SEE THE USA IN YOUR CHEVROLET

Coast to Coast and Border to Border.  West to East.

The only reason for going to Iowa on this trip was to photograph the famous covered Bridges of Madison County made famous by the Clint Eastwood movie of the same name.  I was not disappointed.  

I was surprised, however, that the largest bridge in Madison County is smaller than the smallest covered bridge in my home county of Jennings County, Indiana, and the adjoining county, Jackson County.  In fact, the longest bridge in Madison county, Iowa, is seven feet shorter than the shortest covered bridge in the two counties in Indiana.  I guess Clint Eastwood hadn't heard of the Bridges of Indiana when he chose Iowa as the site for his film.

Big Sky Country, a name given, I believe to Montana, could well be the name for Iowa, especially on this day after 117 tornadoes were reported nationwide last night.  Since our eyes were often skyward on this day that we left southern Indiana and traveled through Illinois and Iowa, I kept a photo record of what we saw.

You'll recognize the chrome bird in the foreground that I took all over the US to photograph	Farm buildings, usually the largest things on the Iowa landscape diminished as the sky with rain clouds took center stage this day.

  

An Iowa rest stop had artwork displays.

	This is where we used to look for tornadoes.
	I believe this is the same road in Madison County that was used showing Clint's old Chevy truck going through the dust.  This is the road from US 169 to the stone schoolhouse.

Before you go to visit the bridges, write or e-mail  the Madison county Chamber of Commerce for their excellent map of the town and the surrounding county where the bridges are located:

Madison County Chamber of Commerce
73 Jefferson St.
Winterset, Iowa  50273. (800) 298-6119  chamber@dwx.com  http://www.madisoncounty.com

Madison County is located southwest of Des Moines, Iowa and can be reached by either going south from I-80 on U.S. Highway 169, or going west of I-35 on County Highway G50.  We never retraced our steps since we used the U.S. 169 approach to see Hogback Bridge and Roseman Bridge, saw Cedar Bridge site and Cutler-Donahoe Bridge and Holliwell Bridges near town, then, the next morning, left town on G50 and saw Imes Bridge before getting on I-35 and going south to Kansas City.  The covered bridge photos are placed here in the order in which they were taken, from early afternoon through sunset on May 31, and Imes bridge about 7 a.m. the morning of June 1, 2004.

This North River Stone Schoolhouse is the northern most item on the map coming south from I-80 on US Hwy. 169.  It is made of  native limestone and was built in 1874 and it was in continuous use until 1945.

Not far from the stone schoolhouse is Hogback Bridge.

Hogback Covered Bridge was built in 1884 and is 97 feet in length.  It was renovated in 1992 at a cost of $118,810. There is a modern bridge adjacent to Hogback, and only foot traffic goes through the covered bridge today.  Ample parking is provided on both ends of the bridge for visitors..

The weather was still breezy and there were rain showers in the area, providing rainbows in the eastern skies as the afternoon sun sank lower in the western sky.  Road signs in the countryside marked the way to the next bridge in the area.  Unless you have seen the movie, The Bridges of Madison County, the sign 'Francesca' wouldn't mean much.

Due west of Winterset, Iowa, out Hwy. 92, is another brown bridge sign pointing to the 4-mile gravel road to our second bridge, Roseman Bridge.  It was built in 1883 and is 107 feet in length.  Roseman was renovated in 1992 at a cost of $152,515.  It is featured in the movie and book versions of The Bridges of Madison County.  This is the only one of the six bridges to have any kind of commerce in sight.  There is a souvenir shop, discretely through the trees adjacent to Roseman, but I didn't take the path to it.  There is a hand lettered sign, 'We're open, really!"  We seemed to be following the same people from bridge to bridge and the most cars at any one bridge at any one time was three.  They usually left before we did leaving the bridge to me for my photo essay work.  Roseman is not used for vehicles, and there is no bridge directly adjacent, there is a newer bridge about 1/4 mile away over the same river.

We left Roseman and went back to check into the only hotel in town, a Super 8.  We decided to take only one car, mine, on these gravel roads to visit the rest of the bridges.  You can see why our cars were the dirtiest they have ever been at this point:

A view from my rear-view mirror of the dust on my car and Paul following.	It has been a few years since we have driven gravel roads.

Even though it was not yet dusk, this deer stood directly in the road when I approached.  She jumped into the grass quickly as I came near, but I fired up my camera in time for a late shot.

Cutler-Donahoe Covered Bridge is actually located in Winterset's City Park.  It was built in 1870 and is 19 feet long.

The long approach overhangs on these bridges causes the bridges to appear to be leaning in photos from an angle.	I took 'record shots' of the Chevy near the bridges for use in Chevy magazine articles about our 12,000 mile journey to 'See the USA in our Chevrolets' including sights of the good ol' USA.

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Holliwell Covered Bridge was built in 1870 and is 122 feet long, making it the longest.  It was also featured in the movie and was renovated in 1995 for $225,000.

It was 7 p.m. by this time, on May 31, so I had horizontal light and long shadows, a nice time to shoot outdoors, but a challenge while swatting mosquitoes and trying not to think about 'snakes in the grass.'
The wooden floor and white approach walls reminded me of shooting from inside a barn.	The privacy afforded inside these covered bridges reminded me that they were called 'kissing bridges' in horse and buddy days.  Rest assured that Paul and I did NOT partake of this activity!

	Do you think that if I would print this as a black and white with the Chevy in the background, I could sell the photo as an authentic 1956 photograph?
A 3-mesquito-bite shot!	Three 'old things' in one photo:  Holliwell, Paul, and my Chevy.  Which is the oldest?

On the way back to town, another rain shower and rainbow south of town.  Not enough rain to wash off the dust from our cars, however!

John Wayne's birthplace in Winterset was the town's claim to fame before The Bridges of Madison County movie, even though the bridges actually preceded John, or should I say, Marion Morrison!

The sky again caught my eye as we went through town to the nearby Cedar Covered Bridge.

Cedar Covered Bridge.

Cedar Covered Bridge, built in 1883, is 76 feet long and its image was used on the cover of The Bridges of Madison County novel.  It was destroyed by arson on September 3, 2002, and is being rebuilt.

	After looking at the design of Imes Bridge, below, I believe these are the sides of the new bridge being constructed.

   

Why were covered bridges built?  Covered bridges were originally covered to help preserve the large flooring timbers, which were much more expensive to replace than the lumber used on the bridge sides and roof. --Chamber of Commerce Map and Information Sheet

Early June 1, as we traveled from Winterset, Iowa, to Branson, Missouri, we stopped by the sixth and final Madison County bridge, Imes Covered Bridge.  It was built in 1870 and is 81 feet long.  It sits over a ravine in a park near St. Charles, IA, on County Highway G50 near Exit 52 west of I-35.

With air openings below the eaves, and white paint on the side beams, this was the brightest interior of all the bridges.