I am a nature lover and often, when I have a little time, I turn to the outside to experience all the beauty of our world. During work, I meet a lot of new and interesting people and often I learn new things and new places to visit.
One of those conversations clued me into a very old tree that was one of the largest and oldest seven oak trees in the state of Kansas. One day, I decided to go for a long drive and see if I could find it, but no matter how I searched and how many maps I consulted, I could not discover it. I ended up walking around the little town of Holton and asked several of the farmers in that area if they knew of the tree. Some had heard of it but knew not where it was located. Finally I came across two fishermen sitting quietly on a man made pond and I went to sit nearby, wanting to do a little sketch of them.
If I was not going to find the tree, at least I could do a quick study of them and sketch them and still feel happy and at peace and like I had made something special of the day.
After a little semi nap and some peace and quiet one of them finally got up and came over to the bench i was sitting on and asked me if he could see the drawing. We got to taking and I told him that I was in search of an old tree that seem to be evading me. he laughed and laughed and pointed to the end of the pond and said that the tree was right behind the house there. I was so thankful I ripped my sketch from my notebook and gifted it to him. He was happy and i was happy.
I walked to the house and sure enough in the back of it was a huge majestic old oak tree with twisted limbs so big and broad that they too could have been trunks themselves. i hugged the tree, walked around it and finally sat in it’s shade meditating. The breeze lulled me to a sleepy state and then, when I finally bid it goodbye, i saw there was a stone telling that the Oak tree is called Searle tree after the dentist who used to live in that house next to it, and when it was time for him to move on, he donated the tree, in 1992, hoping that it would be preserved and protected. At that time it was the 11th largest Bur oak tree in Kansas. It grew from a tiny acorn sometime between 1792 and 1817, who stood it’s frowned to such a fine and amazing Oak.
Upon finding the tree I made it’s location official by adding it to Google maps!
