Sean C. Morgan
Following a local parade and festival celebrating the U.S. Capitol Christmas tree, the 82-foot noble fir from the Sweet Home Ranger District set off cross country to Washington, D.C., for an official lighting ceremony held Thursday, Dec. 6, on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol.
The tree traveled a grand total of 3,618.86 miles, following the route of the Oregon Trail in reverse, stopping at some 25 locations along the way, including several in Oregon. It traveled through Idaho, Wyoming, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland before reaching Washington, D.C., making stops in Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Ohio and Maryland.
“What was most amazing about the trip was how much joy there was,” said Sweet Home District Ranger Nikki Swanson. “Every community we stopped in was kind of like Sweet Home – There was so much joy.”
Communities that maybe hadn’t come together for a big event in many years came together to see the tree, Swanson said. The mayors were so happy the Willamette National Forest brought the tree through their communities.
“People were just so happy and thankful the tree was there,” she said. Take a look at the news “you’d think” there was nothing but discord in the world; but “there is still unity.”
Swanson had never traveled cross country before, she said. “I was just overwhelmed by how wonderful people were across the country.”
Employees of the Willamette National Forest transported the tree to Washington, D.C., with its partner, Central Oregon Truck Company. Joining them, following in an RV, was Linn County Commissioner Will Tucker and his wife, Lynne with their daughter, Becky Long; her husband, Jonah Long, a lieutenant in the fire service in Clackamas County who had trained in Sweet Home; and three grandchildren.
“We were the only ones who were not part of the official caravan,” Tucker said, noting that the trip “was great.”
Tucker and his family joined the caravan in Oregon City after it finished touring the Willamette Valley.
They traveled the full route to Ohio, breaking away for Thanksgiving with another daughter, Stephanie Sanders, in Lebanon, Ohio. They rejoined the group at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland.
There Tucker met retired Army Lt. Colonel Theresia Pawlowski, who grew up in Corvallis and was in Maryland to meet her brother, Fred Perl, law enforcement officer with Deschutes National Forest. She is a relative of a friend Tucker worked with at Hewlett-Packard.
“We came in with the tree,” Lynne said. “Absolutely the most amazing trip we’ve ever taken.”
“The trip was just a lot of fun,” Will said. “We went to every single historical site.”
They would have to go off the track a bit and catch up to do it, but their trip included stops at President Harry Truman’s home and the Great Salt Lake.
All along the route, the Tuckers ran into people with connections to Oregon, he said. That’s what brought many out to see the tree as it passed through their communities. Sometimes, they were bringing their children out to show them what trees from Oregon look like.
They traveled through a lot of snow and cold weather, Lynne Tucker said. It was 7 degrees in Laramie, Wyo., and she was impressed by the rays of ice that formed on the wheels as their motion flung water from the hub and froze.
The “never-closed KOA campground was closed,” and they had to spend the night in the RV parked on the street, she said.
“The sights were spectacular,” Will said. He enjoyed Chimney Rock in Nebraska. “We were the only RV in the campground.”
“Each day, we had anywhere from one to three events,” he said, often near Oregon Trail markers. “Some were drive-by photos.”
Some days there were parades, he said. Some days, it was just a chance for people to sign the banner as the tree traveled through their communities.
The Tuckers said the best event was obviously the one held in Sweet Home, but Kansas City, Mo., was a close second, with a great meal and caroling at Union Station.
In Washington, D.C., they visited the sights and museums.
“We’ve been to seven, eight museums,” Tucker said. “And we still haven’t seen them all.”
In the official caravan were Jared Richey and Stefanie Gatchell of the Sweet Home Ranger District.
“I went with the tree,” Gatchell said. “One day I got to ride in the truck.”
Her ride in the big rig stretched from Soda Springs, Idaho to Evanston, Wyo.
“It’s an amazing view,” she said. “There you are on top of the world, rolling on down the highway.”
One of her favorite stops was at Ft. Bridger, Wyo., Gatchell said. That’s where the caravan ran into its first snow.
There were plenty of other brushes with history, as they made stops along the Oregon Trail route.
“When we got to Independence, Mo., we went to see Jim Bridger’s grave.”
Bridger was a mountain man, trapper, Army scout, wilderness guide and explorer of the western United States following the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804.
Highlights along the way were Sweet Home at the beginning of the journey; Scottsbluff, Neb., which held a parade in “really cold” snowy weather; and St. Louis, Mo., which also held a parade.
Along the way “people have been so welcoming,” she said. “It’s been so amazing.”
People really felt united, with a lot of joy surrounding the Christmas tree, she said. When they arrived, local folks were ready to meet up, with carolers and hot chocolate, like “a lot of little Sweet Homes along the way.”
Richey’s involvement with the tree started pretty much when it was chosen. He was one of the USFS staffers assigned to guard the tree before it was cut and accompanied it all the way to the capitol.
Once the tree was cut, Richey said his job was to get it out of the woods. He led the road maintenance, logistics and the development of the amphitheater for the cutting. He went along with the tree as a support vehicle driver and the “fix-it guy.”
“I feel very fortunate to be asked to do it,” Richey said. “The whole thing, it was a lot more than I expected. It ended up being a huge deal. There was more logistics involved in it than I ever thought. The whole thing was almost overwhelming.”
While the tree was still in Oregon, he made day trips to the various stops inside the state and joined the caravan for good as it left Oregon.
Most days, they traveled 300 to 400 miles, Richey said. A few times, they traveled just a couple of hundred miles.
The differences between small-town and big-city stops was clear, he said. “The bigger towns, it was a few people and passersby” stopping to see the tree.
“We’d pull into the little 500- to 600-person communities, and it’d be a couple thousand people,” Richey said. “It was bigger than I thought it’d be. They were just so thrilled – because we came to their town.”
Local sheriff’s department personnel would escort the tree, and city police would pick up the escort as they entered different cities.
The Forest Service personnel enjoyed various events and dinner together in Washington, D.C., after the completion of the trip, he said.
Richey said he even got to drive the truck.
“It was after it was unloaded. Once we unloaded the tree, we headed back to Andrews Air Force Base.”
There, the driver gave him a chance to try it out, he said. With an automatic transmission, the new Kenworth truck was easy to drive, Richey said.
Richey said he really enjoyed the trip and the people he traveled with.
“I’ve been on a lot of fire trips,” he said. “Usually by the end of the fire, everyone’s ready to split up. We didn’t hit that travel wall.”
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