Burns to Wagontire (Nothing on Burns Stay)

We came into the day with uncertainty … we were really too sure where or what type of place we would be staying at. We were told that there was a rest area 75 miles south of Burns along the highway we would be taking towards Lakeview. We were given permission to stay at this location but were warned of the potential risk of coming in contact with rattlesnakes and scorpions. There was some risk involved with our life choices basically.

So we went onward realizing that there was a large potential of having an unpleasant night in the desert. After having a sub par breakfast on my own at the Apple Peddler, I finally left town with Elvis, the van back in action. Everyone was taking their time out of town because they had no real reason to hurry to get anywhere. So I took my time also by hanging out with them in a gas station in Riley just 25 miles out of Burns.

We were here for close to an hour even though there was no scheduled lunch for this time. People just were not in a hurry so they were sitting, talking and eating food from the convenience store. At this time we did our research of finding out that the supposed Rest Area was actually 90 miles south of Burns, and there were definitely rattlesnakes!

So I left Riley to meet the group at our real lunch stop in Wagontire only 55 miles from Burns. When arriving to meet the only two people in this small town that only consists of a café/RV Park/Motel. We talked to Cheryl and she offered a great rate for our group to stay at her facilities for the night. So after thinking about our options and going to check out the Rest Area, I realized that our best option was staying with this nice lady.

So we set up our tents in the backyard with some grass area after cleaning up all the dog poop. We were given one motel room to wash up in the showers, watch television and some people headed into the café for some food. It was a great stay as were able to eat our meal that we cooked for ourselves in the actual café and we met some great people.

Cheryl moved out to Wagontire with her husband who is a trucker after they were getting tired of the City life on the other side of the Cascade Mountains. So they lease this shop, and will cook for anyone who knocks on their door as their hours are very flexible. Her husband came in later with a Cowboy named Charlie who shared us stories of the great Eastern Oregon frontier. Charlie took us to some ole houses that were haunted by murders in the West during the frontier time. It was crazy to hear about all the chaos that went on with getting to the West.

We met 2 sets of motor cyclists who were doing tours around the western part of the country. They were both headed to Sturgis for the big motorcycle festival and had great stories to tell. It is just fun to share stories with other travelers and hear of great places to visit. The second set of motorcyclists ended up spending the night due to the amount of drinks they had and how late it got.


It was a great stay in Wagontire and the only thing that surprised us was all the wind as we received 40 mile gusts throughout the day and night. It was beautiful though to watch the sky during sunset and constantly see lightning far off in the distance. You got to love the Big Sky country.