Terri "Teese" Austin Winbolt, center left, holds a sign she made for her brother, Fred Austin, center right, as they stand at the truck he is driving to deliver the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree from Alaska to Washington, D.C. Austin and his colleague in the truck cab John Shank stopped in Loveland, Colorado on Nov. 12, where sisters, Mary Austin Zawloki, left, and Tina Austin Hickey, right, also visited with their brother.
Kids keep asking John Schank if he's Santa.
"I can't lie to them," he laughed. "But I say, 'I'm just his helper.'"
John Schank is 72. He has a big white beard and has been driving for Lynden Transport for 49 years. He and Fred Austin, another longtime Lynden driver, are transporting the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree and its 82-foot sled - trailer - from Seattle to Washington, D.C.
This is Schank's second time driving The People's Tree from Alaska to Washington. He was selected to drive the rig back in 2015 when the selected tree hailed from the Chugach National Forest.
While stopped on Nov. 13 for a quick rest in Kearney, Nebraska, Schank found time to call the Sentinel and share his thoughts on the trip so far.
"There ain't been any big surprises so far," he said. "No derailments or issues ... couldn't go along any better than how it's been."
For Schank and Austin, this isn't a surprise. The two men boast over 10 million miles of safe driving on Alaska's roads.
Schank said they were about halfway to Washington, and that he has enjoyed his time on the road.
"The kids come out and are just so amped up. It is The People's Tree, you know," he said. "It just puts everybody in that Christmas spirit. People see us and think, 'I better get home and start putting my garland up.'"
"I absolutely enjoy hauling this," Austin told Anchorage TV station KTUU as he and Schank headed out from the Pacific Northwest at the start of their cross-country journey. "This is not just common, ordinary, mega-dollar freight. It's special freight for the whole country."
The tree has had quite the adventure thus far.
After the tree and its root wad was harvested on Zarembo Island, "Spruce Wayne" (named in an online public vote run by the U.S. Forest Service) took a short boat ride to Wrangell. It then rode 700 miles on a barge to Seattle, with a quick public appearance in Ketchikan along the way.
It spent Veterans Day parked alongside a parade route in Baker City, Oregon. It was parked outside a Cabela's in Grand Junction, Colorado, before heading east on Highway 70 to a ranch in Loveland, Colorado, a couple days later. (Read a report from the Loveland newspaper at https://bit.ly/3US1nTx.
While the country gets a chance to see the tree, the truck drivers are getting a chance to see the country. Austin (who will be 90 in March) and Schank tend to avoid music in the truck's cabin. They don't do much talking either. With a combined 100 years of Lynden trucking, Austin and Schank are just doing their best to take it all in.
"We're pretty much just gawking at the scenery the whole time," Schank said. "We hand out the commemorative coins at all the stops, and then of course we watch people sign the tree."
Schank hasn't signed the vinyl banner around the tree just yet. But when the caravan makes a stop in Fort Wayne, Indiana, he plans to do it then. The reason? He wants his family to be there when it happens.
Schank is the third oldest of 12 siblings ("I'm the oldest boy, though," he bragged). Many of his siblings live in the 1,100-person Village of North Branch, Michigan. They plan to rent a small bus and make the three-hour drive south to see their brother at the Nov. 16 stop in Indiana.
"I want to wait until I get with my family," he said, "and I'm also still looking for the right color marker."
As the team treks toward Fort Wayne and eventually Washington, Schank wants to continue enjoying the little moments that only a Christmas tree caravan can provide.
"I'll be driving down the road and look out my window and somebody's there giving a thumbs up or pumping their arm to blow the horn," he laughed. "People notice the tree going down the road. It sticks out."
On the road, "Spruce Wayne" is also accompanied by U.S. Forest Service officials, including Wrangell's Tori Houser and Claire Froelich. Local and state police are responsible for keeping the tree safe too, blocking traffic and providing the spruce with round-the-clock protection.
The tree's final stop on the truck's 11-city cross-country whistlestop tour is Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, on Thursday, Nov. 21. Next up: The West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol. The tree lighting ceremony is scheduled for Dec. 3.
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