If you have ever wondered what kind of rig it takes to move a massive fifty-three-foot Christmas tree across the country, the answer rolled back into Ohio. A Kenworth T680 built by the crew in Chillicothe returned home carrying one of the most talked-about loads of the season, the 2025 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree.
The T680, assembled at the Chillicothe plant, stopped in on November 16 so employees could look over “The People’s Tree” before it wrapped up its trip to Washington, D.C. The truck was driven by Michael Porter, a Swift Transportation driver based out of the Phoenix terminal. He has been hauling the tree from town to town as part of the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree Tour.
This year’s tree is a red fir nicknamed “Silver Belle.” It came out of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in Nevada and has made community stops across the country. The tour theme for 2025 highlights the Spirit of the Silver State.
Kenworth employees take extra pride in seeing their work roll in with a haul like this. Plant manager Doug VanZuiden said, “Our employees take great pride in assembling The World’s Best Trucks and welcoming back the T680, built right here in Chillicothe, has become a special way for our employees and their families to kick off the holiday season.”
Knight Swift was chosen as this year’s tour carrier and selected Porter to handle the run. Kenworth provided a specially wrapped T680 featuring Nevada forest artwork along with a seventy-six-inch sleeper and the full PACCAR Powertrain, including the PACCAR MX 13 engine, PACCAR TX 12 automated transmission, and PACCAR DX 40 tandem rear axles.
The tour also featured real-time GPS tracking using Kenworth’s TruckTech Plus connected technology. Anyone following the journey could check the tree’s location through the Kenworth Tree Tracker map.
This is the twelfth straight year a Kenworth will deliver the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree. Silver Belle is scheduled to arrive on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol on November 21. The annual lighting ceremony will take place in early December.
More details about the tour can be found on the official 2025 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree website.
Source: Kenworth, The Trucker
