Highway 385 (Chasing Rainbows)

It was a gray and foggy day today, but I just had to go into Alpine on an emergency laundry detail (three weeks without doing laundry constitutes an emergency around here), so I took my camera along with me, anyway. Hey, you know, fog can add a lot to a photo sometimes -- all except for this one. It just didn't quite come out the way I'd envisioned it. Oh, well . . .


And then, a little later on down the road, everything started clearing up and suddenly there was something I've never seen out here -- a rainbow. (Odd, but true.) It's very tenuous and broken right now, but the possibility is definitely there. Nice mood and color, anyway.


All of a sudden, things started happening. The clouds (or fog) broke completely, leaving this absolutely perfect double rainbow -- a complete and vivid arc across the sky. Fantastic! I kept stopping every half-mile or so and jumping out of Pepe and snapping shots, as I didn't want to miss any of this. If only I had an ultrawide-angle lens to capture the whole thing. Rats! (I made a mental note of where the rainbow touched down on the road, but there was no pot o' gold there that I could see.)


Feeling pretty clever and cute about being able to pull off that last shot with the rainbow touching down right on the road, I turned to get back in the truck and was dumbstruck by this view. Ohmigod! There sat Santiago Peak, majestically adrift on a bank of fog with the most astounding backdrop imaginable -- and its own rainbow, to boot. What a day this was turning out to be!


Slamming on the brakes once again, I jumped out as I passed by this stretch of flatirons to capture yet another moment of sheer magic, with that strikingly clear burst of morning light. Holy cow, I was never going to get to Alpine at this rate. But what the heck? My laundry had already waited three weeks for a bath, so it could just wait another hour or so while I played.


This one I took just goofing around, with the thought of starting a "Great Highway Stops I've Seen" series. Hey, I wonder if Texas Highways would be interested in something along that line? I know a really awesome limestone-block rest stop on I-35 between Austin and Ft Worth. Anyway, I just couldn't pass up that background.


And, so, with this shot, I say thank you all for tuning in to the show, coming to you live from Highway 385. I was so hoping for some nice shots today, and I have to say I was more than satisfied with the results. It's funny but I've never been too big into taking shots of rainbows before, as beautiful as they are, but today I was just overwhelmed with the mixture of natural beauty and the overall quality of light. It just doesn't get much better than that. Thanks again for checking in.