Discover Heaven at Ted Turner Reserves

In today's episode, we are joined by a special guest, Doug Lynn Dower, Vice President Sales and Marketing with Ted Turner Reserves.

That's right, we are headed out west, boys and girls.

So you better dust off them boots and put that cowboy hat on straight as we're headed out to a luxury guest ranch.

And I can't be more excited to tell you all about it.

So let's go ahead and get this show started with an awesome interview with my good friend Doug Lindauer.

We are in the studio today with Doug Lindauer from Ted Turner Reserves.

Welcome to the podcast, Doug.

Good to be here, Kevin.

Ah, thank you so much.

Well, I gave a brief introduction at the beginning of the podcast, but would you mind going ahead and explaining to those listening who you are and what your role is with Ted Turner Reserves?

SPEAKER_02: Happy to do that.

I've been with Ted Turner Reserves for two years, but the background story is I have worked with Mr.

Turner for, oh, I'd call it 25 years.

I grew up in Austin, Texas.

My father was in cable television.

He and Mr.

Turner have a long history of uh negotiating against each other.

My dad was in the cable business, and Ted was somebody who used to meet with my dad and tell him about these crazy plans he had of 24 hours of news when people used to think news was just at six and ten or whatever, and uh how he wanted to buy a baseball team and put them on the superstation.

And uh when I got out of college, the University of Texas, I worked in banking and an advertising business.

And then one year I asked my dad if I could go to the cable convention, and that was in Atlanta, Georgia, and it was CNN's 10-year anniversary, which is ironic because just this week CNN celebrated its 40th 4-0 anniversary.

Very cool.

A very short version of this story is I did run into someone who worked in Mr.

Turner's uh sales team.

They offered to hire me as a young sales exec selling cable television to cable systems in North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.

And I started that and I loved it for 25 years.

Along the way, Ted was fortunate enough to make some money and he started buying up ranches in Montana, New Mexico, Nebraska, South Dakota, Kansas, and he today is still the second largest landowner in the United States with 2.1 million acres, only behind his good friend John Malone, who ironically, John Malone has 2.2 million.

John John Malone's company, some might know Liberty Media is that company.

It's just funny that Liberty Media now owns the Braves, and that's of course Ted used to own the Atlanta Braves in the small world.

And then so what happened is after I retired in 2014, I wanted to travel.

I love traveling.

I might have told you off air, Kevin, I'm a big mountain climber.

I'll climb any high point.

I've climbed the highest mountain in all 50 states, high points around the world, Kilimanjaro a couple times, and I'm gonna just keep going.

And I thought I was gonna enter retirement at the age of 50, but I got a call from Ted, actually his CFO, who said, Mr.

Turner wants to take his three ranches in New Mexico, the crown jewel being Vermejo, which is over 550,000 acres, and turn it into a guest ranch and really promote all the conservation and sustainability efforts.

You know, Ted, ever since he met Jacques Cousteau back in the 70s, has had this mantra of save everything, take care of the land, take care of the water, anything he can do.

So he's very passionate about that.

So that's how Ted Turner Reserve was born.

I'm sort of a one-man sales team, and I've got some great people at Vermeho and down in our southern properties that help me on the marketing.

And of course, our director of hospitality is Jade McBride.

A lot of people in the business might know Jade used to run the ranch at Rock Creek up in Montana.

And he was in charge of activities for Amon Giri when it opened.

We've got both the luxury lifestyle hospitality stuff covered.

And when you come to Vermeho, it's like you're coming to your own private national park.

You're coming to someplace that's so massive you can go up to 13,000 feet and go on a hike.

You can go down to 5,000 feet and enjoy the prairie land and look for the uh prairie dogs and the bobcats and the coyotes and the antelopes.

So it's just an amazing piece of property.

I'm really proud to be working with them.

Anybody who stays at Vermeho will have the feel of being at a guest ranch, which are wonderful.

All of our friends in the guest ranch business up in Montana and Wyoming and elsewhere are fantastic.

What they don't have, we have everything they have.

What they don't have is this amount of land to go explore.

Again, 550,000 acres is about the size of Rhode Island.

You know, it's a massive piece of property.

SPEAKER_01: So wow, that's incredible.

That's really incredible.

And so, so in what year was it that basically Ted Turner Reserves came to be?

SPEAKER_02: So Ted Turner Reserves as a brand is only two years old.

But the concept of guest operations on his ranch is in New Mexico started about five years ago when he bought a spa and hot springs resort called Sierra Grande Lodge and Spa.

Okay.

That's in the lovely town of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.

I love it.

SPEAKER_01: I love the name.

SPEAKER_02: And that's a beautiful spa where you can get facials and massages and pedicures, couple massages.

