Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Destination in Time

Every couple of weeks or six, I'll pop down to Team Oregon headquarters on my day off to interrupt the girls in the office to chat, preventing them from getting any work done. I figure that if I'm not working on a Friday, neither should they.

During one impromptu visit, I was chatting with Rhonda at the reception desk and we got on the subject of covered bridges. I mentioned to her that Brandy and I were trying to get photos of our bikes in front of every covered bridge in Oregon. I told her how we would map out a route, pack a lunch and ride to the bridges to take photos. She thought this was a great idea and asked if I would write an article for the Team Oregon newsletter...


Destination in Time

Bradley and Brandy LawrieIn the motorcycling community we often hear an adaptation of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s quote “Life is a journey, not a destination” more so as “It’s not the destination, but the ride.” This holds true for many, and it is a great mantra when applied to riding solo. But what happens when our riding partner, whether a friend or spouse, poses the question “Where do you want to go”?
Where to go? But I thought it was about the ride? Ironically, I am guilty of asking that very question, putting the focus of the ride on the destination. For the answer, we check our calendar for any local events; many of us participate in motorcycle shows, charity rides or poker runs. Some of us live to ride and ride to eat, visiting quaint little cafes, delis or tiny eateries in neighboring counties, possibly hinting at an excuse to ride out to the coast.
But what if the journey was back in time, and the destination was 1928?
Oregon boasts the largest collection of covered bridges in the West. There are fifty covered bridges throughout the Willamette Valley, Southern Oregon and the Coast, including one in Portland and another in Central Oregon.
BridgeBridgeBrad and Brandy
To travel back in time I unfold a paper map, and with pencil in hand, stitch together a route consisting of two or three covered bridges while my wife packs a tasty picnic lunch. Then, with our time machines fueled, we set off.  We’re not in a hurry; we leave the GPS at home, our cell phones are shut off and stowed down deep in our saddlebags, as not to upset or perhaps change the delicate time-space continuum. 
BridgeBridge
Arriving at our first destination, we slowly ride across the bridge, listening to the large timbers creak, feeling the planks ever so slightly stress beneath our tires. We ride out the other end of the bridge to park under a shade tree and shut off our bikes. There is a hush as we remove our helmets, and without talking we acknowledge that we are indeed back in time. No one is around, there isn’t any traffic, our bike engines “tink, tink, tink” as they cool in the shade of the trees. The birds are chirping over the burble of the creek below. Listen carefully, a horse in the distance responds to our presence. The rustling of leaves beneath our feet transports both of us to our younger days as kids playing in the woods. 
BridgeBridge
Holding hands, we stroll back under the privacy of the sheltered trusses to steal a kiss, as is customary during our visits. You see, not only were covered bridges known for protecting travelers from storms, as well as used to hold dances, parties and town hall meetings, they also protected lovers from sight and became known as "kissing bridges.”
They were built to preserve the bridge decks and trusses from the rain, preventing slippery bridge decks and lasting much longer than standard open wooden bridges. They were even designed and painted to look like barns, so as not to scare horses as they pulled wagons across.
We tote our picnic lunch down to the water, then sit and enjoy quiet conversation. Before leaving to visit the next stop on our route, we take a photo of our bikes in front of the bridge. Eventually, we hope to get photos of our bikes in front of all fifty covered bridges in Oregon.
More detail for where to find these tranquil spots can be found on my blog, Troubadour on a Tiger. And if you see our bikes parked near a covered bridge, remember to mind the paradoxes of time travel.


We still have several bridges to get, now that the weather is starting to cool off, we shall.
Hope you enjoyed the article, I certainly enjoyed writing it.





23 comments:

  1. Nice pics and well-written post. You and that woman of yours both have pleasing creative talents. :-)

    When my Hubby and I pose the question, "Where do you want to go?", it refers to direction. West is always a given (toward the mountains) for us. East means toward NoVA (Northern Virginia) and Washington, DC, or simply DC, which both equate to traffic, congestion, and crowds.

    You and Brandy would love it out here. Hopefully, one day I'll be able to convince you guys to fly out for a vacation. You'd have to rent bikes, but it would be SO worth it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Kathy.

      Our direction of travel depends on temperature, terrain, traffic, or tide. It is often too hot to ride South, riding East puts us into dry, sagebrush and pines of Central Oregon, the population of Portland prevents us from riding North, and the only thing worth riding to the coast for is the beach and even then only during the off season.

      We would love to visit Virginia, someday... someday.

      Delete
  2. That's a great article. Very creative story and brilliantly cast...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Richard, I pondered the idea for several days before putting pen to paper, so to speak.

      Delete
  3. This is brilliant! You should write such more often ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are too kind Sonya. Now that summer is winding down and my schedule clears up I'll get back to blogging again.

      Delete
  4. Nice post! I love the romance of covered bridges and wish we had them here in Canada!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Dar. I looked up covered bridges in Canada and found very few and far between, however Brandy did grow up near the Ashnola River Road bridge in Keremeos. http://www.lostbridges.org/details.aspx?id=BC/52-21-02&loc=n
      How about Washington? You could ride South.

      Delete
  5. Nice story, nice photos - thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Brad, more posts and more riding please! Had no idea that your area had so many covered bridges; just thought that they were more of an eastern, New England thing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I just had a busy summer teaching and didn't get much riding in, a summer lost I suppose. Thanks for the comment, I'll get to work on your request.
      Oregon does get pretty wet (although you wouldn't know it this year with all the fires) so covered bridges were quite common before concrete and steel bridges became the norm.

      Delete
  7. Troubadour ... you and Brandy absolutely need to come east, there are several bridges to add to your collection. New Brunswick's Hartland Bridge (ask Bobskoot, who felt the need to traverse it two, possibly 3 times) is the longest covered bridge in the world. Loved the post, I expect they'll be asking you to write more guest pieces.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It would be great to visit and add to the collection, some day, the Hartland Bridge would be neat to traverse.

      Delete
  8. What an enjoyable and fascinating read!

    I had no idea there were that many bridges in Oregon.

    Really, really cool!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Deb, I'll post more as we photo tag more bridges.

      Delete
  9. This was one of the best posts I've read in quite a while. Bravo!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Dan, I enjoyed writing it. I hope to devote more time to writing and to my blog posts this fall.

      Delete
  10. Nice writeup/motif, I like it a lot!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I agree with everyone, great writing, only wish I could click on the photos and see them bigger. This is a great idea, visit all the bridges. You should come visit Pennsylvania, there are lots of covered bridges.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks George, you can visit my Covered Bridge page to see larger images http://troubadourtriumph.blogspot.com/p/covered-bridges.html
      Pennsylvania is on the list.

      Delete
  12. Lovely images of covered bridges. They are strongly connected to my idea of rural roads in a large part of Pennsylvania. We have a lot though most to the east of here. For some reason Centre County is pretty much left without any. We do have a round barn though!

    Great post -- has me wanting to get on the scooter and go...

    Steve Williams
    Scooter in the Sticks

    ReplyDelete

Comments are more than welcome, however, thanks to an increase in anonymous spammers of late, you now must be a registered user to comment.

Thank you spammers!