Bridges

I was standing by an old steel truss bridge talking w/ Morgan County Commissioner Tommy Goss.  It was on a dirt lane in the woods and the creek that used to run under it had almost dried up.  There was a newer bridge that the main road was on, but the concrete on it had deteriorated badly over the winter and he was worried about having to close it, so he wanted me to look into whether we could reopen the old bridge.  The old bridge was fine for pedestrians and bicycles, but it had a light wooden deck and was made for an era when the heaviest vehicle was a horse drawn wagon.  I told him I didn’t think we could use the old one and we’d have to set up a detour until we could fix or replace the newer one.  The newer bridge was big, about 6 lanes wide because it was right next to an intersection and had all the turn lanes, so it was going to be expensive.

I walked across the street to the storefront on the opposite corner.  An IDOT guy called my name and asked me what I thought about the bridge.  We walked over to a building that was being remodeled while the company in it tried to stay in operation.  There was a conference room table in the main foyer (probably because the conference room was under construction).  An old woman was sitting at one end where I had to walk by.  Right when I got there she crossed her right leg over her left and started pulling on her hose, trying to straighten it, but blocking my path by.  She had kind of a twinkle in her eye, like she thought I might like what I was seeing.  I didn’t.  I was annoyed that she blocked me and made me watch what she should have gone into the bathroom to do.

I went up to the second floor to look at some wood work that I had been working on.  I had made a frame that allowed a panel to slide in and out of place, but it wasn’t quite done.  Since the last time I’d been there someone had driven something over the corner of the frame and mashed it.