TORREZ TRAVELS

So it turns out that John Day didn’t find any fossils. He may not have even known what a fossil was! He lived in the early 1800s. He was a trapper and hunter. His name is on a river, a valley, two towns, and the national monument dedicated to the fossil beds. He and Ramsey Crooks were trapping animals for fur when they were captured by some of the natives that lived there. They were upset because other trappers had killed some of their people. They took all their belongings, including their clothes, and left them to die. The two men managed to survive long enough to be found by other trappers. History teaches us that if you are stubborn enough to endure very hard times, you can be famous, sort of!

Here are some pics from today.

We started the day in Prineville. It’s a nice place, it’s downtown area has the feel of the fifties or sixties, to me. We had gone to a cinema last night and watched “The Sheep Detectives” which I recommend as a great movie!

There are many rock formations that are quite beautiful!

The highway traveled through the desert along side of the John Day River.

Near the river cottonwood trees and willow bushes were growing along with this wild rose.

And there were many farms with green crops, often nestled in low lands with the dryer hills around them.

We are in John Day tonight. We had planned to camp in Dayville, but the heat wasn’t seeming to fade as the evening approached, so we drove a little further, and got a motel! It’s that love of comfort that crops up in your fifties and sixties! It’s rather hard to resist!