It's just, I would describe it as a beautiful, quaint 19-bedroom lodge, and it just sits right off of I-25 outside of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.

But then Ted also has two ranches down there.

And one of the ranches, ladder, you can do an exclusive buyout of the property, stay at the ladder house.

It's four bedrooms, comfortably 10, 11 if you had a couple little kids sleeping in the twin beds.

But uh, you can take over that ranch, and we provide a private chef, a private guide to take you hiking through the five slot canyons, just like Zion National Park.

Or you might want to go out one day and just get surrounded by the bison or go to some of the ghost towns.

And it's just a beautiful, beautiful piece of property.

Vermejo is the one right on the border of Colorado and New Mexico.

And that's your more standard luxury property where you're gonna come and decide whether you're gonna stay just in a room, just you and your guests.

Do you want to get a cottage or because you've got four couples?

Do you want to get a bigger cottage because you've got a family of 10 or 12?

And then, of course, we're always open to, you know, buyouts, whether it be a family wants to do a whole buyout.

I mean, I know we're gonna get to it, but this COVID stuff is really in a weird, and I mean this in a good way, a weird way, we're really getting a lot of calls because people are realizing, at least for the short term, travel is gonna be domestic in the U.S.

And they need places where you have a lot of space and you're not gonna feel like there's a bunch of people hanging around you.

And uh adverse absolutely we we would never have more than 55 or 60 guests, even if we were at full capacity.

So you're always gonna feel like you've got plenty of room to roam.

SPEAKER_01: Yep.

Now, now, okay, so we've kind of gotten a little bit ahead of this question, but one thing kind of you've kind of already started explaining it, but to try and clear up any confusions, what exactly is Ted Turner Reserves?

SPEAKER_02: So Ted Turner Reserves would be a hospitality company that has its roots grounded in conservation and sustainability, and our mission is to connect people with nature.

So when we say Ted Turner Reserves, Mr.

Turner and the whole family and all of us that work there hope that one day you're thinking of Ted Turner Reserves no differently than Marriott or Four Seasons or Amon, that under Ted Turner Reserve, there's going to be different options for places where you could stay.

SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.

That's right.

And so you were you were explaining that you guys have basically three properties right now in New Mexico.

SPEAKER_02: Correct.

There are three places where you can stay and be staying in a Ted Turner Reserve.

SPEAKER_01: Okay, awesome.

SPEAKER_02: Now, whereabouts in New Mexico are these?

So the Vermejo, which is the one that most people listening or most people that contacted their favorite travel advisor, yes, I'd say 95% of them are going to want to come to Vermejo.

SPEAKER_01: Okay.

SPEAKER_02: And that is situated right on the border of Colorado and New Mexico, literally one mile west of I-25.

SPEAKER_01: Okay.

Okay.

SPEAKER_02: Anybody that's a history buff, they might know that that area is very famous because that's where the Santa Fe Trail, when cattle drives used to go from Kansas City, and Santa Fe was the big destination, or vice versa.

They'd move the cattle up and down.

And before that, Indians were using the Santa Fe Trail.

And a lot of famous, you know, Wild Bill Hickock, Jesse James, Annie Oakley have all roamed around, not just our property, Vermejo, but that general area of New Mexico.

A lot of history there.

But it literally, some of the acreage falls on the Colorado side of the state line.

Most of it sits in New Mexico.

SPEAKER_01: Okay.

Awesome.

So now, so if somebody is traveling, they're having to fly, fly there, where are they flying into?

Are they flying into Denver?

SPEAKER_02: Well, of course, if we're if we're lucky enough to have uh private uh air options, you would land at the Ratone, New Mexico FBO.

Okay.

It's a runway that can handle any private plane, but it does not handle commercial airlines.

So I I most of the time when I go, I either land in Denver or Albuquerque.

Okay.

Both those airports are great.

I'm a fan of Denver because when you live in Atlanta, Denver gives you Atlanta to Denver under normal times would probably have 10 to 12 different flights a day.

Uh so you've got a lot of options.

Albuquerque to Atlanta usually only has three, maybe two flights a day.

SPEAKER_01: Of course.

SPEAKER_02: But from but from either Denver or Albuquerque, it's the exact same drive time.

From Denver, you'd be driving south on I-25 three hours.

You have the Rocky Mountains off to your right, you'd pass the Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, the Broadmoor, and you would go over a pass, and then you'd be at the ranch.

From Albuquerque, it's the same three-hour drive, but you're coming up from Albuquerque, you'd be passing through Santa Fe, and then you'd have the lower half of the southern Rocky Mountains on your left.

And then when you come up to Highway 555, we like to jokingly say you're turning onto Vermejos driveway.

Okay.

You still have 50 to 55 minutes of driving to get to where you're going to check in, but you're going to feel like your safari or your national park trip has started because depending on what time of year you come, the road might be blocked with a herd of elk.

