Back in the Saddle Again -- TVR Style

So one of the things that has been noticeable on this trip , is that nothing is exactly as you remember and sometimes things are better and sometimes not as good as you remember.

Well Lynda and I arrived at 12.30 yesterday and I was surprised how little there was in the welcome that we received - ok , so the guy behind the reception was very nice and accommodating for the fact that we could go get lunch, but as far as our room being ready , it wasn't and they gave no idea as to when it would be. The problem with that was that we could sit by the pool but not go in because you would have to unpack everything to find our gear and so with temperatures hovering around the 96 degrees mark, it was pretty unpleasant.
We eventually  got into the room at around 4pm and were a little stressed to say the least --- this place is not cheap and so I would have expected a bit more effort.

However it is still a stunning place and we learned that in June 2017 the owner , Bob Cote passed away and our thoughts are with his wife Rita and their family.

Lynda and I met him a couple of times -- definitely in the Dog House saloon -- and he was a real interesting person.

Anyway back to yesterday so in the evening we arrived for the Cook Out Bar-B-Q in the Cottongrove which was nice to catch and we sat with some real interesting people who were lettuce produce growers from Yuma who have farms of up to a 1000 acres creating fields like this---

Nice folk with a son Justin & his very pretty and adventurous girlfriend Devon,who is still at college and studying hard with a gradual building of a practice for address the issues with obesity -- plenty of customers that we have seen on the trip so far.

 The grounds are looking splendid as they are always -- especially as they have had 2 weddings in the past 2 days

The cookout area as always sits around the large oven but they do get more organised with the building behind that services every event down here now.

This is a very crap view from our porch but you will have to take my word that it was a wonderful skyline

My vista was better this way round though with me and the boss having a very nice Pinot Grig on the loungers -- it's ok kids , it was after the 9pm water shed

And just a quick shot of inside the room.

So moving quickly on , we had our first ride today and it is the breakfast ride so glad that we wont miss this but it did mean that we had to be up by 6am and down to the corral by 7am.

Lyndas horse was called Cowboy and mine Durado. But you have to say that Lynda showed amazing cool and in not panicking when her horse decided to get down on its front knees to get at some tasty morsel under a bush and she had to haul him up back on to his four feet-- it was amazing and I was too far back to be of any use at all.

 The Saguaro Cactus was in  beginning of full bloom and looking fine and below Lynda displaying her skills in getting a shot of me backwards.

 

The Breakfast was very welcome as was getting off the horses for a while and the company at our table was cool with a couple from Berwick on Tweed and an American couple from California.

Gotta have one of us two and then she gets one of me

The view of TVR ranch buildings

So having got back at 9.30 am there was a real need for a swim and we did that for a couple of hours --- and the beauty was that where as yesterday was rammed with the wedding parties, this morning was very peaceful.

We both agreed that we have never seen so much bloom in the desert but that has to be the time of the year.

We had a nice light lunch and a chat with a Wendy Evers from Carlsbad , California who we might see again in aegina like we did with others that we have met here in Tanque Verde Ranch--- it's that kind of place.

As I started to say , there are changes that are good and there is a part of both Lynda and me that think that TVR may be becoming a bit too Business oriented-- the corporate type rather than the personal family feel it used to have but maybe more of that in another blog.

Happy Trails Folks