The Tree Bike

[jeff of pa]

In 1954 Helen Puz moved to Center with her five children. At that time she had been recently widowed.“People were very sympathetic and generous,” “We were given a girl’s bike and my 8-year-old son, Don, seemed the natural one to ride it. Don was none too happy having a girls bike,” said Puz, “but it was better than none.”

The neighborhood boys, including Don, liked to play behind a local restaurant called, “The Den.” (This restaurant is now called Sound Food.)





One day Don told his mother that he had lost his bike and he wasn’t sure where he’d left it. They both let it go because Don was a little embarrassed to be riding a girl’s bike anyway.


Forty years later Puz read in the Beachcomber, Vashon’s newspaper, that someone had discovered a bike up in a tree near Sound Food. The bike was five feet off the ground and the tree had grown around it. News of the tree bike even carried to Japan where they made a film about it.
The mystery of where Don Puz left his bike had finally been solved.

 

[jeff of pa]

I wonder if this still exists

Cameron County press. (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.), 09 May 1901.

 

[CoinFetcher]

The tree is very neat - I used to live near the Vashon island ferry.

Their are a lot of trees that have grown through whatever is resting in them. Fence posts mostly!

 

[BagLady]

That is so cool. Great story!

 

[austin]

It is a great story and the basis of a local legend. Cool...

 

[Limitool]

I changed out a chain saw blade 22 years ago when I was clearing land for my new home then. I laid it between a fork of a small oak then. Now 22 years later the chain is lying exposed on either side of the then fork. It is almost completely buried within the tree now. I'll go out and get a pic if anybody wants to see it....? But it is weird that the tree doesn't just keep pushing it up but instead slowly "eats" it into its sole.