On July 22, 2023, Dick and Bobbi Bettle of the AACA NJ Region hosted a Covered Bridge Tour of Bucks County PA. Twelve vehicles were in attendance: most were AACA cars, but the group included two modern vehicles plus a handful of Ford Model As from the local Model A club. The tour took us through 8 covered bridges and included a picnic lunch stop at a nearby park.

At my wife’s urging, I reached out to two sets of friends who own convertibles, although both cars are new enough to be ineligible for AACA. Our friends Andy and Greta drove their BMW Z4 roadster, and our friends George and Pat cruised in their 2009 Infiniti G37 retractable hardtop. I was thrilled that having Greta and Pat along meant that my wife was more than willing to ride in our Alfa for the day. Dick and Bobbi’s attitude about it was “the more the merrier”.

We left our house at 8 a.m. and headed to the Clinton Station Diner for breakfast. Andy and Greta followed us there in the Z4. The Diner was the official kick-off spot for the tour, as we met most of the remaining drivers in the parking lot. From there it was a short ride to Tinicum Park in PA where we met up with the rest of the contingent, including all the Model As as well as George and Pat in the G37.

The bridges were fantastic. At least 5 of these were part of the NJ AACA-sponsored Glidden Tour from last year. The bridges are all similar enough: wooden structures with creaky noisy wooden floors, and so narrow that traffic can move only in one direction at a time. George and I honked our horns inside every bridge, just because we could.

We stopped for lunch at precisely 12 noon and out came the picnic baskets and folding chairs; although it was very warm in the bright sun, it wasn’t humid. Nevertheless, we found a picnic table in the shade, which was a special relief to our friends driving topless.

After lunch, the bridge tour continued. In the morning I had been driving mid-pack, but after lunch I drove sweep. Dick and Bobbi made a point of putting the Model As closer to the front after lunch, as earlier they were the last cars in line and may have been falling back. I don’t know where in PA we were; my phone had no cell service, and we were just following the line of cars in front of us.

It was now getting near 3 p.m. and we needed to be home to meet someone, so at our final stop, we drove in, waved goodbye from inside our car, and headed home (my wife’s phone managed to pick up a Google map signal before my phone did). We were home by 4 p.m., with the Alfa trip odometer reading 138.5 as the day’s total mileage. It was a great tour, and the architectural and automotive scenery made the long day worthwhile.

 

 

 

An assortment of covered bridges:

 

There were even a few interesting Pennsylvania barns, great for storing those extra collector cars:

 

 

Above: the Model A Collection

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All photographs copyright © 2023 Richard A. Reina. Photos may not be copied or reproduced without express written permission.