It was a beautiful summer day when my family and I climbed into a horse-drawn wagon and were taken on a ride through the hills of Northwest Montana. Our tour guide had grown up Amish. Ora Jay has a way with horses. He and his wife Irene also have a way of telling stories.
They once told me about a time when they and their Amish friends took a wagon ride from Montana to Idaho. It took them two weeks, and they traveled the logging roads along the way. Well, most of the way. They only had to travel along the highway a few times. Could you imagine the looks on the drives faces seeing wagons filled with Amish families traveling on the shoulder?
Ora Jay and Irene’s story sparked the idea for The Kissing Bridge, a new Amish fiction release. Instead of traveling from Montana to Idaho my Amish characters traveled from West Kootenai, Montana to Libby, Montana. And they had a special destination in mind, the Kooteni Swinging Bridge.
I love the symbols of the bridge, and this plays out in my story. My main character Rebecca loves bridges, too. In fact she always imagined receiving a special kiss in a “kissing bridge.”
A kissing bridge is another name for a covered bridge. Why? Because when Amish courting couples drive their wagons in covered bridges they have a chance to kiss without prying eyes upon them!
In my novel The Kissing Bridge a swinging bridge, a covered bridge, and a few train bridges all come into play.
The Kissing Bridge released yesterday! It’s always exciting to know my novels are in the hands of readers. Hearing from readers is wonderful. It spurs me on … oh yes, that and the fact I get to go on research trips like this!
The Kissing Bridge is my third novel in my Amish Series: Seven Brides for Seven Bachelors Series. The other novels are The Memory Jar and The Promise Box. The main characters in these books are the minor characters in my Big Sky novels.
What about you? What’s one of your favorite bridges? Why? I’d love to hear!
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Hi Tricia,
What a wonderful experience for you and your family to ride in the wagon. I bet your children were in seventh heaven with sheer delight. I thought your photos were great. I was intrigued by the explanation of the kissing bridge as a covered bridge and of course it makes perfect sense as far as privacy goes.:)
Just would like to say “congrats” on the release of your book yesterday. I’ll be interested to see how long it takes to hit the Aussie book stores.
Also I’m interested to hear that you host your weekly podcasts, Living Inspired. When and what time do you go to air? I would like very much to listen in and I’d need to know your time zone corresponding to your State so I can convert it to our time. Chances are ,it maybe in the wee small hoursLOL
Thanks for an interesting post Tricia.
Rosie.
PS..I know you have an interest in WW11 aircraft. We are travelling to the UK to attend the 70th anniversary of Squadron 550( Lancasters) to be held on July 4th/5th/6th which was Pete’s Dad’s Squadron. Sadly, Dad is no longer with us but we will be meeting his friend who was Dad’s Flight Commander and is now in his mid 90’s,still very active …Guess the tongues will be doing overtime with the stories to tell. We are both very excited as there are eight of us attending from Aus. Pete is already in his element just thinking about it!LOL
Hi Rosie!
You can listen “LIVE” at Thursdays at 3CT. Or you can listen to my podcasts anytime here: http://www.toginet.com/shows/livinginspired
On the right hand column you’ll see all the recordings! I have over 200 of them!
Also, that’s awesome about the 70th anniversary of the Squadron. I would LOVE to do something like that! Send me photos!
I would love to make that wagon trip, Tricia! I’ve only been in Montana two or three times, but every time it strikes me that Big Sky is such an apt description. SO beautiful! And the bridge theme is intriguing!
Thank you, Deb! I love where “research” takes us!
I love going on research trips, too, Tricia. My kids used to love going with me when they were little. Congratulations on your series!
Thank you, Lynn! It’s a fun series to write!!
My favorite bridge is a covered bridge named The Bridge of Dreams…isn’t that a lovely name? It’s located in Danville, Ohio…beautiful area:)
I DO love that! It sounds like a title of a novel!
Congratulations on the release of The Kissing Bridge, Tricia! I went to Baylor University and we often had school functions at the suspension bridge in Waco. It spans the Brazos and was built in 1869 out of bricks and metal. Beautiful!
That sounds like I really cool bridge!!! Our pastor from Montana went to Baylor! Go Baylor Bears 🙂
The Kissing Bridge sounds delightful, Tricia (I’m sure your entire series is wonderful!).
We have a large bridge on our Georgia coast—The Sidney Lanier Bridge, located in the area between Jekyll Island and St. Simon’s Island. It’s kind of special to my family because we enjoyed seeing the progress as it was constructed (each year when we vacationed at Jekyll Island). Although I must admit I still feel nervous each time we visit that area and drive across it, LOL.
That sounds wonderful! I’ve never been to the Georgia coast but I want to!
What a fabulous research trip, Tricia. Wish we could take some of these together. What fun that would be. Thanks for sharing and congrats on yet another book release!
Yes, we need to plan one together!!!
I love this blog post, Tricia! Having met Ora Jay and Irene last summer when you all were in Shipshewana makes this post special to me. I thoroughly enjoyed the photos, and I have a penchant for covered bridges also. We have a few covered bridges in Michigan, and we have visited numerous bridges in other states. Thanks for sharing from Northwest Montana!