I pick up a newspaper; the food column proclaims that "Beef is the perfect meal for summer." The featured recipe, for "Southwestern Beef Pizzas," was submitted by a member of Madison County's Beef Team. The article reports on recent research hinting at the healthful aspects of eating beef. This takes me back to the 1950s, when American families aspired to eat more beef, having emerged from the '30s and '40s tainted by the deprivations of depression and war.

I discover a road named "John Wayne Drive;" then happened upon a small house with a sign proclaiming that it was John Wayne's birthplace. This town feels like the perfect spot for John Wayne to have been born; on the surface it epitomizes the small town family values that dominated so much of 20th century America. It is a place filled with hard-working, church-going people, many of whom undoubtedly believe in the rugged individualism that John Wayne stood for in all his movies.

Along the quiet streets lined with shade trees, the lovely old clapboard houses look like ideal homes in which to raise a family. American flags gently flutter from Victorian porches along these residential streets. Hollywood couldn't have created a more wholesome American atmosphere.

A block away from the courthouse square, a gas station has the 1960s-style Texaco gas pumps featuring Fire-Chief and Sky Chief gasoline. I'm beginning to think that I've stepped into the Twilight Zone--one of those episodes when the main character suddenly realizes he has stepped into an entirely different place and time. But then reality returns and slaps me in the face: I read that this retro gas station was actually created for a scene in the Clint Eastwood/Meryl Streep film "The Bridges of Madison County."

Finally an "Ah Ha!" hits my reminiscing brain--Winterset is the county seat for Madison County--the setting for the popular book and film about adulterous love in the land of stolid people and covered bridges.

I decided to spend the next day exploring the covered bridges around Madison County. After all, I'm a Washington State-based photographer with work published by National Geographic--just like fictional photographer Robert Kincaid in "The Bridges of Madison County." Perhaps I'll find Francesca ...

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