Thematic Photographic #53 - Road

Ok, I want to get back to my photo blog on a more regular basis, and Carmi over at Written, Inc. gave me just the right incentive. The Thematic Photographic topic for this week is "road". I take many road trips and often find something that just has to be photographed, so I do have a lot of road photos.

Last February my mom and I took a trip to Norfolk, VA to see my son's ship off for a 6-month deployment to the Middle East. Usually the winter trips don't offer much in the way of colorful sights, unless we get into some snowy areas, but this trip offered everything in the way of weather. However, the photos I'm showing here were possible because it was winter and the trees were bare. That made it easier to get these shots of what I call the "twin bridges".

Midwest geography gets really interesting at the southern tip of Illinois where two of the country's largest rivers, the Mississippi and the Ohio, come together. The width of these rivers, in particular the width at the confluence, made one bridge impractical, if not impossible, at the time these bridges were built. We crossed the Ohio River by way of the two-lane bridge from Kentucky to Illinois which was opened in 1937, is over a mile long, but only 20 feet wide. That's tight, especially for trucks!

While I drove, Mom took some shots of the bridges. This first photo is from the Kentucky side approaching the bridge over the Ohio River. Do you see the other bridge on the left side of the photo?

Can you see it better in this shot? That bridge is crossing the Mississippi River.

The second bridge goes from Illinois over the Mississippi River into Missouri. It was opened in 1929 and is a mile long and only 20 feet wide. When I drive these bridges it is with eyes straight ahead, both hands gripped firmly on the wheel, and pedal to the metal before any trucks come from the other side!!

The photo below is from Google Earth. I think it is a fascinating view of these mighty rivers coming together and how we get across them. The town in the upper left corner is Cairo, Illinois. I labeled the bridges #1, Kentucky to Illinois, and #2, Illinois to Missouri. The solid ground between the bridges is less than a half mile.

I'm not crazy about driving these awesome structures, but I do appreciate their magnificence.

Join in on the fun at Thematic Photographic on Written, Inc. Thanks for stopping by!