Bridges And Smokestacks
October 15, 2006
About the time I sent out the last POTR I wrote to someone and said that since I was leaving the part of the country with lighthouses I was hoping to see two or three covered bridges. I had no idea that Erma would guide me to as many covered bridges as she did. We have seen thirty-eight bridges, plus two that were more like pedestrian walk ways and another under construction. I have been under the mistaken idea that all covered bridges were built before 1900 or at least shortly thereafter. We visited some bridges that were built within the last ten years, in styles that was used before 1900. As a matter of fact we saw the foundations of a new covered bridge that is to be finished in 2007. That bridge, when completed will be the longest covered bridge in the USA, and therefore the second longest in the world. The longest covered bridge in the world is the eight span in Hartland, New Brunswick, Canada. The second longest is currently the 1866 Windsor-Cornish Covered Bridge between Cornish, NH and Windsor, VT across the Connecticut River. It is the longest two span covered bridge in the world and it also is one of three interstate bridges between Vermont and New Hampshire. In Woodstock, VT the city determined that it was cheaper to replace a steel and concrete bridge with a wooden covered bridge and it would be a desirable nostalgic addition to the city. Every covered bridge is unique, and I enjoyed seeing each and every one. The bridge that I liked the most was the Windsor Mills Covered Bridge In Ashtabula County, Ohio. My personal name for it was the Sunrise-Sunset covered bridge, because of the extra effort that was put into the finishing of the ends, which made it look like radiating sunrays. But unfortunately it was named when it was built in 1867 and the name was kept when it was renovated in 2004.
WINDSOR MILLS COVERED BRIDGE IN ASHTABULA COUNTY
We drove across another bridge that is unlike any that I have ever heard about except in stories of WWII. Across Sunset Lake near Brookville, VT we were on a three hundred foot long floating bridge that was originally built in 1820. For sixty-four years logs supported the bridge. In 1884 tarred wooden barrels replaced the logs. These served as floatation devices until 1978 when they were in turn replaced by three hundred and eighty plastic drums filled with styrofoam. There are some people that claim the bridge is actually a submerged bridge because the tires of any vehicle crossing the bridge are two or three inches below the surface of the water. Use of the walkway along side of the bridge is popular for fishermen. They are in great danger of being soaked by any vehicle that is moving fast enough to splash the water over the sides of the bridge. The bridge is closed during the winter due to ice formation.
300-FOOT FLOATING (OR SUBMERGED)
BROOKVILLE, VERMONT BRIDGE
We were in New Hampshire in 1976. It does not seem possible that it was that long ago, the years have passed so rapidly. When we were there we made a visit to The Old Man. We were very impressed with him, just as every person is that has gone to visit him. I wanted to take some new photographs of him. The ones I took in 1976 are rather limited and I wanted to get a better close-up. I was extremely saddened to find out that on May 3, 2003 it was discovered that he had died. Apparently it was known that his health was failing because a lot of surgery was performed to preserve his life. But as happens many times he was unable to handle another harsh winter. His exact age was not known, but it was estimated to be between 2,000 and 10,000 years. This picture was taken from the Internet. It is unfortunate that New Hampshire has succumbed to the thing that causes shame to so many Japanese. New Hampshire has lost face.
Large rivers and the activities that happen upon them always impress us. When we were in Cincinnati on the Ohio River we were not disappointed in the least. There was a gathering of sixteen authentic and ornamental riverboats for the 2006 Tall Stacks Festival. The first steamboat came to Cincinnati in 1811, and the riverboats have been an integral of the commerce ever since. Officially every four years Cincinnati has a gathering of the riverboats. I say officially because the last one was in 2003 and the next one will be in 2011, the bicentennial of the first steamboat visit. That is not really four years, but it is eight years for two. There were several dozen cruises on the riverboats every day and evening. Every night there was a fireworks display, followed by a balloon glow. During every day and evening there were several music venues. It is interesting to me that many people were talking about the BIG NAME groups that were performing, and I did not know but a few of the groups or names. I have heard of Asleep At The Wheel and Roseanne Cash, but who is Charlie Musselwhite or John Hammond or Tift Merritt? There were a couple more I knew and many more of whom I had never heard. It is a good thing that the music industry does not depend on me to know the performers. The greatest fun for us was to watch the riverboats coming and going from the docks and traveling along the river. We found a place with a good view of the river with a curve upstream and another downstream. It was a great location to see just about every riverboat and lots of private craft, plus the commercial river traffic. A steamboat is beautiful to see, but a tugboat pushing as many as fifteen barges is very impressive. On the last day of the festival there was a parade of all the steamboats. Our ideal viewing location was filled with so many people that it was hard to find a place to take pictures. Never the less here is one of the better ones I took that day. This time our visit was much more laid back than it was is 2003. We felt that we had more time to sit and enjoy the view instead of filling all our time with going, doing, and meeting schedules.
THE HARRIET BISHOP, THE SPIRIT OF PEORIA,
AND THE NATCHEZ ON THE OHIO RIVER
In the two years that we have been living on the road we have stayed in a lot of different campgrounds. The accommodations have varied from nothing to very nice facilities. There is a joke that runs around about staying in the parking lots of Wal-Mart. While it is true that there is no fee for using the lot, you will spend a hundred dollars or more in the store before you leave the next morning. After all we do need groceries, and various other items that have to be purchased somewhere so why not do it where we are staying. We have also stayed in the parking lots of Flying J service stations. Now that is a place to spend the money. When we have arrived it has been late in the evening, so we ate supper inside, and the next morning we went in to eat breakfast. And of course we need fuel in the Vectra and sometimes we need gas in the Jeep. It is not hard to spend a couple hundred dollars when we stay in the parking area for FREE. We have been close to railroads many times, and I rather enjoy hearing the trains in the night. Other places are close to busy highways and the trucks roll all night, but they don’t bother too much. A few places have been close to areas that roosters frequent. Did you know that they crow any time during the night? I grew up on a farm and I had forgotten they crow as much as they do. Again, I enjoy hearing them. In Crittenden, KY, which is close to Cincinnati, we had a new experience. The campground is located by the Interstate and two railroad tracks. It is in an area with lots of oak trees. Acorns grow on oak trees and the nuts fall off the trees in the early fall. I don’t know if the trees were Red Oak, White Oak or some other variety, but I do know that the acorns were perhaps four or five times larger than the acorns of the Live Oak which grows further south. Every little bit we heard, WHACK, WHack, whack, rattle, rattle, rattle as an acorn fell on top of our fiberglass roof and then rolled to a stop or off the side. We were there for five days. I could step outside and hear acorns hitting other campers and the ground all around us. It took a bit to get used to it, but we finally did. But I will try to bypass oak trees in the fall from now on. Also as we head to Texas for the winter the acorns will get smaller. It really was different.
ACORNS ON OUR ROOF AND ON OUR SLIDE COVER AFTER FIVE DAYS
Till Later This Is Doug Of
PEACE ON THE ROAD
No comments:
Post a Comment