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| "Reaching for the River" 8 x 8 oil Available. Painted outdoors below the John Dunn Bridge |
Whirr, whirr.
We saw and felt the sickening sight of flashing trooper lights behind us on 64W,
the same 64 near our home in Cary. We
had just come back onto Paseo Del Pueblo Norte, aka 64W, from viewing the big
Rio Grande Bridge. I determined that
painting there would be difficult because of wind. How could this be, going
only 55 on the open, flat, clear road outside Taos? The officer approached our
car, and seeing we were a tourist couple in a rental car, warned us we were
doing 55 in a 45, but kindly only directed us to our next destination, the John
Dunn Bridge in the smaller Rio Grande Gorge.
Relieved we
were on our way. To the right we viewed
the Pueblo Peak of the Sangre de Cristo Mountain Range.
The road soon dropped down into a
deep arroyo, a small stream bed, that ran left to the Rio Grande. We turned left at an old hippie colony from
the 1970s and followed a small paved road until it turned to dirt. Bump, bump, bump. Up the hill we drove to the mesa trailing
more dust and dirt, then we dropped down steeply into a ravine to a one lane
bridge. More dust and bumping over
rocks. I was losing faith there was a
John Dunn Bridge. “Let’s turn back! I’m not inspired! Only sagebrush and rocks in sight”, I yelled
at Walt in anguish. Just then a car
approached in the opposite direction.
“You’re there. Just round the
next bend.”
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| Pueblo Peak area |
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| One view from the John Dunn Bridge |
We did. A beautiful site. A wide running river sparkling in the western
sun, high cliffs, a wood plank and metal truss bridge, flat sand beaches, and toilets. A plein air painter’s paradise! And a place of community to walk the road to
fish, to picnic and to drive across to work.
Thank you
John Dunn for opening this “road”.
Long John
Dunn (1857 – 1953) was a saloon keeper and gambler who owned the only bridge
and stage coach into Taos. He was a
former cattle driver from Texas who escaped a 40 year prison sentence for
murdering his brother-in-law by sawing through the bars and floating down
river. He was wise and resourceful,
however, in understanding that roads, rivers, and mail opened up land all
through the expanding continent and he made it possible in northern New Mexico.
His obituary quotes him as saying,
“Transportation made the West, not blazing guns as is so often preached -
although I know the guns played a big part. It was those sweat-stained horses
and tireless mules, those worn saddles and creaking wagons and the men and
women who were riding them across muddy rivers, rocky ridges and up those long
dusty trails." For more on John
Dunn, see John Dunn’s Story
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My paintings are available at Cary Gallery of Artists 200 S. Academy St. in downtown Cary in Ashworth Village. 919-462-2035 Mon-Sat 11 am - 5:30 pm.
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