Canada Trip - 15

A little farther south on Hwy. 5, my objective was an area I read about in a travel magazine that a volunteer gave me in Silver Falls Park.  It is the town of Cottage Grove, Or. which is just south of Eugene, Or.  The "hook" was that they have the highest concentrations of Covered Bridges west of the Mississippi River.  This community also has a bicycle trail that connects most of them in "Lane" county.  That was enough for me.  Of course the day I arrived there was Sunday and the visitor`s office was closed (it was actually being used for church services).  Not having a clue where to find anything, I started to drive down a residential street.  I was hoping to find someone to ask for directions.  Seeing this "older" couple working on their front yard, I stopped.  They pulled out all kinds of maps and brochettes about the area and proceded to give them to me.  After talking to them for a while, it turns out they lived in Ventura, Ca. for about 30 years (for those of you who do not know southern California) which is about 30 miles south of Santa Barbara, Ca. - go figure!
I know enough with to writing and more with the pictures.......

This first one is a reconstructed Covered Bridge right in the downtown area.  It is for walker & bicycles only and is very acturately re-built.

I toured most of the other bridges in the area by truck since it was to late to get in a bicycle ride.  I will just show you several of them, mose are closed to vehicles but two are open to traffic.

The framing of these structures was impressive to have stood the test of time.  Balow some of the jointery on this bridge.

The rods are an important part of the loading from one set of beams to another.

The above bridge was in use for vehicles but not over 8 tons.  As you can see in the next shot it handled bicycles quite well.  While I was there a cyclist happened to be riding across followed by a car.

As you can see this one is blocked off and has unfortunatly suffered some graffitti over the years.  It is also the only one I saw that is painted "two toned".

I was able to drive through this bridge to a small parking lot on the other side.  Of course I had to get a picture of my "rig" in the covered bridge!

There is some heavy duty bracing on this bridge and has a large steel plate (under and in front) that carries the load of the cross braces.  The two nuts are different, showing that repairs have been made to it over the years.

I like the windows in this one, they give it a more New England feel but don`t tell that to anyone out here.

I guess this sign should have been at the beganing but I did not see it until later.  Looks like they are quite proud of their Covered Bridges.
I was poking around in the main downtown area and saw this sign.  I will end this blog with it.

Carry on as best you can, more later......