Shoe tree

I had read about the shoe tree that was just past Middlegate.  It's one of only a few trees east of Fallon. 

Supposedly a husband and wife got into an argument near the tree and the wife threatened to walk home.  The husband threw her shoes into the tree,  apparently leaving her no choice but to get back in the car.  So it became a tradition to throw shoes into the tree -  there are hundreds of them up there.  You won't be surprised to hear that I brought my old pair of shoes to toss into the tree (yes,  and lug them through the desert to get there).

Well, or so I thought.  Only yesterday morning did I learn that the tree was chopped down on December 31, 2010.  So with a heavy heart I continued on to Middlegate,  my shoes now only shoes -  no longer my ticket to Americana.

Or so I thought.   At Middlegate I learned that a neighboring tree had taken up the burden,  and already had hundreds of shoes of its own.  So with renewed happiness I reached the tree, picked out a good branch,  and tossed in my shoes (it took 4 tries).

And here's the story of the guy who cut it down.  He heard that his wife was going to meet her lover at the tree,  so in a fit of jealous rage he cut it down.  He was caught,  and his punishment is to plant 400 trees in Nevada over the next 4 years.  How great is that?