Oakdale is a small agricultural town in Stanislaus County, about 25 km northeast of Modesto in California's Central Valley. It calls itself the "Cowboy Capital of the World" and hosts one of the state's biggest amateur rodeos every April. The town sits at the edge of the Sierra Nevada foothills and serves as a gateway to the Stanislaus River canyon and the recreational areas around Knights Ferry, where river rafting and kayaking are popular in summer.
Downtown runs along Yosemite Avenue (Highway 108/120), a strip of brick storefronts, a clock-towered former bank, saddle shops, and the small Oakdale Cowboy Museum. The drive east on Highway 120 toward Yosemite passes the Oakdale Cheese factory and climbs into the foothills past Woodward Reservoir, a large irrigation lake popular for boating and bass fishing. For most travellers Oakdale is a half-day stop on the road to the mountains, but for cowboy culture and Central Valley small-town atmosphere it is one of the more genuine places in the state.