The Over The Hill Gang: Our Ride To Moscow

Moscow, Indiana, that is. In June 3, 2008 a tornado tore through Moscow, Indiana and caused terrible destruction and the lost of one life. The lady killed by the tornado was 66 year old Diane Hester. Also destroyed was the Moscow Covered Bridge. The bridge was built in 1886 and was 346 feet long. It spanned the Big Flatrock river. Here's what it looked like before it was tossed into the river by the F3-F5 tornado:

And here's links to some more information about the bridge and tornado:

http://www.galenfrysinger.com/indiana_covered_bridge_14_70_07.htm

http://www.theindychannel.com/news/16488072/detail.html#

Larry Burk mentioned to me that we ought to ride down there and see the work being done to restore the covered bridge. I love seeing old covered bridges, so I set up a ride down to Moscow.

Seven set off on the ride, but soon one of us had to go home. I'll not say why, but duty called. Six of us carried on. The weather forecast was for 68 degrees, later in the day, but as we rode south the temperature started dropping and eventually got down to 49 degrees. As some of us had summer clothes on, it got down right chilly. We stopped on the south side of Anderson at a McDonald's to warm up with a cup of hot coffee. Continuing on south, after the break, we made it all the way to Rushville before stopping again at McDonald's. That's about our ride time, one hour before stopping. Then on down to the Moscow Covered bridge. At the bridge, we met Mr. Arthur Gatewood Jr. who is a professional photographer from Fortville, Indiana. He was there taking pictures of the bridge and shared with us information about the bridge and what happened during the tornado. Here's a picture of the new span that's in place:

And a picture of the second, longer, span still on the ground:

Here's the Flatrock river:

Here's a movie I took of the bridge (click on thumbnail to play movie):

After looking at the work in progress we headed back east to eat lunch at The Dutch Mill Buffet near Milroy, Indiana. Here we are enjoying the buffet: