Story of the Little Covered Bridges

By: Brian Jordan

            Valerie and I were Christmas shopping at a second hand store in our town last year when she said “what do you think of this?”  She was holding a little wooden covered bridge that she found.  I liked it. She did also so we purchased it.  When we got home I put my “Lizzie” from the “Cars” movie in it and she fit just right.  I sent a picture to Todd Johnson and Jim Walker and asked them what they thought of the bridge. They liked it also.  The next time we all got together we took the bridge to show everybody and they liked it as well.  Jim looked it over and said that they would not be hard to make.  The club voted to give them away as a tour gift.  He took it home and started making a pattern and jigs to make all the parts so he could mass produce them.  He worked on cutting out all the parts and sanding them.  One day Valerie and I went down to Jim and Mary’s and helped finish sanding parts and started painting them.  Jim and Mary finished painting the parts that were left.  The club voted on the engraving for the roof.  Todd’s brother, Ted, has a laser engraver, so they were shipped to California to be engraved.  After the May meeting and tour, club members gathered at Jim and Mary’s for the bridge assembly.  Jim had made a couple of jigs to make the assembly go smoothly, and a couple hours later they were all assembled, except for the roof halves that were being engraved.  Jim attached those after they arrived back from California.  So as you enjoy your tour gift this year you will know the story behind them.  Thanks to all who helped on this project.