Drive the Bend-Burns Highway
Oh, sure, it has a number these days, Highway 20 or something. But by any name, the Bend-Burns highway (or is it the Burns-Bend highway?) is a two-lane throwback to the days when driving didn’t involve interstate freeways but instead actually left you close to the scenery.
It’s a very straight 130 miles from Bend to Burns and there’s not a whole lot in between. The towns in order, west to east, that you hit before reaching Burns are named Millican, Brothers, Hampton and Riley, and there’s not a whole lot else out there besides but antelope, red-tail hawks, golden eagles, jackrabbits and the rich smell of the sage brush when a desert thunderstorm rolls across the high plateau.
One of our favorite drives, anywhere. Gasoline is always uncertain so tank up before heading out either way. There’s a rest stop in Brothers.