15 degrees
5470 Kms.
Late evening, writing

We were on our way to the "The Bridges of Madison County", sigh, loved that book and the movie, 1995, a story of great passion discovered at middle age. "Robert Kincaid and Francesca Johnson" Clint and Meryl, it was fabulous, a story of four days that, by the way, I thought had the better ending.

Of course our first stop was a trip to Roseman Bridge, "the" Bridge in the movie. Built in 1883, covered bridges were built to preserve the large flooring timbers that were very expensive to replace. The lumber used on bridge sides and the roof were cheaper. Originally there were 19 covered bridges in Madison County, only six have been preserved. The sad thing, two were destroyed by vandalism.

Winterset, not far from Des Moines is a town of 5500 people, it is also the birthplace of John Wayne (1907, Marion Robert Morrison). This has been the biggest draw here, from Presidents, actresses, every day people flocking to see what they can see or hear about John Wayne. Here lies the only museum dedicated to John Wayne, he is to Winterset as Elvis is to Memphis ...cars included. People just keep coming.

Houses are being refurbished, the old downtown is getting spruced up and new/old businesses are getting a new lease on life. There are Festivals every month, simple fun stuff like, Chocolate Walks, Wine Walks, John Wayne Birthday Celebrations, Ladies Night Out, County Fairs, Music Festivals in the Parks, Covered Bridge Festival, Black Friday, Festival of Lights, Small Business Saturdays.....to take a Page out of the town of Branson and their attitude, you do it, they will come. We have noticed this in all of the small towns/ cities we have been in.

Our Bed and Breakfast the "Heavenly Habitat" is delightful. Built as a Church in 1949, added Fellowship Hall in 1986, the Fauser's converted the space into a personal residence and B&B in 2009. We are alone here tonight and enjoying a huge kitchen with all the amenities, living and dining room along with our very private bedroom and bath. We are in the Maureen O'Hara room where she stayed for a week during the John Wayne celebrations.

O'Hara was Wayne's main heart throb in "Sentimental Journey", her favourite movie. At 92 she came back here as an invited guest to celebrate John Wayne. She said she was loyal to her dear friend and all that he stood for, she said "when we were separate we were good, but together we were dynamite", the good old days. Wayne's movies play in an old theatre every night downtown, as long as one (1) person buys a ticket. The only night they are closed is Sundays and they have not closed any other night since.

We could have stayed here two nights, but I am driving my Robert Kincaid, North! Wait, was he smoking a Camel on that bridge?