The Plains Feeder Tree

The Plains Feeder Tree is adapted from this foto I took in 1963.

This is a tree growing out of a rock in eastern Wyoming in the median of Interstate 80. It was found by railroad crews when the train followed that right-of-way, and the Union Pacific Railroad added cables around the rock (to keep it from being shattered by the tree) and a fence, which remain to this day. The trains used to stop to water the tree as they would pass through. When the Lincoln Highway (later US 40) was built through the area it became a stopping point for travelers, and when I-80 was built, a pull-out on the fast lane of each direction was made so that travelers could stop.

From Bill & Holly's Honeymoon.

I was inspired to use it by Don't Let Me Stop You's "Great American Desert" forest theme, which still makes me laugh.