You might see wild turkeys hanging off to the side.

You might see bison eating on the side of the road.

So you're on our property within, I'd say, less than two minutes after turning west off of I-25.

SPEAKER_01: Okay.

SPEAKER_02: And you're on our property, you'll see a couple signs, but you'll start realizing you're heading into an area where there's very little civilization.

And uh the road takes you up to 10,500 feet.

When you get down into the valley, the headquarters we sit at, Vermejo sits at 7,500 feet.

The weather there is always beautiful.

Um, we're open year-round.

You know, we can talk about the different seasons, but there's never a bad time to be at Vermejo as long as you know what to expect.

SPEAKER_01: Of course, of course.

That was kind of my next question was in that location and stuff, what is weather and the seasons like there?

What could somebody expect?

SPEAKER_02: Well, yeah, I would I would expect May through September to be fantastic, warm fishing weather during the day.

Great hike, great hiking weather.

Although I think any weather is great hiking weather.

But um it's known for its fishing in the summer, great trout fishing.

I would I have to say that Ted Turner worked with the fish and game people, and they they brought back a species of trout that was almost extinct.

Oh, wow.

Called the Rio Grande Cutthroat Trout.

So any fisherman would know about catching a rainbow trout, a brook trout, or a brown trout.

But there's a special species called the Rio Grande Cutthroat Trout.

And Vermejo is one of the few places that you can fly fish along the side of a stream or in the stream.

And you couldn't do that for the last hundred years.

That species was almost extinct.

But that's so summer is fishing, great time to be out.

Horseback riding, riding mountain bikes, all that stuff.

As you roll into the fall, you're gonna want to just enjoy the nature, the leaf changing.

You can still do all the activities of horseback riding.

But you know, if you're there in November or December, you you're you're definitely gonna want to have your your cowboy jacket on or a duster or a pullover, and maybe even gloves.

As you roll into late December and through January and February, there's gonna be snow up in the mountains.

So up above 10,000 feet, there'd be snow, and there's lots of fun activities we can do.

There's no ski resort there, but people do what's called um backcountry skiing that we can arrange for them where you it's a form of cross-country skiing, but you put these skins on the skis and you can actually hike up a mountain, take the skins off, and then kind of ski down.

That can be arranged.

We have ice fishing in the winter.

I just tried that this this winter.

Wow.

Unbelievable.

We set up, I mean, it's it's a luxurious ice fishing.

You're not just doing it out of the back of a car.

We set up this tent.

There might be a fire going in the tent or just outside, and they drill a hole in the ice, and it is a blast.

Everybody had a blast doing that.

SPEAKER_01: Wow.

So did you catch anything?

SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah.

You're always gonna catch something.

Yeah, it's so awesome.

You can see the fish through the ice.

It's just a wonderful.

So we like to tell people, I mean, it's a wonderful place for families or people to come during Thanksgiving or Christmas time or you know, New Year's Eve.

And uh any time in the winter is fun there, you know, as long as you know it could be sunny and warm during the day, but as soon as that sun goes down, you're always going to want a jacket and some gloves and a hat.

SPEAKER_01: Of course.

SPEAKER_02: As you roll as you roll into March at Vermejo, it's springtime, and what you have is all the animals like the elk and the deer with their antlers, they're starting to fall off.

And even a guy like me from Texas had to get educated that these giant antlers fall off of the elk in March, and everybody likes to go.

It's like going on an Easter egg hunt.

You drive around and you'll find these antlers just laying off the side of the road on the side of a hill.

And uh, you soon learn that they're pretty valuable.

Guests can keep up to two steps, or I think it's two antlers, so one pair of antlers.

If okay, a lot of people like making chandeliers or candles.

Yes, of course.

But March is fantastic, and as you get into April and May, now you're looking at a fantastic time to be there to see the baby elk being born, the baby bear being born, the baby bison being born.

It's the birth of spring, all the animals bringing the little ones into.

And of course, at Vermeho, I did say it's like a safari.

Okay.

You could come across some really Ted's biologists who work for him have taught me nature can be very cruel.

We try not to get involved, but I was shocked to hear that when elk have their children, only I think the number is as low as only about 20% of those babies will live.

Wow.

I mean, coyotes, mountain lions, bears.

I mean, I learned that bears will eat their own their own cubs.

And that's why the mama bear is so protective of her cub, because the father of that cub might have gone away for a few weeks.

When he comes back, he doesn't see it as his kid.

And oh, it's so you might be driving around and see that when you go on a safari ature.

SPEAKER_01: I mean exactly.

No, no, you even told me talking about animals.

Correct me if I'm wrong, you told me you can also see bison.

Is that correct?

SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah.

Ted's the again, not to brag on Ted, but we're all very very proud of this.

Ted's the largest bison owner for sure in the United States, and his herd in total is probably over 55,000 head of bison.

Wow.

Just on yeah, just on Vermeho alone, there's probably 2,500 to 3,000 bison at any time.

And I like to tell the story, everybody's probably picturing a trip to Yosemite when they were a kid, and you saw one bison a hundred yards away, and all the cars pulled over to take pictures or something.

I said, wait till you come to Vermeho.

You're the only car around, and all you can see is thousands of bison surrounding you, some literally one foot from the car.

And I I've even been on a hike where the bison are right next to us, and I asked the guide, hey, are we good?

And I love that he looked at me and he goes, I think so.

You know, like we should be fine.

Um I was like, he goes, I love that he said our bison are very friendly because there's been videos of bison that like to headbutt.

Of course, that has never happened at Vermejo, and uh we don't plan on it happening.

But it as we just said, nature can be uh not just cruel but unpredictable.

SPEAKER_01: Of course it can.

That's so that's so funny.

That's so funny.

SPEAKER_02: And Kevin, I think I covered all the animals.

Okay, uh bison, elk, bear, mountain lion, bobcats, antelope, mule deer.

There's even been some bighorn, uh, Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep.

Those are harder to see.

I've learned that the mountain lions are really they are great.

They're like spies.

They don't want you to see them, but our guides are getting really good at saying there's probably gonna be one around this corner in this canyon, and uh it's amazing to spot one of those.

There's no wolf, that's really about it.

It's an interesting, it's an interesting because there's no wolf.

We that's why we have so many elk, because the wolf is usually the person that keeps the elk herd in check.

SPEAKER_01: That makes sense.

That makes sense.

Wow, that's just it sounds out of this world.

I mean, honestly, I mean, it's it's really sounds just from the animal standpoint, is just it's true.

It's not anything that any most people are used to.

SPEAKER_02: You know, I totally agree.

And now that I've been lucky enough to go there at all times of the season, anytime I've been, I've just left there with my heart and mind so full of joy.

Any person who spends a lot of money on a vacation, whether it be an African safari or a trip to Italy or a trip to Greece or a trip to Australia, you want to leave that vacation satisfied for a lot of reasons, you know, satisfied that you got a good trip for the money you paid.

But, you know, a trip to Vermejo is right up there with trips to African safaries.

You're gonna feel good about contributing to something where the money's going back into conservation, sustainability, preserving the land, and it just fills your heart.

You're anybody who leaves Vermejo, I'm not gonna say they're crying, but they're they're gonna they leave there going, oh man, I gotta get back.

This is just too special.

SPEAKER_01: Of course, of course.

That sounds out of this world.

So now kind of give me an idea of Vermeho as far as what could somebody expect when you arrive there?

What are the kind of what what's the property look like?

What's the feeling going to be?

Is it just one big massive log cabin?

Are we separated?

Kind of kind of give us a description of what it kind of looks like.

SPEAKER_02: So what you're coming into once you drive up that driveway and you'll come around the corner and you will all of a sudden see this almost feels like a small old western city.

SPEAKER_01: Okay.

SPEAKER_02: But what you what you're coming into is somebody's homestead.

Obviously, it's Mr.

Turner's now that he's turned into guest operations, but it was Mr.

Bartlett in 1902 who bought this land.

He was living in Chicago, he had two children that had tuberculosis, two sons.

Okay.

The doctor, the doctors in Chicago, even back in 1902, said you do not want to live in Chicago, too much air pollution.

SPEAKER_01: Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_02: So he did his homework and he built it, he bought this land and he built what you would be staying in.

Okay.

Buildings you would be staying in were built by William Bartlett in 1905.

They Were done in 1908.

So you've got a seven-bedroom house that was Mr.

Bartlett's house.

We call that Casa Grande.

And there's seven bedrooms in there.

You can buy it by the room, or you can buy it out.

But either way, that's that's one option.

Then you have in the middle that log cabin thing that you would you kind of would feel like, but it's where you would check in.

There's a gift store, there's a great bar, there's a fireplace to stay warm, there's a veranda to watch the sunset, maybe have dinner or drinks out there as the sun's setting.

There's a giant dining room that never feels crowded, but it's definitely not right now because with COVID, we're spacing out the tables and trying to have people eat at different times.

And then if you went to the other side of that log cabin, we just recently finished a remodeling the 10-bedroom home that was called Casa Minor.

And that's where Mr.

Bartlett let his children live as they got older.

It was like their house.

Yes.

It's just been renamed for Mr.

Ted Turner, and it will now be called the Turner House.

And it has 10 rooms that you can buy by the room, or if you've got a big enough group, you might want to consider buying out all 10 rooms.

