On the way to Montreal I got to drive past Hartland, NB for the first time since the accident. I grabbed my videocamera and got some very shaky footage out the back window of the car as we zipped by. Here’s a shot of what you might see as you approach the town from Montreal, as I saw it that day in July. Notice the world’s longest covered bridge in the background.
As I recall, it was upon seeing this view of the bridge that my companion and I made the spontaneous decision to take the exit and go check it out.
This is Exit 170 to Hartland. If you look closely you might be able to spot a nice dent in the base of the metal pole. We did that. And if it weren’t for seat belts, it would’ve been our brains spattered all over that pole as well.
~ This time around I got a lift back from Montreal with Dave Harrison on Sunday. It was late when we passed Hartland, but we decided to go check out the covered bridge just for the sake of completion. Dave’s car took the sharp turn of the exit quite smoothly. Hooray for brakes that work.
The sign over the bridge reads: “HARTLAND NEW BRUNSWICK. COME AGAIN. YOU ARE NOW ENTERING THE LONGEST COVERED BRIDGE IN THE WORLD. 1282 FEET.”
The sign was probably made decades ago. For anyone who is confused by the old-fashioned measurement of “feet,” here’s a little video to illustrate roughly how many metric streetlights there are in 1282 feet.
hartland-bridge.mov [5.8MB QuickTime]
Dave calculated that 1282 feet was also the approximate number of feet contained in 641 metric Canadians–all of whom could party on the bridge at the same time.
Not to quibble, but tell Dave there are 23 lights. As you enter the bridge (slowly) there is one in the top right hand corner illuminating the first few supports. I think he actually counted that one and got screwed up further along, but anyway.. I count 23.
There are 23, the above post was correct.. It was somewhere in the middle that the counting got messed up..