When Lisa Sharp’s new book “A Slow Trot Home” came out this past week, I knew I had to read it as her family’s nearly 22,000 acre ranch in Santa Cruz County, Arizona, is probably the most breath-taking piece of land in the world. The first time I drove into the San Rafael Valley in 1997, which encompasses the San Rafael Ranch, I had to pull over off the dirt road as the view of the Valley extending into Mexico was beyond belief.Lisa’s book is called a memoir as the story takes place when she moved to the ranch from California in 1958 following her mother’s divorce to when she left the ranch in 1999. Soon into the book, however, the beautiful writing felt like a novel written in the prose of Jim Harrison.What a world for her and her siblings, living and ranching on such a vast estate that her maternal grandfather purchased in 1903. Her life on the ranch was something that most of us can only dream about. At one time the San Rafael Valley was one of the largest cattle growing areas in the nation with cattle railed east from the rail yard in nearby Sonoita. Her mother managed the ranch and knew the soil and the animals. The family brought cowboys up from Cananea, Mexico, to work the ranch. The easy transfer across the border back then would not occur today.When Lisa first left the ranch following her education and working in a managerial role in Southern California she seemed to have conflicts about the rat race of California versus the open space and ranching she left behind. Still, she would return frequently and later with her children. I enjoyed her stories of her horses and all the work involved in running a cattle ranch. She returned to the ranch in 1993 to care for her mother and stayed following her mother’s death in 1995 until 1999 when the ranch was sold. It was humbling that she and her siblings buried their mother on the ranch. There should be no other place.Her mother, Florence Greene Sharp, was a legend movies are made about. And as for movies, there were over 15 movies filmed on the ranch beginning with Oklahoma. Yes, the movie Oklahoma was not filmed in Oklahoma! What a remarkable life her mother had lived. It makes me think about the song “COMPAÑERO BLANCO” by the well-known singer/songwriter Andy Hersey who once worked on the San Rafael. In this song about the ranch and the Sharp family, he said they never considered themselves as the owners, but rather the stewards of the land.It is sad that the ranch was sold in 1999. The family worked the land for four generations, paid taxes for four generations and then when the matriarch of the family passes on, the government presents the siblings with an outrageous tax bill called the Estate/Inheritance tax. At least, however, this beautiful place will not be turned into a resort with a golf course or a massive condominium development, because the Sharp’s sold the majority of the land to The Nature Conservancy who then sold a portion to the State of Arizona for a future park as well as to a third party whom I assume will conserve the land.This has been a wonderful story to read and I hope Ms. Sharp continues to write, perhaps novels using the San Rafael Ranch as the background color to the story. She is a gifted author.