SPEAKER_01: Of course.

That would be awesome for a family reunion.

SPEAKER_02: And we d and then there's five additional cottages that are right there forming a semi circle from one house to the other house.

And these cottages were where Mr.

Bartlett's personal physician lived.

His lawyer lived in another one.

His chef and cooking staff lived in another one.

So those cottages you have to buy out.

But we have five bedroom cottages, four bedroom cottages, and there's one three-bedroom cottage.

So we have different options.

SPEAKER_01: Now, any of these accommodations, whether these cottages or the others, I mean, are we talking rustic?

Are we talking more plush, luxurious?

SPEAKER_02: We're talking on the outside, it's still the stone from 1902, but on the on the inside, other than the marble, we've really pride ourselves on keeping the marble in the bathrooms the same.

But you're you're looking at very modern showers, very modern bedding.

You know, we've turned the fireplaces into electric just so it's always easy to turn on.

Turn off.

SPEAKER_01: That's nice.

SPEAKER_02: But you're talking luxury.

While we don't have a five-star rating, yes, it's every bit as luxurious as as any property people have stayed at.

Some of our cottages have not been remodeled, and we purposely kept it that way because there's still returning guests, or say someone who's on a much tighter budget.

There are options that wouldn't be quite as out of the ballpark for them.

SPEAKER_01: Of course.

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_02: I should say, of course, we're all inclusive as far as for your rate.

You would get all your meals, uh, any all your drinks, excluding alcohol, because New Mexico doesn't let you do alcohol in the rate.

But we serve okay.

We serve alcohol, or the guests are free to bring it.

Okay.

That includes all your activities.

If you want to go for a horseback ride, uh go shoot skeet, shoot the rifle range, uh, go shoot archery, go on a mountain bike ride.

That's all included.

SPEAKER_01: See, that's that's great.

That's really good.

That's really good.

SPEAKER_02: We offer the guides.

If you know, we talked about going out and being surrounded by the bison.

Yes.

You can you can do a half-day guide for as low as$350, a full day guide for$475.

Okay.

And most most people love just saying, can we have a guide every day?

We're gonna we're gonna want to do something adventurous every day.

SPEAKER_01: Of course, of course.

Wow, so so that's pretty spectacular.

Now, now talk to me about food.

What how how does that work?

SPEAKER_02: Um, is it set dining times or it's not set dining times, it's hey Mr.

Lowe, how was your day?

Great, I'm exhausted.

Can I come and eat a little later tonight?

And you say, uh, can I show up at 6 45?

We say, No problem.

Somebody else might have said, Can we come at six?

You'll see there's different tables set up based on how many of them, but you really can come whenever you want.

SPEAKER_01: Okay, that's nice.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, when you come to Vermejo, you better be ready to eat because they serve you so much food.

There's never a set menu.

This is not they don't hand you the same menu, and by night four, you're going, this is the same thing.

Of course.

Almost every night you're gonna have an option of fresh bison, fresh antelope, fresh elk.

Um if you're a vegan or a vegetarian, that is not a problem.

We've hand we've handled that, we've handled kosher meals, but you're gonna get served a lot of food.

Um, they always will have a fish option.

And if you want to have lunch inside, you can, but most people want their lunch prepared so they can go out and fish or go hiking, or we set up we set up a picnic next to a beautiful spot or by one of our lakes, and they do that.

So it's all private dining options are very much something we like doing, especially for our guests that have come to us through an advisor.

SPEAKER_01: Of course.

That's wonderful.

That's wonderful.

Now, kind of touching on that, we've touched on activities a little bit, we talked about the food and stuff.

Kind of what I guess kind of give somebody an idea what a typical day would look like when they wake up in the morning.

What what would kind of a day look like for them?

SPEAKER_02: So a typical day, and let we don't have a minimum stay, but I would hope people would try to stay four nights, if not longer.

But you were staying, you know, you you could just all you could do was a three-day weekend, and you got out there, you would wake up and breakfast starts as early as 6 a.m.

and there's coffee ready for people, those early risers at five.

There'd be coffee waiting, but you'd have a breakfast, but you would have already worked with your uh reserve ambassador, okay.

Um, which of course is a fancy term for our reservation and concierge group.

Okay.

But you would have talked to them and told us what you like.

And so, say you're you really you're a big horseback fan and you you really want to try fly fishing for the first time.

SPEAKER_01: Yes.

SPEAKER_02: You might say, I want to do a horseback ride after breakfast at about 9 30.

And then when I'm done with that, uh, I'd love to have a lunch prepared, and then I'd love to have a guide take me up and teach me how to fly fish in the afternoon.

All that would be done.

And I'm telling you, most people that fly fish for the first time, they don't want to stop.

They usually come back.

