BAKER CITY — Fred Austin watched the crowd snap selfies with the Capitol Christmas tree and climb ladders to sign the banner adorning the truck.

“This is called the people’s tree. And it is,” he said.

Austin, 89, was one of the drivers transporting the 74-foot-tall Sitka spruce from Alaska to Washington, D.C. He shared driving duties with John Schank, 72, for the 3,200-mile trip.

The tree stopped in Baker City for a community event on Nov. 8. The tree’s journey started Oct. 26. Baker City was one of 13 stops along the way, and the only one in Oregon.

The drivers were not new to hauling cargo — Schank will celebrate 50 years of driving truck in March, and Austin has driven big rigs for 71 years. They are with Lynden Transport in Fairbanks, Alaska.

“That’s over 100 years of experience and 10, 11 million miles,” Austin said with a grin.

He prefers the ice roads of Alaska over typical highways in the lower 48.

“Up there, the road and weather are your adversaries. Down here, it’s cars,” he said.

Schank said the freeways aren’t a problem for the Capitol tree, which is encased in a truck measuring 108 feet long and festooned with signs that announce the special cargo.

“You get a thumbs up, people blowing their horn,” Schank said.

He also drove the 2015 Capitol Christmas tree, a Lutz spruce harvested in Alaska’s Chugach National Forest.

This is the second time in the past six years that Baker City was a stop for the Capitol tree — the first visit was in 2018, when a noble fir from the Willamette National Forest was on its way to D.C.

This year’s tree drew crowds from Baker City and beyond. Barb Gallagher, who added her name to the banner, lives in Cashmere, Washington, but was staying in La Grande when she saw an announcement about the tree and decided it warranted a trip to Baker City.

“We spend our summers in Alaska. It touched our hearts,” she said.

The tree was accompanied by about a dozen U.S. Forest Service staff, said Melissa Kulack, who works in public affairs in Juneau, Alaska.

Schank said police cars often escort the tree when he has to navigate city streets.

But he’s accustomed to unique driving conditions — especially on ice.

“I’ve driven on the Arctic Ocean. You make your own road,” he said.