A very special tree
Off Highway 71, near La Grange, TX, 2014
About halfway between Houston and Austin stands a tree that is very special to me. I grew fond of it as I drove past a handful of dozens of times during college. That stretch of highway offers a particularly gorgeous slice of Texas. The first hills of the Austin-bound drive appear somewhere between the Hruska’s in Ellinger and the Whataburger in La Grange. Wide meadows to the west spread out side- or backlit by the warm Texas sun, and as seen from one sweeping bend in the road, ranch cattle often climb into the shade and take a dip in a stock tank. All very nice to stare at on a long drive. But what really put my peripheral-vision driving skills to the test was this tree. The only tree not cleared for a hundred yards in any direction, surrounded by cactus and short grass, the oak is found just inside a (locked) gate to the property. One afternoon with a good friend I finally had the courage to do what I had to do, pulled over, hopped the fence, and quickly snapped this image. A simulated infrared film filter lends itself to the day-dreamy mood I had most of the times driving past it.