An invitation from this handsome man, Kenyon, an 88 year old, working cowboy, to come down to Christmas Valley for dinner and old time cowboy stories.
Yes! What an honor to be included.

Christmas Valley, a small town in Southern Oregon’s desert country.
To get there, drive south through central Oregon, past Bend to La Pine, then, turn east, onto a winding road through the pine filled Deshutes National Forest.
64 miles later, the Oregon desert.
Sagebrush and big sky.

Keep going, past this amazing structure, Fort Rock, and on to Christmas Valley.

This area was immortalized in the book ‘The Oregon Desert’ by authors Reub Long, a rancher, and E R Jackman, a retired Oregon State University extension agent. It’s full of stories about the ranchers, sheepmen and cowboys and their life in this place.
Reub Long’s many acre ranch included Fort Rock. In 1962 he gave it to the state, it is now a designated national natural landmark.
Reub Long died in 1974, he is buried in the little cemetery next to Fort Rock.
Visitors leave mementos, rocks, pieces of old bottles, horse shoes,

coins, flowers and a pice of wood with a brand on it. [His? “probably”, said the old timers I asked.]

Alfalfa is the main agricultural crop. Irrigated by an underground aquifer, circles of green are scattered in the valley.

After a morning of natural wonders, it was time for the big event.
At the Christmas Valley Lodge, Cowboy Stories.

These folks are the real deal, the hats confirm.
Pot roast and potatoes, $10. Delicious!

Lots of people came by to pay their respect to Kenyon, the man of the hour.

All generations.

After ‘tall tales and lies’, Kenyon ended by calling up a guitarist and sang ‘Blood on the Saddle‘, a Tex Ritter classic.

Thank you Kenyon for an fantastic weekend!
To you, your friends and neighbors and the people of Christmas Valley, you are all amazing.

Want to know more about this part of the country? And see some archival recordings with Reub Long?
Check out this Oregon Public Broadcasting documentary: Reub Long’s Oregon Desert which includes interviews with Kenyon, who knew and worked for Long.