Horseauger's Bridge

I was told that the old bridge we all knew as Horseauger's Bridge is no longer spanning the River. I guess it finally needed to be replaced. Rumor has it that the bridge is now in a nearby field.
Visiting that spot will not be the same. I remember making the turn as we head toward home and stopping in the middle of the bridge. Dad would get out and walk to the edge of the bridge and lean through the framework of the bridge to gaze into the water. He had to look for fish. Sometimes he would take but a few seconds, but lots of times he would take several minutes. When he was satisfied with looking at the spot where big fish were likely to be, he would walk to the other side of the bridge and look for sucker minnows. If he spotted a big school of minnows the right size, he would have to come back and seine for them. He used the minnows for bait. Eventually we would move on toward home.
In my youngest years, the bridge had planks that ran crosswise to the traffic. These planks were held in place on the ends of the planks, but the center of the planks were not fastened. This caused the boards to make a load noise as the weight of the tires moved along over the planks. It is a sound I can hear in my head as I write about it. I cannot explain it. Well, when I was about fifteen they added a few rows of planks on top of the old ones. These planks ran the same direction as traffic. It was probably necessary, but it ruined the nostalgia of the spot.
Kayak Bandit