[or-roots] Car eating trees

[Connie Guardino]

My former husband, Oregon artist Del Hodges (1940-199) was killed by a "car
eating tree" on the Elk City-Harlan Road in Lincoln County. He had not been
drinking. My oldest daughter was following him and said the rear end of his car
went up, she spun out of control, and wrapped around a tree. Thankfully, he
wasn't trown into the Big Elk River where his body would haven hard to
retrieve. Please do drive slowly and carefully on gravelled country roads. Your
life depends on it.

Leslie Chapman wrote:

> Many a car missed that turn, but they did not miss that tree!  A large patch
> of bark was missing on the side of the tree that faced west (up the hill).
> I'll never forget the day I saw a Buick wrapped around that tree (about
> 1945).  The tree survived, but the 4 occupants of the Buick did not; it was
> on display at a Sweet Home wrecking yard for many years.
>
> Don't drink and drive!
>
> It is amazing the number of car eating trees we have in Oregon. I recall one
> just a little ways west of Tiller in southern Douglas Co that probably to
> this day hasn't healed up. It got hit about once every 6 to 9 months the
> whole 7 years I worked in Tiller and last time I was down to visit it had
> fresh scars. The sad thing was the corner wasn't that extreme, but it was a
> "simple" curve. For those who do not understand that, as you enter most
> highway curves, the road goes from being straight into a gradually
> tightening curve for the first part until you get slowed down (hopefully) to
> a speed that you can go around the tight part of the curve at whether it is
> a big curve (radius = 1500 to 2400 feet) or a tight curve (some are less
> than 750 feet or so on two lane roads, I believe) But the tree eating curve
> just starts at about 1500 foot radius from the straight away and goes at
> that radius all the way around. Next time you are on a back country road and
> find a curve that is suprisingly hard to take, if you look at it real close,
> that is probably why.
>
> There are other places where the trees eat cars on straight stretches
> though, I have to wonder about those, maybe they're magnetic.
>
> Les Chapman khanjehgil at presys.com
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