Uh their guides radioing to the kitchen.

Please don't close.

Um we had so much fun fishing.

We, you know, wait, or they caught some fish.

Can we cook their fish for them?

And it's like, yes.

That was one question I had.

SPEAKER_01: Okay, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_02: I and I gotta be honest, I didn't even really like or know about trout, but since I've been two years on this job, I can't.

I'll eat trout any way it's prepared now.

Trout with trout with with pecans, you know, crusted, trouts with almond.

Oh, it's all so good when it's freshly prepared.

SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.

SPEAKER_02: But then the next the next day you might say, we want to wake up early before breakfast.

We heard there's a couple beautiful hikes that we can just do right here around headquarters.

And you might go do that, and then you might come down and you might be a group of six people, and you might say, Half of us know how to use a shotgun, the other half don't.

Well, they'll take you out to the shotgun stand, not only take you through all the safety and practice that you'd need, but then they'll let you shoot a shotgun until your shoulder falls off if you want to.

That's awesome.

Um until you get that clay target, you might want to stay out there.

SPEAKER_01: Of course, as somebody as somebody who grew up grew up hunting and and shooting and stuff, I can tell you that's a blast.

SPEAKER_02: So and and you could quickly see how two days go by, and now you still haven't done a safari tour, you haven't gone up to the high country.

You know, you just you really should look at doing a long family trip there, you know, like a long trip.

You know, one thing before I forget, there's even a s a lodge farther away from headquarters that was once a cowboy, you know, camp, and Mr.

Turner built a new one.

It's eight bedrooms, and think of it as a luxury cabin.

SPEAKER_01: Okay.

SPEAKER_02: It's run on solar power.

We're very proud of that.

So very low impact.

But anybody you can stay there by the room, or you could buy out all eight rooms for a family, a group birthday celebration, you know, somebody's anniversary, and you can stay at that cabin because it has a private chef, its own weight staff, and you don't even have to come back down low.

You're you're more than welcome.

But it's almost like people who go on an African safari, you start in one place, then you find out that 45 minutes away is is a whole nother place to stay that has a completely different feel.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's amazing.

SPEAKER_02: That's called that's called Costilla Lodge.

That's actually it's actually in a different county.

Oh, uh the ranch sits on the ranch is so big it sits on four counties.

SPEAKER_01: Wow, that's incredible.

Yeah.

Wow, that's incredible.

So now, um, so we we kind of touched on you said that if somebody comes there, everything's included, all the activities, we're not having to worry about paying extra for horseback riding or shooting skeet or doing archery.

SPEAKER_02: Nope.

Nope, you're just signing up and you're good to go.

SPEAKER_01: That's wonderful.

Now, now I assume you've you've stayed at the ranch a time or two.

Um, what is what is one of your favorite things to go do?

SPEAKER_02: Well, my favorite thing is I love exploring the the canyons, you know, the mountains and everything.

And I mentioned Jade McBride, who gets the lucky, lucky guy gets to live out there.

I love when when he tells me about a new little hike where you can go into a canyon, hike up to the mountain, come back to headquarters all within an hour.

Those are my favorite to do those.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: We also have that's awesome.

We have these four-wheel, you know, these ATVs, but I shouldn't utility vehicles, you know, those like a side by side.

Yeah, side by side.

And I love driving in those and going up to a beautiful vista and catching the sunrise or the sunset.

And of course, being a hiker, I've found some of the the tallest peaks have been very enjoyable hikes, passing through the freshwater lakes and seeing all that.

It's just it's heaven.

You really are when you're at Romejo, you feel like you're at a national park and it's it feels like it's all yours.

SPEAKER_01: Of course.

You know, and and I think that's something for myself, you know, being completely blind, you know, a lot of people a lot of people ask me, you know, different things when I'm traveling, you know, they almost get curious, like, why would you even travel when you can't see what there is?

And and I use vacation like a trip to to one of these ranches as a perfect opportunity that there's so much more than even just what you see.

I can almost just feel the air, just like a different, cleaner feel to the air, and just the wide open spaces, just the sound of it.

Absolutely just sounds incredible.

SPEAKER_02: And Kevin, the smell.

Yes, you know, you're gonna we're higher.

I'm smelling the this cedar tree, this fir tree.

We're lower.

I'm smelling the dust and the manure of the bicycle, you know.

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01: Yes.

Wow, I think a lot of people are coming for the the smell of the manure.

SPEAKER_02: Well, I I told you I told you about my hiking trek to Everest Base Camp, and it was about halfway up that I go, thank God they have fires every night.

I go, I don't see any wood.

How do they start them?

Oh, they use yak dung to uh start the fires.

I'm okay.

Good to know.

I'm breathing in yak dung.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah.

So that is wild.

