Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Heading to Frenchglen

With our allotted time in the Bend area over sooner than I'd have preferred, we got back in the car and headed off to our next destination: Frenchglen, OR. The 190-mile drive was both incredibly straightforward (US-20 East for 130 miles to Burns, OR and then OR-205 South for 60 miles to Frenchglen) and incredibly boring... especially the part on US-20. We came across a 20-mile or so section of highway that was being resurfaced by ODOT via the tar-and-chip method even though there was no discernible reason to do so, as the portion of road being treated to the new surface was in far better shape than probably 90% of the roads in San Diego.
US-20 is boring.

About two miles south of Burns on OR-205, we're minding our own business going on down the highway when all of a sudden, the Ford Explorer in front of us starts slowing to a stop right at about the spot where there's a giant blob of something black on the road. Confused, I stop as well, and then we quickly realize what's going on -- a giant group of cows was being herded from one grazing pasture to another ON THE HIGHWAY!!! We stopped for five minutes or so to let the cows pass us. They're incredibly stupid, but at least they're bright enough to walk around the cars instead of into them.
Moo!

The next 50 or so miles of roadway stays relatively flat while winding along the edge of the Malheur Wildlife Preserve up against various hills and buttes until it reaches the town of Frenchglen.

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