Wind Songs: Arco Sunset

We spent a couple of days recently at a special event in Arco.

Late in the evening the first night we were there, after a hectic and much-too-warm day, we headed to a local restaurant.

LC was hankering for a huge burger and fries, and not hungry I instantly decided after looking at the menu that I wanted a milkshake.

Chocolate. Large. Filled with all the good tasting calories that I usually pass on.

The food ended up being overpriced and mediocre (just as most restaurant fair is in this small town located at the base of both the desert and the mountains), and the milkshake ended up being overpriced but incredibly good.

As I savored lots of chocolate flavored calories without guilt, I finally realized that after a hectic day what I needed beyond chocolate was to take a quiet drive outside of town.

It was late and soon the sun would be setting.

And maybe we could time it well enough to get some pictures of the sun setting over the beautiful mountain ranges that make up the southern entrance to the Big Lost River Valley............

The need for mutual comfort food satisfied, my Mountain Boy and I walked out of the restaurant.

The first thing I saw when I walked outside was my dog sitting upright in the cab of the truck.

I smiled at her "unfortunate ears", and her sweet, loving face.

She knew which door we had entered and was still watching that door when we finally came outside, waiting for her people to make their reappearance.

I like her very much.

A spirit as sweet and loving and accepting as the spirit that Jamie had, and after eight months of being together we are all as devoted to each other as we were when James was in our lives.

LC continued to the truck and I impulsively turned my attention to the draw of the mountains.

Yes.........we were already in the early throes of sunset and the sky was rapidly turning from the bright blue of the day into the pinks and watery blues of late evening.

Walking to the back of the restaurant I leaned against a fence post, looked at the sky and mountains in the north, raised my camera and snapped these quick pictures.

It had been a beautiful day. And it would be a beautiful night............

We drove back to the two lane highway, turned left and drove only a few minutes until we were just on the outskirts of Arco proper.

Randomly picking a side road, LC turned left off the highway and we found ourselves immediately surrounded by farm country.

I had been watching the sky during our entire short journey and realized that the sky was changing color every moment, rapidly moving from pinks to faded oranges to bright oranges.

I finally asked LC to pull the truck over.

If we waited too much longer it would all be over, and I didn't want to miss it............

There are certain times of day and certain times of year when picture taking is a gift.

Where it is impossible to take bad pictures even if you were intent on trying.

Winter. When the world is made up of the endless silent, blanketed, white world of frozen still lifes.

Late in the evenings. When colors that seem faded from the summer heat during the day suddenly spring to life. When colors are vivid. When shadows are long. When the heat of a summer day suddenly turns to the welcome coolness of evenings in the high desert.

Sunset. When the sky is on fire and the appearance of the world changes every minute, until the sun finally disappears below the far-off horizon.

As LC and Kory patiently waited for me within the coolness of the air conditioned truck, I stood in the tall grass beside a barbed wire fence and looked out over a bright green field that stood in the foreground of the huge mountain ranges that make up the valley...........

Knowing that I was keeping my guy and my dog waiting, I power snapped pictures.

Pointing and shooting without thought, just wanting to capture everything that was happening in every direction at once.

The sky was changing color every few seconds.

Bright orange to the west. Faded orange to the north. Quickly fading blues to the east.

Such a beautiful night.

I turned to look back at the truck. LC was waving me on - wordlessly letting me know that he was in no hurry and to continue taking pictures. Kory was watchful as ever...............

I took two back-to-back pictures of the totally unexpected and random Boot On The Fence.

This one was facing east where the sky was watery and fading light blue.

The picture at the very top of this blog was facing to the west, against a back-drop of brilliant reds and oranges................

Climbing back into the truck we drove a little further down this same road.

We stopped again. I climbed out of the truck again. I walked up to the tall grass and leaned against the fence again.

And looked out over an evening more beautiful than any I had seen to this point this summer.

The irrigation equipment unrelentingly blew streams of water over the growing field.

I am not certain what this crop was. Definitely not potatoes or corn. Alfalfa maybe? I'm not sure.

But in this high desert environment the water streams from these huge irrigation machines continue day and night for months on end, until the too-short summer abruptly ends.

The bright green field was stunning against the orange sky...............