As all vacations do, this one ended. I was to return many times over the next few years until finally the t's were crossed and the i's dotted and I returned to stay.
The old guest ranch was still operating but with new ownership, and still no marketing plan. My Cowboy had long ago moved on and I was offered the job of head wrangler. I was officially in charge of a staff of one... me.
My job was to care for the horses and take tourists on trail rides. For me it was heaven. I didn't want to just put people on a horse, I wanted to introduce them to a new way of life. My love of both the horses and the desert could now be shared.
Yet it didn't take a rocket scientist to see that the ranch as a business, was slowly coming to an end. Although more guests were here than during my stays, it wasn't enough to keep going. The ranch changed hands again.
This time the owners were a group of European's, two couples and a single woman. None had ever stayed at a ranch, and none knew how to create a western experience for guests. They marketed in Europe, to Europeans who still had the movie cowboy image in their heads. Unfortunately the new owners didn't know how to deliver.
Their first group arrived in the summer... it was 105 degrees and the ranch, always a seasonal winter resort, had no AC. In a flurry of activity, the owners decided to put AC units in each guest room. Forty eight hours prior to arrival they started. Everyone on the ranch pitched in, including me.
A large maintenance firm cut through adobe brick walls (some a foot thick) and installed the units. The resulting dust was a housekeeping nightmare.
The group arrived... fifty people from Italy; hungry, hot and harried from a long flight. Fifty people turned on ACs all at the same time and immediately blew the ranch electrical system.
Dinner that night also proved a challenge. The fifty Italians didn't understand ranch style family eating and when everyone was served the same thing, it was all returned. The lovely ranch meal was rejected because they all wanted steak and french fries.
The group also expected a valet service... as I was walking to the office, I was handed a large pile of clothes by a passing guest and told to iron it all before evening.
The group lasted until the morning, when as one they checked out and went to a Ramada Inn.
A few weeks later another group arrived. This time the AC was up and ready to go, the staff was prepared but the group never left the swimming pool. It was too hot and they hated it. Complaints were rampant but the last straw came at dinner.
The chef, not of the strongest character, could not handle the complaints. He did his best but the pressure was too much. He found his stored bottle of Tequila in the back room and began to fortify himself. Dinner was cooked to perfection, even if he had to say so himself. Not a soul could complain tonight.
Dinner was fillet of white fish, mashed potatoes and steamed cauliflower... a vision of.... white.
The ranch owners purchased several new horses for the remuda. One of the animals didn't look well when it arrived and died later that day. The new owners ordered the horse butchered, to be served at dinner that night.
Horrified I explained that they couldn't do that... the reasons were obvious but the mere thought of what they planned, was more than I could bear. The thought of horse burgers made me ill.
I quit.
The ranch lasted only a few more years and had many more owners. Each worse than the one before... it was sad to watch a place I once loved fall on such hard times. I guess there really is a season for everything and it was now time for the little guest ranch to go.
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