2021 Covered Bridge Tour pictures

[Bob McDaniel]

We left Friday and stayed all 5 days and tried to get pictures of as much as possible but the roads were almost non-existant so unless we stopped at every bridge, some are not as good as others. I also got video going though some of the bridges which is very hard to do while driving and bouncing and working the low pedal, brake, gas, camera, and oh yea keep the car from going off the bridge from the middle. I will try to edit some video together over the next few days and post some pictures here as time permits. If anyone else has pictures from this years tour, please post them so we all can enjoy. This was a fun tour and we ended up going 328 miles total in the 5 days we were there but some of that was from going to town since we drove the 27 touring everywhere and I almost forgot how to drive the modern truck when it was time to go home. I did find out it did not have a left pedal when we pulled into the gas station pulling the 28 foot enclosed trailer but no harm was done.

[Bob McDaniel]

More pictures

[Bob McDaniel]

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[Bob McDaniel]

You might notice the hood of our car started out clean and gets more dirt on it as the tour progresses.

[Bob McDaniel]

We didn't get lost often but it happens so some of us got lost together and had to play catch up. Then we decided to go alone and just see everything but still found others from time to time.

[Bob McDaniel]

Today we were alone most of time since it was a short day and we fell back to get pictures.

[Bob McDaniel]

More from today.

We saw Iron Bridges but they were not open. Then we headed to a mill and got the next pictures before heading to the best place for pictures as far as I thought.

[Bob McDaniel]

[Bob McDaniel]

Another Iron Bridge and even more covered.

Bridgeton Mill is awesome and a must see.

[Bob McDaniel]

This was cool to visit in person.

[Bob McDaniel]

More.........

This is my wife Marilyn, she owns the 27 touring and a few other old cars and is the reason I have a full barn. She lets me drive the cars sometimes if I am a good boy.

[Bob McDaniel]

After doing 328 miles on some of the, we will say most interesting roads we have ever seen, the only damage was the top pulled away from the rear bow from the wind and a lot of road dust. We even managed to catch a few bugs along the way.

[DHort]

I did my own tour a couple years ago with modern iron when I drove through Rockville. My fascination is with the woodwork and how they put the bridges together. Each bridge seems to be different. Amazing that they can span the distance that they do. They built a lot of bridges in a small amount of area.

[Bills Auto Works]

Hi Bob,

Thank you for the awesome pictures! Glad you & Marilyn had a good time without major issues. Now as with every long ride comes a full day of cleanup.

God Bless
Bill
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/thr ... ed.614419/

[KeithG]

Hi Bob, Thanks for posting the pictures - they are very nice!

Keith

[Dallas Landers]

You must have been a very good boy Bob. Thanks for the photos.

[Jerry VanOoteghem]

Thanks Bob! Some great memories of the tour! My wife & I were happy to be back this year, after staying in hiding last year.

[Alan Long]

Excuse my ignorance but why are so many of your Bridges enclosed with those Barn like structures?
Alan in Western Australia

[Bob McDaniel]

Excuse my ignorance but why are so many of your Bridges enclosed with those Barn like structures?
Alan in Western Australia

Allan,

If you notice the dates when these old bridges were built this might help explain what I am about to tell you. The way I understand it the horses back in the day would go into a covered bridge because it looked more like the barn they were kept in but an open bridge would sometimes cause problems getting them to cross. Also, if you put a roof over the wood bridge floor it kept the weather off and it would last a lot longer. This is what I was always told from the old timers I grew up with but others may have different answers.

[Scott_Conger]

Good question!

To prevent decay/rot on the trusses. Covered bridges enjoyed their high point in the mid-1800's and virtually all wood bridges from the 1870's and beyond were covered for this reason. Iron bridges made them obsolete in a matter of years.

On a side note, an iron bridge near me has US hiway markings that place the bridge in Washington State and not it's location in Montana. Research showed that the bridge was obsoleted in Washington, dismantled and sold to Montana where it was re erected (without being painted!) in the 1950's. The old highway numbers still show on the uprights. Sadly, though in relatively good shape, sitting on modern concrete abutments, Montana has no record of the bridge's footings nor a record of (obvious) maintenance that has been done in the past and has slated it for destruction. All it needs is paint and new planks, but this bit of '20's Americana will be coming down.

[Alan Long]

Thank you Guys, now I know!
“Everyday is a day in school” (even at 68!)
Alan in Western Australia

[TWrenn]

Fantastic pics Bob! Thanks for posting. I absolutely love covered bridges. First thing me and the wife did when I retired was to take a 6 week vacation out to my folks in AZ and on to Callifunny. Along the way, we did our own covered bridge tour in our '94 T-bird touring every covered bridge that was in the movie "Bridges of Madison County". Very cool. Toured the house in the movie too of course. Covered a LOT of dusty, stone/dirt roads! Never saw a clean car the 2 days were toured there. Nice that your wife lets you drive a T once in a while!!

[rickg]

If it wasn't loose when you started the tour you can bet it was loose at the end, we dis this several years ago and lost a few parts and some nuts & bolts. A great tour though.

Rick

[Bob McDaniel]

If it wasn't loose when you started the tour you can bet it was loose at the end, we dis this several years ago and lost a few parts and some nuts & bolts. A great tour though.

Rick

My wife found a loose bolt on the right rear fender about day 3 but it could have been that way before we started. We drove the car yesterday and ended up going home after dark so I turned on the headlights which were working fine before only to find out the right did not work on high or low so I took the lens off and the glass part of the bulb had let go of the metal part but it did light up one final time when I moved it. I did have spares in the trailer at home that I took along for the tour after everyone told me how good the roads are going to the bridges.

I also had to put the rear floor board back in place for some reason.

[Jerry VanOoteghem]

If it wasn't loose when you started the tour you can bet it was loose at the end, we dis this several years ago and lost a few parts and some nuts & bolts. A great tour though.

Rick

My wife found a loose bolt on the right rear fender about day 3 but it could have been that way before we started. We drove the car yesterday and ended up going home after dark so I turned on the headlights which were working fine before only to find out the right did not work on high or low so I took the lens off and the glass part of the bulb had let go of the metal part but it did light up one final time when I moved it. I did have spares in the trailer at home that I took along for the tour after everyone told me how good the roads are going to the bridges.

I also had to put the rear floor board back in place for some reason.

To be fair, there were several repaved roads on this year's tour... and many more that needed repaving.