May

13

A Bit of Water….

Filed Under Carrie Lewis 

I have often mentioned the low water bridge on Tawakoni Road east and north of Wichita, Kansas. This is the first low water bridge I had ever seen and I was utterly amazed to think that Kansans considered a slab of cement with holes through it so water could pass a suitable bridge.

I also learned that first year in Kansas that fords are also completely acceptable, especially in the Flint Hills.

Most of the time, this bridge is almost dry with just a little bit of water running across at the north end.

But I have seen the river running almost hill top to hill top at flood stage. A truly awesome sight!

The weather has been changeable of late. Lots of wind all day on Saturday (and if a Kansan says it’s windy, it usually means wind gusts of 35 to 40 mph!). We had just a little bit of rain on Saturday, but rained more to the south.

Neal and I had an errand to run to Andover, Kansas, east of Wichita, so I suggested we check out the low water bridge on Tawakoni. It had been quite a while since our last visit. When I made the suggestion, the thought did occur to me that if the water in fields around Wichita was any indication, the bridge would be impassable, but we went anyway.

The river had been high, you have only to see the wet marks across the bridge in the first image, but it was down quite a bit from that peak stage.

In the first shots, I am standing at the ‘water-line’ on the hill that descends to the river from the south. Judging by the mud on both sides of the bridge, I estimated the peak flood stage was 6 to 8-feet higher than what is showing in these photos. The highest I have ever seen that river is probably another 6 to 10-feet higher.

In the second image, I was on the bridge itself, kneeling and shooting straight across. Look at all that water! Awesome!

There is about a four-foot drop on the east side of the bridge and the water was churning white over that.

But there were guys and gals fishing and catching fish!

The amazing thing about the river this afternoon was that if you looked to the west, this is what you saw.

A surface so still there is not even the least bit of ripple.

Mirror-like reflections.

Utter peace and tranquility visually.

It is almost lake-like in appearance. With the sunlight streaming in between close-growing trees up river, it was a very appealing scene. It still is! I would love to sink my artistic teeth into it one of these days just to see if I can do it!

But you can hear the sound of rushing water and when you turn 180 degrees and look to the east, this is what you see!

Rapids. Downed trees. A water scarred bank (to the right). Evidence of how furious God’s creation can be.

The difference is that slab of cement that connects the north side of Tawakoni Road to the south side of Tawakoni Road over this otherwise calm and peaceful water way.

By the way, we didn’t cross over. We turned around and proceeded west all the way to I-135 and back home. I noticed while we visited with those fishing that an SUV (looked like a Jeep, but I couldn’t be sure) approached from the north, then turned around and retreated. I say! If a Jeep can’t make it, a Buick probably isn’t going to fare very well, either!

But I am glad we went. On a weekend that left me looking for a new painting project, this short, impromptu trip was definitely productive. Cool water shoots, great light and did I mention seeing horses? Lots of them and up close and personal!

©Copyright 2008 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.

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