The Bridges of Madison County. And lightning. And cemeteries. And a rabbit.

Okay, fair warning: I spent yesterday playing with my new camera, so this post is going to be heavy on photos. 

Since Eddie and I hadn't been out exploring much recently, we had planned to spend yesterday wandering around Nebraska.  A nasty thunderstorm decided to roll in, so of course we did the only logical thing...we drove 100 miles east to Madison County, Iowa, to take pictures of the famous covered bridges.  Driving into a lightning storm, I might add, because that's how we roll, yo.

This is Iowa, about 40 miles from the Nebraska state line, where I had pulled over on I-80 in spite of my husband's insistence that this was reckless and dangerous. Whatever, dude. A girl's gotta take pictures sometimes. 

 

The clouds got progressively nastier the farther we drove across the flat state o' cornfields.

 

 You know you're in for a wicked storm when you can see a velociraptor in the freaking clouds:

We pressed on, though, because covered bridges don't photograph themselves. 

Also, we saw wind turbines, which are cool.

Wind turbines -- some assembly required.

Do you think regular windmills like this one ever develop inferiority complexes with all the wind turbines that keep popping up?

 And a clover. With an ant on it. (I was playing with my new camera. Shut up.)

 Then there was a big sign that said "HISTORICAL MARKER UP AHEAD".  So, of course, we stopped. Apparently this was where Jesse James and his buddies committed their first train robbery.  To be fair, it looks like the train was at a serious disadvantage here. I mean, they only had like 20 feet of track, so where were they supposed to go?  I hope the railroad kept that in mind on future projects.

Anyway, moving right along, we ended up in Winterset, IA, which is home of the infamous bridges and also right around where John Wayne was born. So we met John Wayne, and Eddie did what Eddie often does.

Then it was on to the bridges.

It was windy yesterday, so this one was leaning pretty heavily.

  Say "Ahhhhh..."

 "I AM A BRIDGE. I AM MADE OF WOOD."

All the bridges had a lot of graffiti inside. I was rather amused by this one:

Where you find bridges, you should not be surprised to find rivers...

 Speaking of not being surprised, we also found Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep scandalously making out next to a bridge.

 And of course, the storm was still brewing rather mightily, which made for some kickass backgrounds and lighting...

  Some black and white, just 'cause.

 Totally loving the skies yesterday:

 Now, we were in an area full of old, small towns, and there was a storm going on. Clearly, there was one thing we HAD to do.

Check out the old graveyards.

Because really, what else is there to do on a day like that than stand in the middle of an old cemetery and take pictures of lightning?

 

 Graaaaaaaves....

 

Bunny!

  I actually did manage to get a few good lightning pics, too. You may have to click on them to see the lightning bolts, but they're there:

 And my husband got the best lightning shot of the day:

  Wicked cool clouds. A cornfield. And a lightning bolt that's really hard to see but is definitely there.

 At the end of the day, we had some really badass pictures.

And a very, very dirty car.

Where will we go next to cause mischief and mayhem? Stay tuned...