Sunday, December 03, 2006

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……….

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love the picture and I like the story too. Have a nice Sunday.

Pierre said...

Hi Bill, beautiful pic (as all your nature pics) and a nice story!
Looking forward for some images of this water adventure...

Kate said...

This is a wonderful story! Sychronisity for sure. And the photo is quite lovely.

Anonymous said...

l'histoire et la photo sont superbes. merci pour ce moment. Bon Dimanche.


the history and the photograph are superb. thank you for this moment. Good Sunday.

Anonymous said...

Your zeal for the photo impresses me. A Blanket of White is great; the blue tone clearly illustrates the cold temperature. The chance meeting, great story and opportunity,

photowannabe said...

I can hardly wait for the river pictures. What a Serindipity to meet Riley.
This is a gorgeous picture too, especially with the sunburst and steam.

Anonymous said...

Very cool. Like the starburst on the sun.

Jean said...

Love the photo and the story.

Anonymous said...

This one deserves to be in "Life" Magazine!

Gerald (SK14) said...

sounds like a lovely adventure

Anonymous said...

oh, cool photo.
oh, cool meeting~~
:))
i think it must be very interesting and excited to do so.

look forward more photos.

jing
shanghai daily photo