That is wild.

Now we've talked a lot about it, talked a lot about the Vermejo and Ted Turner Reserves.

What do you really feel when when somebody's looking at doing a trip like this, what do you feel like separates it from some of these other names of you know, some of these other you know, luxury, you know, guest ranches?

SPEAKER_02: I would say, and again, I've already said that I love the other guest ranches.

Jade worked at Ranch at Rock Creek, and he would still proudly, if someone didn't feel like Vermeo was right for them, they were going to Ranch at Rock Creek, we would say, have a great time.

We hope you'll come try us out.

But what Jade has taught me, and I've been to Vermeo enough now, is all these other guest ranches, you could take them and put them right over our headquarters.

You could draw a little circle around our headquarters, and that's the amount of property that they have at those places.

And that's not a negative.

Some families they don't need it, they're not looking to go out hiking in the hills or on a safari or whatever.

But what truly sets Vermejo apart is that you've got all the activities and amenities of a luxury guest ranch, but it just happens to be, I'll quit using national park and just say Vermejo is like it you plopped a luxury guest ranch right in the middle of Yellowstone National Park.

Of course.

And but that's that's what sets us apart, yeah, is the vastness of the land.

Because all the other stuff, again, I we love our friends at uh Brush Creek, Pause Up, Triple, Triple Creek, whatever, you know, they're all of them.

They're fantastic, and each of us have our own little niche.

Ours is that you're gonna have so many choices to do stuff that you'll just be blown away with how much you you can do.

SPEAKER_01: Of course.

Well, that's awesome.

That's awesome.

Well, well, I mean, I think I'm kind of closing in on the end of my questions.

I would like to ask you do you do you guys recommend people use a travel advisor?

SPEAKER_02: Totally.

We we love working with our travel advisor friends.

We've been getting, I don't want to say bombarded, that doesn't sound right.

We've we've been inundated with phone calls right now, and between myself helping the advisors understand what I've been telling you the fast 30 minutes, yep, helping them, because it a lot of people don't understand, you know.

It's like I don't want to go to a ranch.

I mean, I think you and I talked when we first met.

Dude Ranch is the last thing I want to go to.

We're not that dude ranch is the guy with the handlebar mustache, it's cooking beans over the open fire, and you're gonna tomorrow you're gonna herd the cattle and you know, whatever.

That's not that's not what we are or any of the other uh wonderful guest things.

But again, because of COVID, all these advisors that I've talked to over the years who very politely said, I might have a few families, are now calling going, all my clients want to stay in the United States.

And the best properties are these giant guest ranches because there's so much space.

So we're gonna ride that and hopefully it'll continue to put us on the map.

And when our friends in Africa and Italy and Europe and and other places can truly open back up, we know people will be going back there, but we'll be excited that now people will think about us when it comes to uh a trip where you stay in the United States and leave that passport in the in the in the drawer and just exactly.

SPEAKER_01: You know, I think I think that's such an awesome, awesome point to make.

So as as I I've liked to say when I've told people before about doing a trip like this, I said, you know, in in terms of what we're facing right now, I said, when you feel like six feet just ain't enough distance, you need to do a trip like this.

SPEAKER_02: You know, it's so true.

I mean, Jade and I have been talking about how at Vermeho we we practice social distancing even before this.

There's there's not a lot of people that's not a lot of people hanging around with you when you're out looking at Mama Bear with her cub and you're the only one around, you know?

SPEAKER_01: Of course.

That's awesome.

That's awesome.

Before we start to wrap things up, I do have a couple of questions at the end.

Is there anything else that you would like to say about Ted Turner Reserves or Vermejo that we didn't cover?

SPEAKER_02: No, just to end with, it's it's such an honor to work with Mr.

Turner.

He will correct any employee that says, hey Ted, it's great to work for you.

He's like, you don't work for me, you work with me.

We're a team, but he truly embodies someone who cares about the land.

He's he's gonna work on all kinds of conservation, sustainability, environmental issues, helping endangered species.

And sometimes that comes with a little friction.

Some people don't want wolves back on their property because they own cattle.

And you know, those debates will will go on forever.

But I truly believe uh Ted and his children and this land will always be preserved and protected and never be developed.

And so it's kind of wild to think 200 years from now, when you and I are long gone, Kevin, that this land will look exactly how it did in the 1800s, you know.

Exactly.

It's just it's an honor to work with them, and we're all real proud.

And I think guests will be very proud to come not just have a great vacation, but to feel like you're getting educated on some of the conservation stuff.

It's just really a special honor to work with them.

SPEAKER_01: Well, that's that's awesome.

That's awesome.

I love it, I love it.

So, well, thank you so much for sharing everything about this amazing place with us.

It's it's definitely got me ready to go, that's for certain.

