The very base of this tree is 5-6 ft at least in a couple of spots where the root structures are extending out and its several feet up before the trunk is "round". I was telling one of my uncles yesterday about how a friend of mine years ago in Fl used to make table tops out of the cypress trees...they were beautiful. When I moved into my house (my subdivision is located in the middle of what "was" my rural boy scout camp when I was a boy - hardwoods galore), I had an oak right behind my deck that was huge (4 1/2'), but was evidently "damaged" as they raped the land for the subdivision. I had to take it down a couple of years after I moved in (it was approx. 65 yrs old). The good thing is, I've still got a 22 acre "hardwood oasis" and a 1 acre spring fed pond (50 yards or so away) that border the back of my property line that aren't going anywhere. And to think, some folks prefer living in the irrigated desert
ps: On2wheels, I can relate...