Shopping vs. Sunsets

I take a mini-road trip w/The Lovely tonight, and after dropping her off, I head over to Jacques Pinay (sounds real fancy if you say/write it that way), but as I pull into the parking lot, I glance over my left shoulder, and I see a great big ball o’ sun. So, for a nanosecond (or less), I am thinking: Shopping? Or sunset? Sunset? Or shopping? And I know I only have, like, 90 minutes of shopping time — less, actually, ’cause she wants a gordita supreme, no tomato, waiting for her when I pick her up ...

Joel (from Risky Business) voice: Who was I to say no?

... but then, I know I only have about 5 minutes of sunset time!

I throw the car into reverse and drive off into the sunset — only I am honestly not sure of the best way to get to the sunset, or at least the best vantage point for the sunset. I drive past campus and eventually end up on this rural highway south of the city (which is actually just a big town, or at least one of the bigger towns in this portion of the state).

By this time, the sun has already set but this wonderfully colorful sky remains, and I keep thinking, as I drive, that I will find that perfect spot to pull over and shoot some pictures. However, there is no shoulder on this highway, and no good place to pull off, really ... but, my, there are some excellent hills, the kind where, had I been driving a lil’ bit faster, I would’ve lost my stomach at LEAST 3 times ’cause they were those kinda hills.

Blind hills, really, because as you’re cresting the top, for that split-second, you really aren’t quite certain whether there is going to be road below you, once you’re over the top.

(I went over a 7-foot waterfall like that once on the Chattooga River. Fell out of the raft, I did, on that “blind hill” ... although, upon further review, we all learned that I was actually pushed out of the raft. Still, I managed to keep my feet up, my glasses on and my paddle in my hands ... and I was quite determined to stay in the boat the rest of the trip. Which I did.)

: )

Anyhoo, during this drive I am not watching the road so much as I am watching the sky. To my left, the remaining light from the sun is keeping the sky a bright yellow-orange; straight ahead, jet streams criss-cross each other — and one of them is shaped, oddly, like the letter “C,” almost as if the pilot has decided, mid-flight, to fly off to a new destination somewhere north of here, rather than south; and to the right is a bank of purple, red-tipped clouds.

By this time, I also do not know, for sure, where I am. And certainly I am not worried, yet I have given up on the idea of getting these colors on film or disk or whatever, so I figure I might as well head back to town. I turn onto Country Club Road, still thinking I might get a photo or 2, but no: Some goofball decides to tailgate me about halfway back to the highway.

I did snap 3 shots and ended up with 1 that captured a little bit of what I saw this evening:



Now that I think about it, I was a little bit late for work this morning, chasing down a red-tipped blue-clouded sunrise.

: )