The cowboys of Oregon

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I'm writing this from Tokyo....little transfer between few flights on our way back home. Markets are in deep panics, so back online to work a lot...and less time for travelblog....and it could get worst soon, so bear in mind with us for the next entries...

After the vineyards of Walla Walla we are crossing Oregon on the back roads. In one day, we drove from Walla Walla to Prineville. Prineville is a little highway town in the middle of nowhere, with the only benefit of having clean and cheap hotels on the highway, I concede, not really original.

But the aim of today was to go deeper in the cowboy world. We drove for hours in amazing landscapes. We didn't see any indian, but we met many of the cowboys.

We spent some time in Canyon City few miles South of John Day. Don't worry, it's ok if you have never heard of both places! Listening to the local radio on the road, I found out they had a cowboys gathering in Canyon City for a shooters competition.

No crowds here, no tourists either, it's only the pure guys...coming from all over the Wild West...what a time we spent there. We enjoy the company of maybe 50 shooters and their families...in the local little town of Canyon City.

For all those living in Europe, they call here towns and cities places we would merely call a village in Europe. You drive for hours seeing not much, till you meet this fun lost places. These places are what you can truly call "middle of nowhere"...places where once they ask us where we come from...Bangkok, Thailand.. they still have no idea where we are coming from...

As one of the guys answered to the following questions while we enjoy Canyon City shooters competition....I ask him...so, you are cowboys?!?
Answer..."We are no cowboys, we are shooters...cowboys sleep on mats and eat beans from the pot....we stay in the finest Inns and eat steaks, we are no cowboys, we are shooters!" Most of these guys seems to be sherrifs actually....for their daily job I mean!

Useless to mention, we met a bunch of really colourful people, pretty amazing experience, and not only for the kids, for us the grown up too!

Later on we drove through the fossil bed rich region of John Day. We stopped by the fossils museum and an historic ranch. Here, it's Leslie who was in all his "fossil element".

The back roads of Oregon are pretty amazing. We crossed few ghost villages on the way, all this under a beautiful blue sky. Oregon is not over for now. We still have one full day driving south to the California border.

We stopped for the night in Prineville. Not much to write about the place, if one day we've got to get lost, it could be the place....


Oregon is all about nature, and being lost in the middle of nowhere was a pretty nice experience!

From next entry, bear in mind that we are back to home in Bangkok...it's going to be good to be home for few days...

With love from four of us...

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