A Bridge To The Past

6/17/10 - 5th Day - Morning. Greetings y'all. Here are some more pics that I wasn't able to get the interwebs to accept yesterday. This top picture is of my family (except me... I am not in the picture) on Tuesday as we traveled home from picking blackberries. This is an old, old trestle bridge that leads into a tiny town called Burkett, Texas. I believe the body of water there is "Jim Ned Creek", which flows not too far from our place, and then into Lake Brownwood.

We found the old entranceway into Burkett kind of on accident. On the way to Cottonwood (the place where we picked blackberries) we saw the old trestle bridge off to the east and we decided that on the way home we would explore. So we turned off the highway onto this old road which lead under the towering pecans and elms. There was an antique concrete causeway leading to the old trestle bridge. This road is probably not safe, but we wanted to explore it anyway.

We went over the bridge and back once, then we drove back to the highway, parked the truck, and walked back into Burkett in order to get a better feel for the history of the place. Many of the concrete rails and pilings on the causeway were missing or crumbling. In a few places, the concrete railings had been replaced with regular steel highway railings where it looks like some car had gone over the side.

It was a very pleasant walk, and it was sooooo cool underneath the trees. For a time we were transported to the Old South, and the little town of Burkett (which is just on the other side of the trestle bridge) added to that feeling.

The children kept reiterating how "old" and "beautiful" everything was.

Here is a picture of one of the old and rusting trestle supports. Down the river you can see the "real" highway bridge where highway 206 crosses the Jim Ned.

A couple of other pictures from yesterday. This is the historical marker from Cottonwood, Texas - the beautiful little town where we picked blackberries. You should be able to click on the picture to embiggen it.

This last picture is of Danielle picking blackberries. I forgot this one yesterday, or, rather, it wouldn't upload, and I thought it was a great picture. So here it is...

So that is it for Tuesday's doings. Yesterday I had to go to Brownwood to pick up the pond pump from the shop. We really, really needed to water the garden, so I was glad to get it back. Then Kelly and I went to an old grain elevator in Coleman and I bought a pallet of old burlap sacks for $20. Most of them were rat eaten and rotten, but there were a lot of good 'uns, and a lot that can be salvaged and mended. We picked out a bunch of the good 'uns and headed over to farmer Richard's and harvested oats. I bought about a ton of oats for $2 a bushel. Added to the wheat I bought last week, we have a good amount of feed to last us (Lord willing) for a good, long, time.

Today I am working on a new sermon, and hope to record a podcast.

Your servant in Christ Jesus,

Michael Bunker