Esme

I’m starting to get a better sense of where I will find descansos to photograph. It starts with “not looking” but having a sense of the kinds of roads that will, tragically, be more likely to have deadly accidents. Fast roads, highly travelled roads, long country roads that are intensely dark at night.

Highway 20 between Bend and Burns, Oregon has a lot of those characteristics.

We weren’t sure we would find much out here since it’s not as heavily traveled as, say, deadly Highway 197 or the stretch of Highway 20 between Bend and Sisters. For the first half hour we saw nothing … but then there was “Esme”.

Between Millican, Oregon and Brothers, Oregon … there is nothing. Nothing but sagebrush, sand, power lines, and of course incredible seven-mountain views back towards the West.

And Esme.

“Esme” is written on the cross. According to ChatGPT it’s a French word for “esteemed” or “beloved” which is consistent with the writing on the desconsos I have photographed. There isn’t much else to identify the person this memorial is dedicated to, and the Internet is, once again, unhelpful, but it was clear that friends and family were still coming out to visit this larger-than-average shrine.

Traffic flows very, very quickly at this spot on Highway 20. Despite having lots of space to compose from, I found myself moving back from the road multiple times just out of caution. The trucks especially so, since I’m sure they know that law enforcement, while present out here, is also few and far between.

Rest in peace, Esme.