Covered Bridges Span More Than Streams

3 hours ago
7 min read

"Memorial Day" August 17, 2026

Since my college days I have been wandering around Indiana. I was visiting high school schools, delivering seed beans in the summer, selling fertilizer, running trades associations, working on community development projects, or other consulting gigs. In addition, there were romantic getaways, family trips, knocking off towns on our journey to visit everywhere, and more recently trips built around themes. Even though there's a "destination" wandering done well means that I don't know exactly what I will find so I have to peel back each layer of the experience.

Then there are those special days which have a meaning of their own. Their significance carries a weight that is hard to describe, because the roads may be the same, but the journey is not. Every year on Beth's Memorial Day, the day of her death, I set aside the day to wander, to remember that my best wandering was done with her.

I had a special day planned. A friend joined me on this adventure to visit Old Red Covered Bridge in deep southwestern Indiana. Today's weather forecast predicted a beautiful day and we would be visiting the last of Indiana's 90 covered bridges!

Our first visit to a covered bridge would have been at Turkey Run State Park when we were dating, 44 years ago. Soon after we were married, our most memorable involved a trip to visit the Medora Covered Bridge. It is one of the longest ones in the US and was part of my sales territory. It was a Saturday in autumn and we were about an hour or so from our home in Columbus. We were on a state highway, but it was a typical rural highway. However, we were caught in bumper-to-bumper traffic near Vallonia, Indiana! After we cleared the festival traffic we had a five minute trip to the Medora Covered Bridge. We arrived at the bridge as the rain clouds burst. We got wet running onto the bridge with our picnic basket and a cooler. We were alone on the bridge, as we sat on each end of the cooler and had our lunch. The roar of the rain on the roof was so deafening that we couldn't even talk, just laugh at the circumstances. It was one for the ages.

I start out this day every year writing about her. She is a part of my everyday journey, but for friends and other family members it's a moment remember the gift that she gave to this world. The night before my day trip I posted on Facebook these words along with several images of her.

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Beth Anderson, my beautiful wife, died seven years ago on August 17. She was a mother, sister, friend, sorority sister, and colleague. She was the girl I dated, married, and lived life more abundantly because of her. Tomorrow I go wandering as I always do on this date. I plan to find my 90th, and last, covered bridge in Indiana on this trip.

I have wandered with many others, and I am grateful for the company. But, no matter who is riding with me, the void remains. It's hard for me to express how her presence stirred my soul. Her sparkling eyes, her radiant smile, her beautiful face, brought light to every journey we traveled. I have learned that she was the soul of my wandering.

If you want to honor her today, enjoy a homemade dessert (preferably chocolate), send a handwritten note to a friend or loved one, phone your children or parents. You will never regret doing any of these. Oh, if you're daring enough, plan a day trip to wander the hills of southern Indiana because they always brought peace to her soul.

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Packed items for trip. Loaded up the cooler and and packed the homemade Rhubarb Crumble to share with Webb’s after we eturned. Talked with each of the girls because I know that this memorial day is not just for me. There really wasn't a good way to avoid the interstate around Indy and I was in rush-hour traffic, but I still made good time to Southport. I had a partner traveling with me today. Dan Webb is more than just my high school Ag teacher. We have been connected since he was a summer intern and I was entering my freshman year at Clinton Prairie High School. There's never a shortage of conversation or curiosity. And we were heading to southwestern Indiana where he was raised, near Poseyville.

After an uneventful drive on I-69, we finally exited onto SR 64 heading west toward Princeton. We entered the small town of Francisco and I was curious about the grain elevator and its access to the railroad. We got off the highway and drove around the Francisco Superior Ag Cooperative installation. Looked up the co-op online to see if it had merged with any other partners. This organization is still based in Huntingburg.

Continued into Princeton. The Gibson County Courthouse was very beautiful and we were struck by its amazing Civil War Memorial on the courthouse grounds. I took several pictures.

(left to right) Gibson County Courthouse, First Presbyterian Church, Princeton Youth Baseball Building, Masonic Temple, Historic Depot/Gibson County CVB, Civil War Historic Marker.

