My 25th birthday has been a gloriously wonderful day from beginning to end.

I started off visiting the town center of Winterset, where several of the scenes from "Bridges" were shot. I stumbled across the birthplace of John Wayne by accident, but I had half-meant to look for it anyhow. Inside the gift shop, I purchased an audio driving tour of Madison County. (I didn't take the tour of the house. Nothing personal, but seeing where John Wayne was born in 1907 just doesn't send me to the brink of uncontrollable excitement.)

Getting back into my car, I popped the tape into my cassette player and started on my way. If you ever plan on visiting Madison County, this tape/map tour is highly suggested. It takes you to many of the bridges (including Roseman, Cedar Bridge (which is the one on the cover of the book), Hogback, Holliwell and others) which are somewhat difficult to find on your own. With the cassette tape, however, it's an absolute breeze. It also takes you to several sites of interest around the area, many of which are registered with the National Historic Registry, including John Wayne's birthplace, the North River Stone schoolhouse (built in the late 1800's and used until the 1940's), the Howell Tree Farm & Dried Florals shop (a special thanks to the woman there for helping me take care of my two plants from Hearst Castle!), and more.

Remember the scene where Meryl Streep sees Clint Eastwood for the last time in the pouring rain, while she sits at the Texaco station? Now a gift shop called "Memory Station", the building was transformed into a mid-sixties gas station for the movie. Directly across the street from that is M. Young & Sons, a feed store that became the "Winterset General Store" where Clint and Meryl had several dramatic scenes in the movie. If you get hungry from all this touring around, you can stop in for a bite at The Northside Cafe. Built in 1876, it's not only famous for being a place where Clint's character had lunch, but for its wonderful hometown cooking. If you feel like looking around some more, there's plenty more to see. My personal favorite was Francesca Johnson's farmhouse. At the time the audio driving tour was recorded, the land was still private property and you were not allowed on the site. However, contracts have since been agreed upon and signed, making the house a welcome place for visitors. You can have a personal tour of the house for five dollars, and once you've finished, you're free to roam around and walk through the property. (Photos are encouraged, so bring your camera!)

Standing in the same rooms that I had seen up on the big screen was a truly strange experience. You're taken through the entire house, which pretty much looks exactly as if the movie had just been shot. Especially the kitchen. Seeing that in person was weird. It was as if I had just stepped into the movie and Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep would walk in at any moment. One of his cameras sits on the yellow formica kitchen table, along with a pack of cigarettes and a bottle of beer. The radio I remember seeing in the movie sat there in the same spot on the shelf of the back wall, playing the same music I remember hearing. It was spooky. It's like visiting a place you'd never been to before, but you knew beforehand exactly what it would look and feel like. Major deja vu.

The kitchen leads directly into the dining room. Upstairs, you're taken through Francesca's bedroom, another room where some of Eastwood's things were discovered by Streep's children in an old wooden chest, and most memorable, Francesca's bathroom. You can even sit in the same bathtub that was used in the film and have your photo taken (This has proven a popular idea for couples who visit.)

"He had been here just a few minutes before; she was lying where the water had run down his body, and she found that intensely erotic. Almost everything about Robert Kincaid had begun to seem erotic to her..."

-Page 89; "The Bridges of Madison County", Robert James Waller

The house itself has an interesting history to it. Built in 1870 by Nicholas Johnson, who was an Argentine sea captain, the 1,000 acre farm was later purchased by Joseph Meade in 1910 and is still owned by his family. Warner Brothers found the site in June of '94 after looking at over 150 other houses in Madison County. They all agreed this was the one. The perfect setting. However, the house had been abandoned for 29 years. Over $150,000 later, the house had been restored to working order and made to look exactly like it would have in the mid-1960's. (The same was done with Roseman Bridge. The bridge was restored by the town in 1992 at a cost of $110,000, but when Warner Bros. came along, they thought the bridge looked too new, so they carefully altered it once again to make it look as it would have in the 60's.)

There are a few websites dedicated to the movie (or at least the theme of the movie) I'd like to point out. One was created by a very sweet woman who goes by the name of OregonRose. We've exchanged a few emails, and I promised I'd giver her permission to use any of my Madison County photographs on her site. (She's a huge fan.) Visit her tribute to the film at OregonRose - The Bridges of Madison County . These next two are parodies of the film. While both of them are rather strange, I think the funnier one is The Fridges of Madison County, a website devoted to a book of the same name. Yes, it was actually published. And last, but not least, is The Bathrooms of Madison County. Enough said.

Eventually, I left Madison County with all its bridges, scenery and movie memorabilia behind, and arrived five hours later here in Dyersville. It was a long drive, but, well... a strange, whispery voice in my head told me to go the distance.

See you on the road...

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