David and I have been checking out lots of old bridges on our adventure rides we take almost daily.
We have taken pictures of all but one of the covered bridges in Missouri. We've also been searching out the old wood and iron bridges before they are all gone - mainly the ones in Callaway, Boone and Montgomery Counties. I know it is progress; the old bridges can not hold up to all the traffic of today, and the wooden planks are old and unsafe. But don't you just have some great memories of those wooden and iron bridges you grew up with?
On one of our rides a couple years ago, we had taken a pictures of a bridge in the Rural Western part of the Callaway County. At that time you could still drive over it carefully. It is over a 100 years old and crosses Cedar Creek located on County Road 389. It is in a bad deteriorating condition, and not many people will cross that bridge daily, making it hard to justify the enormous cost of replacing. But still, it is important to those who do use it. This is one of the day-to-day financial budgeting decisions I've seen the Presiding Commissioner Gary Jungermann and our son, Randy, the Eastern District Commissioner, doing figures on.
I know, some people would think, "Just fix it; you have the money!" That's an uninformed statement. Being a baker, I'll put it this way: If I have a cookie jar full of cookies and a neighbor child wants one, I'm not going to give him the whole jar. If I did, when the other children come by and need a cookie, I wouldn't have any for them. We are all kind of like little kids, just bigger. There are times our commissioners have penciled and figured to get some of the roughest places in the roads blacktopped, then hear complaints because the people wanted all the road done.
Our hard-working commissioners have found a way to replace the bridge on County Road 389, known as Burnett School Road Bridge. The Fulton Sun reported how Callaway County and Boone County has landed a unique Federal Land Access Program grant. The bridge connects the two counties. Randy said that to his knowledge, this will be the first time we have done so. This is a grant issued to help subsidize access to federal lands. It's a win-win for all concerned, land owners, and people who enjoy the outdoors.
Remember the clicketty-clack of the boards as you drove across on those old wooden floor bridges? They was rough, noisy, and sounded like horses galloping. We kids would love the sound as we rode across in the back of our old truck.
The one that stands out in my mind most of all was over the Auxvasse Creek on the way to my Aunt Abbie and Uncle Ed Akers home. Like most of those kind you had to keep your tires right on the boards that ran across the bridge. You always had the feeling of excitement and you were doing something really daring, because something could go wrong.
I recall an event one day, about this time of the year, after David and I were married. It was time to pick blackberries and David's Aunt Rita had came to visit us and to go pick. We had to cross over that bridge to get to the big blackberry fields. You could see the bridge from a ways off.
I was driving our pickup truck and as we neared the ominous, rusty-looking iron bridge, I could see Rita was squirming and looking at it a bit concerned. So, I just couldn't help but enlighten her. I explained how we could possibly fall through if I made one wrong move with my tires.
By the time we got there she was really nervous, (with my help) and just before I pulled on it, she said, "STOP THE TRUCK!" She got out and walked across. I was laughing and I told her I was just teasing, but she had been thoroughly convinced and insisted I take another road on our way home.
One day as we drove into Boone County we came across a road-grader man who had just stopped for lunch. We pulled in beside him and told him what we were looking for. He was very nice and eager to help. He told us some history and location of some of the bridges he knew about. I wish I'd asked his name.
We knew he would know his area, as our son, Randy, who worked here in Callaway County many years as grader man, knows all the roads here. Randy always enjoyed his job and took pride in his roads, as this man we just met obviously does.
I can only smile when I think about someone saying they would just blacktop all the roads if they were in charge. They are either misleading you or have no experience with budgeting. I have heard our son, Randy, who is now one of our commissioners, figuring the cost and how to just maintain and keep the roads graveled. He also told me how much it cost for a mile of asphalt an inch deep. I was shocked. I heard an old saying once that goes something like this, "When you don't know that you don't know, it's a lot different than when you do know that you don't know." I guess that explains it.
Anyway, most of those old interesting bridges are in danger of being removed because they just cost too much to repair. They will be replaced with modern ones to take care of the extra traffic load of these days, as has the one over Auxvasse creek on the way to my Aunt Abbie's.
If you are out riding around, you may want to stop and take a picture like we do while they are still standing. A few will have the dates when they were made, and you'll wonder how they lasted this long. As of now, the one on County Road 389 is closed, but before long we will be able to travel safely through there thanks to the work of our County Commissioners and the FLAP grant.