We stopped off in Halfway, Ore., to spend a couple days with a wonderful guy (and RVer) Butch Michaelsen (more about him in another post).
Butch is caretaker of a great piece of property called Birch Leaf Guest House at an elevation of 3200 feet. “Quietly tucked away between Oregon’s Eagle Cap Wilderness and Idaho’s Hell’s Canyon at the south end of the Wallowa Mountains.” Cornucopia Peak in the Wallowa Mountains, Eagle Cap Wilderness, can be seen in the distance from the property.
Butch lives in the old Bunk House (pictured above) and maintains the farm including mowing, fencing, moving the wheel-and-hand irrigation lines.
We pulled in beside the Bunk House near Butch’s pop-up truck camper. While there, Jimmy helped Butch move part of the small herd of cattle that had been grazing on the land; relocate the irrigation lines; and mow the grassy areas around the guest house. Jimmy was in heaven.
— Text and photos by Julianne G. Crane
