The evolving soundtrack to Ghosts of Wind and Cloud

"To Ride the Wind" -- in memory of Bob Dunn

From Ghosts of Wind and Cloud
Vol. III: The Skygods - 1978 to 1985

To Ride The Wind (1982)
by Rick Masters

It was never enough for him just to feel the wind.
No, he would jump the ridge and leave. I'd stay and descend.
Then hours later, I'd hear his voice on the phone,
Saying, "Hey, Rick! I'm stranded out here and I'm all alone.
And I'm miles away, where nobody's ever flown!"

"Hey, Rick, why didn't you do it?
There wasn't nothin' to it!
I know. I know you'd have got away!!"
But what could I say?
He was a master of the sky.
And like the eagle, he yearned to fly,
To ride the wind.
To ride the wind...

He'd do it over and over and over and over again.
He'd stun us at meetings with photos of hostile terrain.
He taught me to top-land the Mesa behind the poplars,
To respect the rotor yet never give into my fears.
He was a master of the sky.
And like the eagle, he yearned to fly,
To ride the wind.
To ride the wind...

I remember one day, I launched him when nobody'd fly,
With the landing field closed, the wind blowing backside.
We stopped all the cars on the crest road in case he went in.
Then he leapt from the back of the Knob, turned and passed us downwind!
Scraping over the spine, he left us behind.
Sinking into the lee, losing his altitude quickly...
And it seemed to us all that Bob had misjudged it this time.
Then his wings rocked and he turned, and turned, and he started to climb!
We watched in a trance, his aerial dance,
As he rose like an angel, his wings winking in the distance,
'Til he faded from our sight.
And later that night
He called from his home where he'd landed
And asked with delight,
"Hey, Rick, why didn't you do it?
There wasn't nothin' to it!
I know. I know you'd have got away!"
But what could I say?

He was a master of the sky.
And like the eagle, he yearned to fly,
To ride the wind.
To ride the wind...
And it was never enough
for him just to feel the wind.