Montana truck driver: Delivering America’s Christmas tree was the highlight of my career

The Capitol Christmas tree arrived in Washington D.C. after being driven from Montana’s Kootenai National Forest early Monday morning.

Montana truck driver Lawrence Spiekermeier explained why the 3,500 mile drive was one of his proudest trips yet.

“I’m going to call this the crown jewel of a driving career. I guess I’m blessed and lucky to have such an opportunity,” he told FOX Business’ Liz MacDonald on “Risk & Reward.”

Spiekermeier has traveled 3.5 million accident-free miles and has been hauling for 49 years through 49 states.

“We started on Nov. 12 and we arrived in D.C. on Nov. 26, so we had a few days on the road and visiting all the different stops across America,” he said. “The tree comes from our country, the Kootenai National Forest in Northern Montana and every stop that we made along the whole journey it was nothing, but happy faces because this is the tree for the people, it’s the people’s tree,” he said.

While making stops across America, Spiekermeier allowed people to physically sign his truck.

“We had banners on the side of the trailer and at each stop we made people come up and sign their name to the banner,” he said.

The 79-foot-tall Engelmann Spruce is one of many trees that has been put in front of the Capitol building, which has been a tradition for Capitol Hill for over 50 years.