Grass Valley, Eastern Oregon...

 One Of The Views Of The Ranch, Grass Valley Oregon

Once again we are back in Grass Valley, Oregon to race at the Oregon Raceway Park.  This track is out in the middle of prairie lands, nothing but the occasional small town, usually comprised of a cluster of houses along the dusty highway, with maybe a few business here and there..  

We are far away from the "madding crowd" here.. At night there are no lights to reflect into the night sky, so the stars seem huge and very bright.  The silence is unbelievable, so quiet, I can here my own thoughts!

I arranged for us to stay at a local ranch to be near to the track, and because it sounded romantic (in a way.)  Its funny because when I booked our room, I had a "vision" of what the ranch would be like..., (Mrs Rosy cheeked, Rancher standing at the range, cooking up vittles - hearty stew, biscuits and brewing a big pot of coffee, maybe standing on the porch clanging one of those metal triangle cowboy versions of a dinner gong..., come and git it...,,,  big roaring log fire, maybe even a single deer "rack" above the river rock fireplace...,,, big comfy beds with cosy sheets and comforter...sighhhhhhh.")

So, anyway,, I think you get the gist of my VISION...  Do you ever have "visions" of what a place will be like and when you actually get to the place, ahemmm... , its different than your vision???

View Of The Ranch House Sitting Room Window

Well, our accommodations were "different" than I had imagined..  The rosy cheeked Mrs. Rancher doesn't even live at the ranch, in fact no one does.  It is an old ranch house, but you cook for yourself. Clearly its used mostly by hunters, judging by the interior decor (dozens of mounted, stuffed animals of one kind or another - deer, antelope, pheasant.. LOTS and LOTS of them,).  In fact, if you take a look at the photo above, you will get a hint of what the ranch is like. See the window filled with antlers? (even the sheets and quilt on our bed have camouflage design on them.)   

Waking up and seeing the place in the stark morning light,  and noticing how everything smelled of a  strange combination of ,,, well, I'm not sure what...maybe cigars, wood smoke,, burnt coffee, to list a few, I truly felt like a fish out of water...

It wasn't till I dressed and went outdoors did I feel different.

Stepping outside, I filled my lungs with pure air.  and there was THAT SILENCE again,  a silence FILLED with bird song  - quail, pheasant, chickadee, yellow wing blackbird, horned thrush and more that I didn't recognize...  I heard the wind in the grasses,  and the scraping of dry reeds knocking together.., gentle mooing of cows heading out to graze for the day...

It was a perfect moment..

 I took deep breath after deep breath and began to feel at home.