High Desert

This part of Oregon looks a lot like northern Nevada, the part past Pyramid Lake on the way to Burning Man. It's hot and dry, but not oppressive. This is cowboy country. Evidence of pioneer life, from indiscernible eras, is casually left among the chaparral and cows. But much of this is BLM land. That's clean. Lake Abert is stunning, so perfectly undeveloped, surrounded by green marsh giving way to alkali flats and volcanic-looking rock. Cows on the beach. Above us is Abert Rim, a 2000-foot fault scarp that hulks over the lake and tiny highway for miles. It is pictured, if such a thing could be possible, below.


If you've traveled around the west at all you know that some towns are just a store and a post office and you have no idea where the workers live becauses there's no houses, no trailers, nothing in the middle of nowhere and you start to wonder about these folk--how long is their commute?

Riley is such a town, but we were relieved and delighted to have reached it after almost 90 miles of high desert, and nothing but high desert. Not even other cars. (Wagontire doesn't count at all. A couple of trailers, no store, no gas. And despite the fact that "The only good water for miles around was from springs on Wagontire Mountain, which led to waterhole feuds, gun battles and murder," there was nothing for us to stop for.) Riley was friendly and refreshing. We bought one of each 5-cent Laffy Taffy's they had. No, not those Laffy Taffy's.


Now staying in Burns, OR. Indoor heated pool and hot tub. The boy is pleased. Squirting ensues. Marco!

Of course our reply is: Scutaro!

Tomorrow, we have at least 2 hours more of Oregon to get to Idaho. We'll get as close to Craters of the Moon as we can before we grow weary, or distracted.

Total miles traveled: 716