(Quincy Bayview Bridge Spanning Mississippi River - Quincy IL to West Quincy MO)
“Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments.” ~ Jim Rohn
My “best trip in 2009″ was crossing a rather invisible bridge -the bridge between a goal and the accomplishment. I chose a goal early in the year, a goal I knew was absolutely impossible for me to reach, then I worked and worked and worked and quit a few times and then started over and worked some more. And — finally reached that goal a couple of days ago.
Oh, sweet joy! Hard work can be a really good thing!
(I was inspired to do the best of 2009 challenge, answering a “What is the best ____ of 2009″ question every day in December. Thanks to Gwen Bell.)
and the journey continues...
Thirty-three years ago, on that June 12th, it was nearly 100 degrees in muggy western Illinois and the breezes were strong enough to whip my bridal skirts around my legs, one time nearly causing a fall. I barely noticed the heat, although I was dressed in heavy satin, long sleeved, long skirt, and a fairly long train to carry. I didn’t care. I was wearing the first wedding dress I had tried on. I didn’t try on any others. I loved that gown.
And I was in love. We were in love. And so we married.
We’ve lived in five cities and towns, had seven addresses, raised three children who are grown now and moving on, and we share our lives together still. Still happily (most of the time). We’ve climbed a few steep mountains, crossed–scared–a few deep ravines, but we keep overcoming every obstacle that comes our way, we keep finding the bridges over the ravines. We’ve just crossed a ravine lately, and now there’s a lovely path ahead. Can’t see where it’s headed, but if my Sherpa is coming with me, I am not afraid.
We wrote our wedding vows–it was the thing to do in the mid-1970s–and I can’t find a copy. But I do remember we had one traditional reading mixed with all our words.
Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking.
It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.
I Corinthians 13:4-8
Hard words to live by, day in and day out, but wise words. With a message that bears repeating, and remembering. Repeating and remembering.
Happy anniversary to my first love, my only love!
Covered Bridges have Great Shadows
The Cutler-Donahoe Bridge is the only remaining covered bridge in Madison County, Iowa to have two names. The bridges were usually named after the family that lived the closest, but both the Cutlers and the Donahoes demanded naming rights. Guess they didn’t have bidding wars back then.
fourth in the series of The Bridges of Madison County
This bridge was built in 1870 by Eli Cox. It is 79 feet in length. It was originally located over the North River near Bevington. It was moved to its present site in Winterset’s City Park in 1970 for preservation.
third in the series of Bridges from Madison County
Another covered bridge from Madison County. Now that I have dug into my archives from last October, I am determined to get this series of bridges posted, and then I can cross this off my photo to-do list.
This bridge was built in 1884 by Benton Jones. (Benton appears to have done most of the bridge building in the county.) It runs 97 feet long across the North River.
The people who named the creeks and rivers in this central Iowa region had a utilitarian approach to their job. A few of the many water ways near Winterset are known as Middle River, South River, North River . . . you get the general idea.
Why name a bridge Hogback?
They were a little more inventive when it came to naming the actual bridges. Though most of the county’s covered bridges were named after the bridge’s closest neighbor (or neighbors if there was a bit of an disagreement), Hogback got its name from the limestone ridge which forms the west end of this valley.
Lovely Autumn Day for the Last Leg of a Long Drive
I took these photographs on the last day of a 16 day road trip from Wisconsin to New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and back. By the time we hit Iowa we were getting close to home, but I couldn’t miss the opportunity to check out these bridges. They are all only a short drive from either Interstate 80 which cuts east-west through Iowa, or Interstate 35 which bisects the state with its north-south route.
A map provided by the Madison County Chamber of Commerce shows all the locations of the bridges and other locations from the movie The Bridges of Madison County, plus the birthplace home of John Wayne.
Ha! Bet you didn’t know John Wayne had to share Winterset’s limelight with all the covered bridges in the area. I didn’t take a photo of his home. I think the bridges had more appeal, and I was running out of time and energy.
On the Mississippi Riverfront at Dubuque, Iowa. The bridge in the background is the Julian Dubuque Bridge and connects to East Dubuque, Illinois. I was attracted to the patterns and colors in the glow of the setting sun.
We pulled over along the river to take a few photographs and when I got out of the car, I was immediately swarmed by buffalo gnats. Evidently the wet weather and high waters have provided the little beasts with a perfect breeding ground. I took only a couple of shots, and I did those super fast. Yech!
I have traveled across this bridge my entire life. Here, the bluff city of Quincy, Illinois is attached by steel girders and pavement to Missouri. I have traveled across this bridge to visit relatives in Hannibal and Palmyra, to take trips to St. Louis for shopping and Cardinals’ baseball games, to buy gasoline (Missouri’s gas tax is enough less than Illinois’ to make the trip financially worthwhile) and to catch the Amtrak in West Quincy when I went to college in Chicago.
Now I cross it when I travel from my home to my hometown. (I live in Wisconsin, but believe me, it is faster to travel Wisconsin-Iowa-Missouri-Illinois, than it is to head due south through Illinois.) Last weekend I crossed this bridge once again. I had never before taken notice of the brilliant blue of the bridge structure contrasting with the road, nor the red brick buildings climbing the bluffs in the distance. But then, never before had I traveled the country’s roads with a camera resting by my side.
Why is it I see so much more by adding a camera into the formula?
If you saw the film, ‘Naked City,’ you saw this historic bridge – the Williamsburg Bridge in New York City. Even when the bridge worked overtime as the locale for a movie shoot, it still continued to carry 100,000 cars and 90,000 subway riders across the East River every weekday.
The movie depicted the murder of a pretty, but thieving young model, and then detailed the efforts of the cops to sniff out her killers. Eventually they unraveled the case, culminating with a chase sequence across this bridge from Manhattan’s Lower East Side into Brooklyn.
Photographed from the East River, tour boat circumnavigating Manhattan.
July 5, 2006
