Movie Magic Madison County-TRIP 3

On the road before 9:00 a.m., we enjoyed the beautiful fall morning with bright sun and only a slight haze clouding an azure sky. But plans changed rather quickly when we discovered Andy's first scheduled stop, some "historical trail" that even he couldn't identify, was closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Hogback Covered Bridge, 1884

"Was it Lewis and Clark?" I questioned. I looked on the map for any evidence around Council Bluffs, Iowa.
"I don't know," he answered.
"Do you remember what it was about?" I pursued.
"No."
"And you don't know the name?"
"No! It doesn't matter. Leave it out of the blog."
OK then, I thought.  We headed east towards the Bridges of Madison County.
As we drove, we noticed a big difference in the foliage. Here in Iowa most of the leaves were down along Interstate #80.

On this bright October day,
it was almost too warm to
be dressed in long sleeves.

"Either it's colder or it is different species of trees," Andy reasoned. Regardless, it looked like late fall in Iowa. Unlike the Nebraska farmers who had experienced more extensive severe drought, the Iowa farmers had their fields of corn all put to bed for the winter."Iowa is the largest corn producing state in the country," said Andy.
We rounded one rise and looked out over a horizon lined with hundreds of wind turbines. The Clean Energy of the Future, said the sign.
"They are manufactured in Iowa," explained Andy, "and I think that Iowa has more than any other state." He was talking about the wind turbines.  Gracefully, they spun around and around, some catching the sun's reflection as they rotated.

Cedar Covered Bridge, 1883
rebuilt, 2004

Once off the highway, Andy relaxed. "I read a long time ago that Iowa had the richest soil in the Midwest," he said. "It may not be the longest growing season, but it's rich soil. Look how black it is!"
Hogback Bridge, our first stop, dates back to 1884. Hogback Bridge, the last all-timber truss bridge built in the county, is still in its original location. It got its name from the limestone ridge which forms the west end of the valley. It was renovated in 1992 at a cost of $118,810.

At Cedar Bridge we crossed and recrossed in Little Red,
as cows in the field just behind us mooed loudly.

A tiny snake crawled away as I stopped to take a picture. It had a pattern, but I didn't wait long enough to look closer. Gorgeous skies and fall foliage made for spectacular photography, but following the back gravel roads on a tiny inset map was no easy task. And that was my job. Luckily, posted signs, even seriously faded ones, helped us keep our bearings.Cedar Bridge, 1883, was next. "This is the one they rebuilt in 2004," said Andy. "The original was burned down after they made the movie." We drove through and immortalized Little Red in the process.
At Roseman Bridge, 1883, eight miles west along a gravel path, we stopped at a small country gift shop and chatted with the owner. "Yes, we're in drought too," she said. "We had five inches this last storm, according to my husband's rain gauge, but before that we had not had any precipitation since June."

A gift shop and picnic area highlights
the property around Roseman Bridge.

Andy told her about Nebraska.
"From what I've heard," she said, "Illinois and Indiana are worse off. But we had it hot--25 days over 95 degrees."

Roseman Covered Bridge, 1883

Roseman and Cedar Bridges were the last two covered bridges built in Madison County over the Middle and North Rivers, respectively. Approved in 1877, they were constructed in succession in 1883 by Benton Jones and G.K. Foster. The Roseman Bridge, also called the Oak Grover Bridge, cost just $2,930 to build and carried traffic for almost a hundred years before it was bypassed in 1981. Jones strengthened the design of this bridge by superimposing a queenpost truss on the truss. This structural redundancy is probably what saved the Roseman Bridge while so many others couldn't stand the test of time. We headed back toward the town of Winterset and the three covered bridges to the east.

In spite of drought, the colored leaves make a lovely
backdrop for our lunch stop at Pammel State Park in Iowa.

Cutler-Donahue Covered Bridge, 1870

Pammel State Park offered shade and picnic tables for lunch. We chuckled. Imagine looking for shade in mid-October! It was that warm. And the leaves were already past peak.
Four hawks flew overhead in the three-miles to Pammel, taking off from tree tops and telephone poles. We could easily identify the red tail on one of them.  "There must be plenty of mice in the fields here," said Andy.

Located right in the heart of the city park, the Cutler-Donahue
Bridge is more accessible than most of the others.

The Cutler-Donahue Covered Bridge, 1870 and one of the two oldest, was harder to find--ironic because it was located right in the City Park. But the signs were less visible on residential streets than out in open country. Carefully, I followed the apparent turns on the map until we found a street sign.

Holliwell Covered Bridge, 1880

It was another 3.3 miles on gravel to Holliwell Covered Bridge, 1880.  We climbed down the embankment to a sand bar to get a better shot in the autumn sun.

To capture this bridge in the late afternoon sun, we scale the
bank and perch on a sandbar in the river.

The Holliwell Bridge is one of the first built in Madison County, as it crossed the Middle River on Winterset Indianaola Road, a main highway carrying pioneers west. In 1880 the Holliwell Bridge replaced the old wood frame bridge that was constructed in 1855. It is notably the longest of the covered bridges at 170 feet and is unique in structure, a wood bow truss type.

Imes Covered Bridge, 1870

The last of the six, Imes Covered Bridge, and the only one not painted red originally, dates back to 1870.  We followed the signs far out of Winterset along a gravel road.
"It's red," said Andy, when we pulled in.

Imes Bridge is within a half mile of I-35
and highly visible to passersby.

"OK. You're right," I agreed. "but not in the pamphlet.  I want to watch the movie again and see if I can actually identify the bridges," I told him.
After we checked into the motel, we followed University Avenue toward downtown to get our bearings. Gas here is the lowest of anywhere on our trip so far--$3.549 a gallon.
Trees in Des Moines have retained their leaves, so here color predominates. Against the blue sky, the palette is a beautiful melange of autumn shades. It's no wonder the Bridges of Madison County engendered a movie. Just photographing them could be one too.