Eastern Oregon: Best Place, Best People

[u/TBTop]

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.

[u/Nightkillian]

Or have it happen anywhere in the Mid-West or the South. We call it Southern Hospitality. But I am really glad it happens in Eastern Oregon as well. For the most part, a lot of us out here genuinely are good hearted people. Very misunderstood because the folks in Portland just think we all are racist Trump supports. And that's okay. Whatever make those people sleep better at night....

I'm really glad you had a bad experience turn good! Hope you enjoyed the Rodeo over in Joseph and when you are ready for a bigger Rodeo, head over to the Pendleton Roundup in September. One thing I can say about Pendleton, they know how to put on a event and make it a party.

[u/TBTop → u/Nightkillian]

I keep forgetting to go online and buy the Roundup tix. Thanks for reminding me. Last year, I used my Oregon concealed carry permit to pick 'em up at the will-call window. I think I've been to 5 or 6 Roundups since lightning struck and I became a rodeo fan 9 years ago.

You're right, there are good people all over the place. In fact, as I was waiting for the new tires to be mounted, I got talking about that with another customer and told him that New York City, of all the unlikely places, has been one of the friendliest places in the country for me. Still, this was the fourth time that people in EO didn't just go a little bit out of their way, but WAY out of their way to help out when I had vehicle trouble. A different time, down in Burns, my diesel truck gelled up during a freak cold snap (-30 overnight) and someone there spent his entire Saturday (high temp -11) trying to get it started, including going home to get heaters to put under the clogged fuel filters and driving me to the farm & ranch store for a bigger heater. None of it worked and eventually AAA had to tow the rig to Bend, but that guy's effort just blew me away.

Oddly enough, I've had more vehicle trouble in Eastern Oregon than anywhere else. I must have a guardian angel that makes sure I have any trouble in a region where people are really inclined to help. Sometimes I will describe Eastern Oregon as "America minus 75 years, in the best possible way."

The Chief Joseph Days rodeo (second time in 5 years for that one) was a lot of fun. The halftime show involving a rodeo clown jumping over a Ram truck on a motorcycle totally cracked me up.