Dan stopped at a real estate office and asked for directions to Lyles Station. It was nice to visit with them, but I didn't need the directions as I knew where I was going. We drove around downtown and snapped a few pictures of other major buildings -- Masonic Temple, First Presbyterian Church, a building that is repurposed as Princeton Youth Baseball facility, and the old depot, which has been repurposed into the Gibson County Convention and Visitor's Bureau HQ. Stopped at a historic marker in Veterans Park about Black Civil War Substitutes (something I knew nothing about before). There was a draft instituted on the Union side midway through the war, and they allowed people to name ‘substitutes’ so they wouldn't have to serve. There were even nine southern-born black soldiers who substitute for whites from Gibson County. Some of them were at Appomattox, Virginia at Lee’s surrender.

We continued west through the country to Lyles Station Historic District. Its story is one of freedom and resilience. Lyles Station was settled in the late 1840s by Joshua and Sanford Lyles, former slaves from Tennessee. The African Methodist Episcopal Church was established in 1860 and the schools were used from 1865 to 1958. Both played important roles in sustaining the community. (historic market text). You can find more information about the history of the community online. Dan had contacted a person with the Gibson County CVB and said that the proprietor of the historic site would be working around the facilities but not until early afternoon and that didn't fit with our schedule.

We drove south on through State Road 65 to Owensville. Passed a few buildings that I had captured on previous trips. We were now driving on State Road 165 and continued into Johnson. The highway ran west and south, and then we left the highway to cut cross-country to find Old Red Covered Bridge. We drove through an area called Upper Hills and Dan was able to fill in some blanks about its story. At one time there was a school located here and the cornerstone is still visible as a marker and a remnant of the brick used in the structure. Up ahead, we spotted the bridge from a distance and captured a picture through the trees. We drove to the bridge and the stream. It is located in the Big Bayou larger area but the stream is called Black Bayou. It definitely feels isolated. The water is very stagnant and does it have much water movement. We took pictures of the bridge, walked across it, and looked at the large farm fields that would only be accessible from the bridge crossing.

View of Old Red from "Upper Hills," Dan and I at the bridge, a view of Black Bayou under the bridge

This was the reason for the day. I wonder what Beth would have said? "What's next?" It seemed as if she was a step ahead of me in contemplating my next step. I just wanted to relish the moment and whatever happens after this is still enough.

Drove through Griffin on SR165 crossed I-64. This was Dan's home turf. He pointed the roads, farmsteads, fields, cemeteries, neighbors, and had stories for each one! Drove on a long dead-end road that backs up to the Black River Welcome Center on Interstate 64 and his family owns the farmland around there. Backtracked to the main road and then headed to Stewartsville. It is a traditional small community, but nothing stood out in my travels. Dan has deep roots in the area between Stewartsville and Poseyville.

It was late for lunch even with the time change. Ate at the Wheelhouse Restaurant and Bar in Poseyville. I had a grilled pork tenderloin sandwich with fried okra as my side. Dan had a Cordon Bleu sandwich with fries. The server was very friendly and the food was very good. She even took a picture of us.

(left to right) The Wheelhorse Restaurant and Bar, Poseyville Christian Church, St. Paul's Global Methodist Church, Carnegie Public Library, Masonic Temple, and St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church.

Continued on the back roads to Cynthiana. I remembered driving through here ten years ago capturing pictures of the bank and post office, and the town's bandstand in the park. We began our journey home traveling east on SR68 to Haubstadt then turning north on US41. We drove through Princeton and Vincennes and then stopped at a roadside farm market north of Oaktown. I purchased a Black

Diamond watermelon, cantaloupe, peaches, and tomatoes, all grown locally. We drove north to Sullivan and turned east on SR 54 traveling through Dugger, Switz City, Bloomfield, eventually exiting onto I-69.

All we had left to do was drive back to Southport Road in Indianapolis. When we arrived, we refueled the truck at Kroger, and picked up some dinner, and ice cream to share with the Rhubarb Crumble I brought from home.

From our first covered bridge together and to this last one, I believe that Beth is with me wherever I wander. It is a treat to share the joys of traveling with friends, swapping stories, cherishing memories, and creating new experiences. You will never regret planning some time for Life Off The Highway.