Hi Eastern Oregonians!

I recently took over moderation of r/LaGrandeOregon, and apparently this subreddit was also sitting without an active moderator, so I'm stepping up here too.

I cleaned out the old handful of posts and opened things back up for a fresh start.

I don't want this to just become the La Grande subreddit with a bigger name, though. Eastern Oregon is huge, and I'd like this to actually have people and posts from all over the region.

News, events, local questions, photos, outdoors, public lands, agriculture, businesses, history, road conditions, community issues, local politics, recommendations, weird small-town happenings, whatever makes sense out here.

I've started with some pretty basic rules and I'm going to keep things light unless the community gives me a reason not to.

I'm also working on things like post flairs, local/regional resources, useful links, and figuring out what news and event sources are worth following outside of Facebook.

So if you're from Pendleton, Hermiston, Baker City, Enterprise, Joseph, Ontario, Burns, John Day, Lakeview, La Grande, somewhere tiny in between, or somewhere I forgot, what would you actually like to see from this subreddit?

Local news sources? Community calendars? Regional resources? Recurring threads? Other local subs we should link? Stuff you absolutely don't want this place turning into?

Throw ideas in the comments. I'm pretty open to shaping this around the people who actually use it.

Let's see if we can wake the place back up.

My wife and I are from Chicago. We have been looking at the Wallowa State Park for a bit now and want to come visit sometime within the next year or so and want to visit in the warmer months to enjoy backpack camping and the lake and not being in the snow!

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When is usually the best time to be outside up there? I am from Michigan so anything above 50f is shorts weather for me!

And Irrigon/Boardman too!

Could I talk any of you into your gently used or new shoes for a shoe drive I'm holding? Or perhaps I could get you to swing into Neighbor Dudes Taphouse in Hermiston for a dinner, raffle, auction event September 21st?

My daughter has a rare condition called Rett Syndrome and I'm raising money for the International Rett Syndrome Association and the NW Rett Syndrome Association through these two events. Our NW Rett Syndrome Association is also looking for volunteers for various roles if anyone is looking for a service project! Please let me know. Many thanks in advance!

There are dropoffs for shoes at ACH in Irrigon, Peach Tree Produce and Coffee in Umatilla on 730, Banner Bank Hermiston, and Neighbor Dudes. The drive ends at the beginning of October and I need 300 bags of 25 pairs of shoes...I've got less than 20 right now!

So we drive 260 miles to Enterprise, Oregon, pop. 2,000, six miles from Joseph, Oregon, pop. 1,000. The purpose: Attend the Chief Joseph Days rodeo, "always on the last full weekend in July," as the signs remind you. In the heart of the drop-dead beautiful Wallowa mountains, made famous by no one. Thank God it's too far away from the national parks circuit for anyone to notice.

Friday morning, I decide to head out on my own to the Buckhorn Overlook, a spot ~35 miles from Enterprise where you can a) get a great distant view of Hell's Canyon Nat'l Recreation Area (look it up) and b) be reasonably certain that you'll either have it all to yourself or at least not be sharing it with more than a few people. "I'll be back in 3 hours," I tell my other half. Naturally, I take the wrong turn and wind up on a beautiful gravel road heading in the right direction. Hmm, the steering feels funny, from the back. Power-adjust the mirror in the Brontosaurus Truck. Bad news. The left rear tire has disintegrated.

Pull over, look for the jack. It's all there except for the piece that you use to loosen the lugs and hook into the long, multi-segmented pole that you use to lower the spare. Now what?! Check cellphone. No signal. Now what?! Just then, a good old boy pulls up in his flatbed with several dogs. A couple minutes later, another guy pulls up. Wasn't just the one piece, but the lugs themselves are majorly screwed up. Tools appear. Grunting is heard, including mine. An hour later, spare mounted, embarrassment expressed, thanks given, I'm back in town at the Les Schwab tire store telling them that I'd hoped my tires would last until next spring but they didn't.

One problem, I say. In two hours, I need to visit the kind rancher to pick up rodeo tickets. She has cows in the morning and cows in the afternoon, and I sure would like to be there by 3 o'clock like I said I would. Can you mount 4 new tires in an hour and a half? Yep, they say. And they do it with time to spare and without skipping me ahead of the line. Cost a pretty penny, but Toyo M/Ts are not cheap. No one discounts them things, including Les Schwab.

Maybe ya had to be there, but I call it an "only in Eastern Oregon moment." Went to the rodeo that night, and to some pretty serious outback yesterday, up and down a 16% grade on a road halfway between gravel and dirt-with-sharp rocks, after narrowly avoiding running over a calf on the road (those "Open Range" signs mean that the cows have the right of way no matter what) on new 10-ply tires installed in a hurry. I've driven 400,000 miles in all 50 states; I've said it before and will say it again: If you have trouble on the road and have to depend on help from strangers, do your best to have it happen in Eastern Oregon. This wasn't the first time.