Right in our backyard...

I'm making a point of visiting interesting, funny and strange places near Bloomington. It's not the most beautiful place I've lived, but there is certainly a lot of character in the hills (and people) of Southern Indiana. On Monday (Labor Day) a small group of us went out to the Greene County Rail Viaduct.

A viaduct is a series of spans or arches used to carry a road or railroad over a wide valley or over other roads or railroads. Not many people know that there's a stupendous viaduct right in our backyard, in Greene County. In fact, the Greene County viaduct is said to be the third largest of its kind in the world.

The viaduct spans the Richland Creek valley on the Illinois Central Railroad. Built in 1906, the viaduct is a half-mile long and up to 180 feet tall. Reportedly six or seven trains still cross the 100-year old structure every day.

I walked out onto the viaduct a little bit – as far as I was willing to go, anyway. Remember "Stand by Me?" I didn't want that to happen, as there's nowhere to go off the sides of this thing.