Mike: We didn't stay in Prairie City. Even 11 months before the
eclipse, the only reservations we could get were in Burns, 80 miles
south and out of the totality band. So the night before, we got up at
3am and drove up to Prairie City. We expected awful traffic, which
didn't materialize. So we pulled into town about 5am, and some nice
ladies from the local church gave us some tea. They were setting up for
a community breakfast, which we happily partook of at 7am when it
opened. Eggs, fried potatoes, pancakes, sausage, for 8 or 9 bucks a
head, IIRC. People were very friendly and nice. Once the eclipse was
over, we headed out of town, and that's when we got the horrendous
traffic. It took about an hour and a quarter to go the 13 miles between
PC and John Day. People were sitting on their porches watching the
traffic, drinking soda or beer and waving. I don't think they'd ever
seen anything like it before. In John Day, there were National Guard
troops in camouflage fatigues directing traffic.
So I regret to say that we didn't experience local lodgings or cuisine.
I must say that I found Prairie City much more friendly than John Day.
John Day is at the junction of two main highways, is quite a bit more
built up. They seemed mostly interested in how many tourist dollars they
could milk, while they were simultaneously irritated at all the people
coming through for the eclipse. The previous remark is based on couple
of gas station attendants, and a chat with a fellow at the JD Chamber of
Commerce The latter seemed mostly interested in getting us out of our
motel in Burns, recommending that we sleep in our car in a campsite in
JD. Now, my sample may be too small, these little towns had never dealt
with so many people, and the traffic had been hyped to the point of
hysteria. But the Chamber of Commerce guy really annoyed me.
That said, there are a lot more places to stay in John Day. We didn't
investigate restaurants as we wanted to get out of Dodge as soon as we
could. The country is high desert, lots of sagebrush, and some high dry
hills around the towns. There are some nice canyons to explore north
and south of JD. Altitude varies, and when you go up or into a canyon,
more things grow. On the parts of US 26 we saw, things were dry.
Painted Hills National Monument is an hour or so west of JD, and has
interesting colors and formations.
Hope this helps!
--Peter
> Thanks Peter. I'll try flooding with the eye dropper. I was seeing
some improvement with pure ammonia but I guess I just
> wasn't patient enough.
> BTW I see that you were in Prairie City for the eclipse. Nice! My
wife and I are looking at PC as a place to stay a few
> days this spring, Can you recommend anywhere? Food and/or accommodations?
> M
--
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