A Chance Meeting

Yesterday morning, I was driving home at around 8:30am from a Men’s prayer breakfast at church, and I decided to pass someone who was moving slower than my desired rate of return. As I crossed the Gunnison River, the view to my right caught my eye. The outside temperature was about +9 Fahrenheit, and steam was rising off the river. I quickly went to the next road, and pulled off. I patiently waited for the road to clear (hello again) then backtracked to the bridge. Today’s photo is one of the results of that stop.

As I finished shooting, I saw a man walking across the bridge, carrying a picnic style water cooler. I asked if he needed a ride. He smiled and said no, I live over there, and I am just out taking pictures……I eyed the water cooler, and he smiled again, saying it keeps dry things dry, and wet things wet….Huh? He was carrying his camera in the cooler to protect it.

It turns out that Riley is an outfitter, and runs rafting trips on the Gunnison as one of his endeavors, which suddenly makes all this seem completely reasonable. We got talking, and he asked if I could row. I mentioned that I had been wanting to paddle the river all summer, but had not been able to. He asked if I wanted to do a float trip? I said sure, and he said how about in an hour……Hey I could get some great pictures I thought as it dawned on me how absurdly cold is was…….So an hour or so later I found my self with Riley & his wife Dorothy ( she was dropping us off, but not crazy enough to do the river with us) driving across snow packed roads to get to the put in point. Stay tuned for the next few days to see some pics from that adventure.

The things I do for DDP……….