Walking on Air

Imagine sitting in a comfortable and magic chair that flies. You take the chair up and down beautiful arroyos and alluvial fans. You dance above stalks of sotol, limestone and rhyolite. You see trails you've been on and follow them to places you've never been. You see places your heart will always remember and where you are sure to return - on foot - on a hiking adventure good for soul and for sinew.

I sat in such a chair today. It was a seat in Stanley Jobe's yellow helicopter. He took me for a ride around the Franklins from Scenic Drive to Trans Mountain to Hitt Canyon to Hondo Pass over McKelligon Canyon to Cristo Rey and back to the airport. He piloted his craft all along the mountainside west and east and up and down arroyos. I now have a dozen or more hikes that I must take and some old hikes in order to look for new things.

He talked about the beauty of the mountain . . . his love for hiking and his hiking adventures . . . his deep appreciation of Mr. Bowen whose stewardship of the land that he leases for ranching has kept that land so pristine and so good for wildlife. He talked about mining in the Franklins and he seemed to know much about old prospectors and broken dreams.

I'm glad that I made the trip. Mr. Jobe's company gave some money to the West Texas Urban Forestry Council. As President of that organization this year, I thanked him and then came an invitation to ride in the magical chair. I told him that it reminded me of those dreams one has of flying when one is fast asleep and marvelous odysseys unfold timelessly before the eyes of the soul to see. After we landed, I thought that our whole trip had been less than thirty minutes. In reality we were gone for over an hour. One loses track of time while gazing on beauty - especially that which we have so much of in our Franklin Mountains.

It was good to get to know Mr. Jobe if even just a little and it was good to talk - guy talk. We didn't solve the problems of the world and wouldn't have wanted to waste our time that way. I'm increasingly realizing that finding shared values is the best way to go. "Environmentalism" and "business" doesn't have to be an us versus them. We may learn that we all love trees and mountains, and value the vast desert vista. Life is give and take - not just between folks but between us humans and the rest of creation. May we each and all together learn to be better stewards and better friends to each other and to the wonderful world which we share with so many fellow creatures.