Uh well, before we wrap things up and do something with each guest I have, I have these five quick fire questions that I'd love to ask you if you're up for it.

Yeah, go for it.

All right.

So we want to know number one, what's top on your bucket list?

SPEAKER_02: Easy one.

Patagonia.

Anywhere in Patagonia.

I I told you I'm a mountain climber.

I've climbed the highest mountain in South America.

It's called Aconcagua, it's 23,000 feet, and yet I've never been anywhere in Patagonia.

Now that I'm in the travel business, I just hear about these wonderful lodges and hikes and fishing, and I can't wait to someday get down to Patagonia.

SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.

Awesome.

Very cool.

All right.

Number two, what's the uh most memorable vacation you've ever been on?

SPEAKER_02: Wow.

Uh probably the second time I climbed Kilimanjaro, I uh took my reluctant wife and my three teenage kids.

Um, I think they were 18, 16, and 12 at the time.

But that was pretty powerful to for them to have their eyes open to a different culture and, of course, quite a physical accomplishment.

We all made it to the top.

That's definitely a memorable vacation.

And at the same time, just last summer, I took the same group of my wife and three kids when my oldest graduated college, and we we did a crystal esprit.

That's a mini yacht.

It doesn't hold more than like 60 people.

And we went through the Greek Isles and up to Montenegro.

And I kept telling my friends at Vermejo, my co-workers, oh wow, that the feeling we had getting off of that cruise was the feeling I think our guests have when they leave Vermejo.

You just got to know all the staff, everybody from housekeeping to the chef to the concierge people.

You knew them all, and when you left, you felt like you were not only leaving a great vacation, but you were leaving new friends.

And that's how, as I told you earlier, Vermeho leaves you feeling great when you leave.

SPEAKER_01: Of course.

That's awesome.

That's awesome.

I love it.

I love it.

All right, let's see.

Number three, what's your favorite hotel amenity?

SPEAKER_02: Oh, wow.

Well, I'm I'm a big fan of anytime someone when they say you can have a complimentary drink, as you know, I'm an outgoing guy.

I don't really like I don't like staying in a hotel room.

That's just a place of course.

But if they say, take this, you know, you get one free drink at our bar, boo, I'm down at the bar, meeting people, where are you from?

What country?

You know, so I I like the complimentary drink as an amenity, but um all the other stuff is great.

SPEAKER_01: Well, cool.

All right, you're flying.

What are you?

Carry-on or check-in.

SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh.

I'm I'm a carry-on for business, uh, but that's because you're just carrying a few quick change or whatever.

Okay.

But when I'm talking about these trick the Kilimanjaro, if I ever go to Patagonia, I gotta take all my hiking gear and extra water bottles and Alging bottles or whatever.

So I've gotten very comfortable with checking.

I'll give a big shout out.

I live in Atlanta, so Delta has knock on wood.

They have always gotten my bags to where they need to be, and I I've become much more comfortable checking when it calls forward.

SPEAKER_01: Well, that's good.

That's good.

All right, awesome.

Last question quarantine.

What did you miss the most?

SPEAKER_02: Oh wow.

Well, besides being outside and hiking, just interacting with other people.

Kevin, I I want to meet you.

I I don't want to be doing Zoom calls and podcasts.

I mean, they're they're wonderful.

Yes, but I'd like them to be a supplement of course human contact where you can hug someone or go on a hike with them and and get to know them and everything.

But that I can I at the same time, I have no problem going through this.

I'm more than willing to do the right thing, be safe.

We're gonna get back to everything being how it was.

I just know it is.

Um, but until then, I miss uh the human contact, the interaction.

SPEAKER_01: Yep, I totally agree 100% with that.

Well, that wraps it up.

I really want to uh thank you again for coming on the podcast.

It means a lot to me.

I uh just really appreciate it.

Do all your listeners know your answers to the five questions?

They they they'll find out eventually.

They'll find out, they'll find out.

Yes.

Look look at you.

You're you're trying to start asking me questions.

Wait, wait, wait.

SPEAKER_02: Exactly.

SPEAKER_01: It's not my interviews, be quiet.

SPEAKER_02: Well, thank thank you so much, Kevin.

I look forward to continuing our friendship and uh talking to you more.

Wonderful, thank you.

SPEAKER_01: And for all of you listening, I hope you enjoyed today's interview.

And of course, if you want to learn more about Ted Turner Reserves or if you're already game for going ahead and booking your stay, I encourage you to contact your favorite travel advisor.

And of course, if you don't have a favorite, I'd love to be that guy.

You can find my contact information in the show notes below.

Thank you so much, and hope you tune in next week.

SPEAKER_00: And that's the lowdown on life and travel.

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And until next time, just keep living and enjoying life like it was meant to be.