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I had a little errand this morning, and was coming right
home.
BUT ... instead of following the left fork of the road as I
usually do,
I took a side road off the right.
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The
pavement soon ran out ... but I just didn't feel like
going home, just then.
It was interesting land, and started to
remind me of the drive from Baker to Cherry Creek,
by way of Schellbourne Pass (only redder --- and
greener). It was wide-open range, old
ranch buildings, and lots of windmills.
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I stopped to let the dogs take a drink,
and a pop a few Americana shots, when I suddenly realized
that the moon was watching me. |
Which
lead me to want to capture her in the
best possible situation.
A cross high up on this mesa seemed a likely subject |
There
are a lot of wildflowers, now.
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I just kept right on following this road, as it pushed its way
along the flat valley.
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I came out eventually at a highway.
I didn't know which one, or which way would be
closest to come back, so I turned right.
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Right turned out to be 285 North, and took me almost to Santa
Fe!
There, I stopped and checked the map, decided I had gone the
wrong way, and turned around
(but not before shooting a couple photos of an abandoned
church) ...
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I thought I would take the highway to Villanueva and come
back that way. BUT, when I got back to the dirt road I
had
come through on, I decided to re-track that way. It was SUCH a
beautiful drive! I got a few shots of some horses on
the range, and figured that was going to be as good as it got,
today.
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I
had two dogs with me, and no water --
well, I had only planned to go to the store
down the road.
I figured I would stop back at the same
windmill where I had shot the moon earlier,
and let the dogs get another drink.
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About a mile before I got to that landmark, I was just
ambling along the dirt road, enjoying the day, when I
spotted
a man on a horse coming toward me. As he got closer, I could see
he was an older guy -- I couldn't tell whether
Native
or Mexican, and it looked like he was carrying a rifle. At
closer range, I decided it was a wooden flute.
We passed on the road and I waved. I pulled over, hoping to
catch a shot of the character, knowing it would at
best
be a silhouette of a mounted rider....
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When I stopped the truck, the man stopped his horse and
turned around. I held my camera out the 
window and asked if I could take his picture? SURE!!
He posed on his horse (I now see that the "flute" is
actually a cane - and a very nice one!) --
I don't like to make people stand still very long, but he was
very gracious. I had the wrong lens on, and decided not to
change it, so I had to back up to get all of the horse in the
frame.
 The
man spoke to me in Spanish -- which I'm sorry, I do not
understand, unless the person speaks very slowly and clearly.
Finally, I made out one word: "beer".
I apologized that I had no beer -- nor even any water, and
then I felt rude, that this nice man had given me permission to
take his photograph, and I had nothing to give him in
exchange.... the dogs in the truck were going crazy over the
horse...
Off I went, feeling guilty -- and nevertheless grateful for the
unexpected photo op.
All in all, it was a pretty good day!
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