More cattle than people

There are basically two ways to cross Oregon (east-west) and the title of this post is appropriate for both routes. More cattle than people. After leaving Boise the first shift in scenery was from city to farm. The Snake River provides ample water to both Idaho and Oregon farms in the surrounding area. The Snake River starts in Yellowstone National Park (among other locations) gathers water from numerous tributaries all across Idaho and makes irrigation and thus farming possible, including Idaho’s famous potatoes.   

A volcanic hot spot, now under Yellowstone National Park, moved gradually to the east and provided the rich soil.  This soil, combined with the water of the Snake River, has made Idaho and Oregon farm heaven.

As you get further away from the irrigation provided by the Snake River, farms turn into cattle ranches. Thus more cattle than people. Gradually, as you head west, ranches turn into sage and then forest. I love the meadows in the forests; everyone does.

I also like the place where the sage transitions into forest; it was very pleasant. On the northern route, this happens much sooner into the trip than just a few miles south on Highway 20.

Two years ago we crossed Oregon on the southern route on Highway 20 and went through Burns and Crane west to Bend. Again, more cattle than people. Here is that story, all about cattle, cowboys, and ranches. (This story includes one about a one gun gunfight.) Halfway between Boise and Bend Oregon

May 2018 was our first trip across eastern Oregon. Some people describe it as a desert. It is dry sagebrush land and rough for miles and miles.  This trip on Highway 20 included our stop at a hot spring and investigating the Glenn-French Ranch and the biggest 1880s cattle operation outside of Texas, way more cattle than people.

This year our route was on Highway 26, which instead of stopping in Bend ends up in Redmond.  The southern route on Highway 20 would have been faster but we wanted to see some new territory. I am very glad we did. The destination of Redmond is only a few miles north of Bend, nearly the same location, so that didn’t play into the decision making.  East to west on Highway 20 is faster but Highway 26 is prettier. We also crossed east Oregon on Highway 20 from west to east in the fall of 2018 and we did it non-stop. It was fall and we were worried about getting caught by the change of weather and the possibility of snow. All that worry evaporated as did all the water when we made it to Death Valley, where it rarely snows. Death Valley National Park and Quiet in Death Valley

The northern route across Oregon is now by far my favorite… and my mistake was thinking that it would be the same as the southern route.  The southern route is the same — farms, ranches, and sage, but on the northern route, forests are the rule along the way, rather than just at the end of the trip.

Big Mistake

Planning a journey this year has been difficult due to the COVID virus. We have had several changes along the way, the first change was self-induced by getting our new RV in Phoenix, then getting locked down in Las Vegas for fifty days.  As the lockdown gradually ended we moved north to locations far less infected than major population centers. Our big mistake was over-reacting to Oregon closing all of its state parks. In one day we went from reservations at four state parks to zero.

To put the plan back together we extended our stay in Boise and then replaced our stops in Oregon with an RV park at Crooked River Ranch. Between Boise and the ranch, we only allotted one overnight stop at about the half-way point at John Day, Oregon (the town), I say the town because of my previous review of John Day in this post. Oregon Trail and the Lewis and Clark Trail

The big mistake was that we only spent the night at John Day. We didn’t know how pleasant this location would be. John Day is at the intersection of Highway 26 and Highway 395 south. Instead of spending the night, this would be a great place to spend a couple of weeks. Next time we come through we will stop here in John Day, spend a few days exploring the mountains, find ourselves a suitable boondocking campsite and spend perhaps add on another week.  We are not ready to boondock in our new RV yet but we are close and getting closer.

Here is our review of Grant County Fairgrounds.

The Parade

Yesterday (Friday) in John Day was graduation day for the local high school. This morning in John Day was the parade honoring the graduates. Knowing nothing about it, we pulled out of the Grant County Fairgrounds exactly one block ahead of the parade. For about a mile, both sides of the main highway were lined with parade watchers. We made the best of it, by waving to all the parade watchers as we made our way out of town.

One trip through Ship Rock, New Mexico we did the same thing on Memorial Day, right on the main highway with one exception. The parade was about four miles long and we were at the back, right behind the street sweeper and it was the only way through town. This was back before the days of cell phones and GPS but we knew that the only way across the river in Ship Rock was across this one bridge and the parade route was across that bridge. So we did the same thing waving to the parade watchers smiling our best smile, all at less than walking speed.  It is way better to be at the front of a small parade than at the back of a large parade.

The route from John Day to Redmond was beautiful. The forest turned valley and meadow then into canyon country following the river westward to John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. Progress was slow; the road is narrow with plenty of curves and hills.  Once we got to Prineville we elected to pull off the road because just in front of us was a very impressive thunderstorm. One block to the north of Highway 26 I caught a glimpse of a park and we decided that it would be a good place to stop and ride out the storm.  Thankfully Tami turned right, even though I saw a bigger parking spot to the left, and we were able to ride out the storm with our tail to the wind. We got some hail with a big downpour.  The storm also knocked all the power out in several locations including our destination.

Our visit to Boise

We were sad to leave Boise; the highlight of the visit was seeing our family, including our new grand-dog, a well mannered miniature Schnauzer named Oliver.  Boise is more active than any place we have been to in months. No cattle, lots of people. We even ate at a restaurant on the day we departed town. Our sons Chris and Chaz and grandsons Brady and Evan are doing well. All are successfully hiding from the virus.