The road to the small town of Shirley in the Ozark Mountains has to be among the most curviest roads in the state. It's fun to drive (as long as you don't get car sick), plus there are a few neat things to see along the way. Like some old barns:
And this old school/church building:
Just outside of Shirley is an old rail bridge, which was built in 1908, which crosses the Little Red River.
When rail service through Shirley ended, the bridge was paved over and converted into use for cars.
The bridge is very narrow, and with flimsy-looking guardrails. I wasn't brave enough to actually drive or walk across one...
Caroline and I decided to celebrate our anniversary (six years!) by renting a cabin near Mountain View for the weekend. So along the way, we took the extremely curvy road that travels up and over the mountains and found ourselves driving through the small town of Shirley. The town was incorporated in 1911, and is believed to have been named after a railroad worker (and not, sadly, named by someone who was a fan of this scene from Airplane!).
Just south of Shirley is this old house, abandoned and falling apart. I wasn't able to find out anything about how old it was, but apparently it was once used as a boarding house.
The Little Red River runs by Shirley, and an old rail bridge spans the river here that was built in 1908. After the railroad ceased to use the bridge, it was paved and converted into use for cars (and big trucks, which started to drive onto the bridge when I was hurrying out to get a few pictures, I had to turn around and hustle back since the bridge is very narrow).
We headed north, passing by a few neat barns that I tried to get a few pictures of....
The fall colors were looking good, and were saturated a bit by the rainy and foggy weather.
And then we passed by this old building, which maybe was once a school?
And one last shot, before we hurried on towards Mountain View in the rain....
