Bradley, Jeannie and the Red Ryder
Jeannie and Bradley are the kind of hosts who think of everything — and then think of a few more things. The Billy the Kid tent is extraordinary. Themed with genuine care and western authenticity, it comes equipped with a wood stove, a cowhide bedspread, wanted posters honoring the fact that the Kid himself spent time in this area, and a BB gun across the bottom of the bed for coyotes. I appreciated the thoroughness.
Dinner was a chicken caesar salad delivered cold and perfectly dressed. The Adirondack chairs face a view of the desert valley and mountains that I will think about for a long time. The stars, when they came, were exactly what the ranch promised — infinite, uncompeted, like traveling in space.
And then my car died.
Bradley gave up hours of his morning to help me navigate an unexpected mechanical failure- making calls, coordinating help, standing in the Nevada heat with a woman he had met the day before because that is simply what good people do. He did not have to do any of it. He did all of it anyway.
That is not hospitality. That is community. That is the kind of human decency that makes you remember why you left the interstate in the first place.
The Star Gaze Ranch is everything HipCamp promises and more.