We are
uncertain where we will end up today but we are headed northeast in the
direction of Burns. Burns is a two hour
drive from Lakeview and in between is only desert. Well, theoretically there is another lake in
between but it is Oregon's only saltwarter lake, Lake Abert, that is disappearing and scientists don't know why. The high desert is a scenic drive, but we
wouldn't want to live here. Nor would
anyone else as evidenced by the lack of civilization between Lakeview and
Burns. The only bump in the road on the
journey is Wagontire, which is home to a single ranch and a decrepit deserted
motel.
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| Eastern Oregon high desert |
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| Not much lives here |
Upon arriving
in Burns… well, enough about Burns. On
to John Day! John Day is another small
town but it has a nice feel to it. It
seems to be random as to which small towns feel nice and which ones are run
down. We can only guess that it takes one or a few of the right people with the
right amount of pride and ambition to drive the upkeep or gentrification of a
town. The small towns on this trip that
have had that driven person or people are Ashland, John Day, Canyon City and
even Lakeview. Some of the ones we
thought might be nice but have had missing ambition and thus have little or no
reason to visit are Roseburg, Klamath Falls and Burns.
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| A very dusty and buggy Prius |
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| Malheur National Forest |
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| Malheur National Forest |
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| Ranch near John Day |
In the
evening we meandered through the roads of John Day and stumbled upon a
rodeo. This seemed to be a big time
rodeo because there were contestants from many distant towns and some from the
neighboring states, like Idaho and Washington. We only stayed long enough to
watch a few competitors lasso a calf before we felt that we sufficiently experienced
the local flavor and subsequently lost interest.
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| Lassoing a calf |
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| Holding pen... for the cowboys |
