Things You Need to Know

Time Management

Vee Bar Ranch

April 20, 2006

My work with law firms and corporate clients takes me around the country. I’m in NYC so often that we’ve about decided to buy a studio there. And I get to the west coast often enough that flight attendants on certain routes now recognize me. This trip, however, has been a special one.

A few weeks ago, I received a call from the Cheyenne, WY office of a large national law firm, asking that I facilitate an upcoming retreat. I had been to Cheyenne only once, eons and eons ago, when my family traveled west to camp in the Rockies. I was eager to see the land again. The retreat, however, was not to be held there. Rather, it would be conducted at a dude ranch about an hour west of Cheyenne . . .

. . . actually, it’s about 20 minutes west of anything. The Vee-Bar Ranch, once a working ranch, rests in a huge basin between two mountain ranges formed by glaciers thousands of years ago. The terrain is breathtakingly beautiful, wide swaths of open land that probably haven’t changed in appearance in centuries. Large herds of wild antelope roam about, and just now a small group of deer wandered past my cabin, which is heated by a small pot belly stove.

This is a different world. When I arrived to check in, I asked the ladies at the front desk if they needed my credit card. “No,” they responded, “We got the number from your husband yesterday.” After they told me I was booked to stay in Unit 4, I asked whether I needed a key. They again replied “No. Nothing’s locked here.” No need to, they explained to me.

I’m an east coast girl by heart. I love the hustle, bustle and excitement of a big city. It will be a long time, however, before I forget how blissfully peaceful I felt last night falling asleep to the sound of a burbling stream.

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