Air travel... Boise is 160 miles east; Bend/Redmond is the same to the west. Lodging is plentiful, as are the stars in the sky, but you won't see many of them on the local restarants. The locals are good people for the most part!
The adoption goings on are for the most part outdoors, with the horse viewing at the Burns Corrals west of town, and everything else at the fairgrounds (to the best of my knowledge). Some stuff indoors at the fair grounds. Parking is good at both venues, for most any sizew vehicles. Same at motels.
Most roads to Burns are basic 2 lane highways. Watch for livestock and wildlife which includes anything from kangaroo rats to elk, sheep to buffalo. Oregon is a free range state, which means if you kill a ranchers stock, you buy it, and he eats it! And you fix your own car! And if your going down the road and notice what looks like fresh cow manure on the pavement, slow down, cause you just might be approaching a herd of cattle on the highway. Keep in mind they only go 3 miles an hour, so just slowly and casually drive through. Excitement is driving through a hundred head with 6 ton of hay on your open trailor!
Weather may be very nice, shirt sleeve stuff, or as Rick says COLD! We have already had snow at higher elevations, and temps in the low 20's in the valley. From a driving perspective, be prepared for the worst. Keep you fuel tank filled. We do have AAA, but they can't help you if you can't reach them on your cell phone. And in most of the area, you can't!
Most roads are 2 lane, and have a lot of turns. Wild life and livestock are plentiful, with kangaroo rats to elk, sheep to 2600# bulls. It's an open range state, which means if you kill a ranchers stock, you pay for it, he eats it, and you fix your own car! Oregon speed limit is 55, but most go well over that. Just don't drive stupid!
Suzy... watch the Kiger web sites for pictures of the horses as they are brought into the corrals. Last time it helped, but you really do need to be there for a good look. I think they are going to do a sale catalog again. Watch for it and download it. Study that and it can save you some time. With that being said, I would really urge you to try and get here no later than Friday morning. It sounds like there will be 150 - 200 horses available. And that's a lot to look at. I don't know the exact time the actual auctioning of the horses start, but I think in '03 it was around 10:00 AM on Saturday. We came in on Thursday midday, and had no extra time.
Hope this helps. If anyone has any other questions, ask, and someone will answer, or you can call the BLM in Burns. ...Tom
