event you’ll never forget.”