On Tuesday we visited Madison County, Iowa. Our first stop was Imes Bridge near St. Charles, Iowa. The bridge, like most in the county was moved to its present location. This is the oldest of the bridges--originally built in 1870.
Our second stop was Holliwell Bridge. It was built in 1880. It had also been moved.
Then we were on to Winterset City Park. We crossed this stone bridge in order to get to a geocache.
Also located in the park was Cutler-Donahoe Bridge.
From the city park we drove past John Wayne's boyhood home which is now a museum.
Roseman Bridge was next on our agenda. We had to drive out some country roads to access this bridge.
Then it was on to Hogback Bridge--the only bridge still in its original location.
Even though it is in its original location, you can't drive across it.
On our way to the last bridge, we drove to Stone Schoolhouse which is on the national historic register.
The last bridge we visited was Cedar Bridge which is also located in a park. It is the only bridge you can drive through, so we did.
Later that evening we ate dinner with friends we were stationed with in Maine. Ed used to mow the lawn for the author of
The Bridges of Madison County. We had a great time visiting and sharing memories. We hope they will visit us in Florida once Ed retires!
The next day we went geocaching in West Des Moines. Unfortunately, the caches along the trail by the river had many muggled or were missing.
We left the area Friday, October 1, and spent the night on the road--a Wal-Mart in Champaign, Illinois. Saturday, we stopped in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Bedford, Indiana so Bob could watch some college football. We didn't stay the night, we moved to New Albany, Indiana to spend the night at Horseshoe Casino. All I can say is that I don't like casinos on Saturday nights--too smoky and the slot machines were cold!
Sunday morning we called Ira & Mary to let them know we would be arriving at Boonesborough State Park early in the afternoon. The weather was cloudy and cool--have we had much of anything else?
As we drove through Louisville I waved toward the hospital where Bobby was born. We stopped for a few caches along the way. As we approached Lexington we expected a lot of traffic due to the World Equestrian Games, but we were pleasantly surprised that the traffic was light.
After a trip down a harrowing road (very narrow with trees growing toward the road) we made it to Ft. Boonesborough!
We planned to stay at Boonesborough for a week--geocaching and visiting friends.
We spent two nights so we could grab the few geocaches in the area. We found several in Alston, Georgia.
We found the one and only cache in Hazlehurst.
The swamp wasn't a swamp. All the boat tours and rentals were canceled as you couldn't get out to the swamp.
The water usually covers most of the cypress knees on this nature trail, but this trip they were high and dry.
This spot was usually covered with several feet of water, but I think this gator likes it just the way it is.
From Okefenokee, we headed to Florida. We stopped at Camp Blanding to spend a few nights. They were running a special--3 for 2 so we stayed three nights.
We made it to Jacksonville to see Beverly and Walter while we were based at Blanding.
