Dr. Kim Sheehan is the Superintendent of the Santa Ynez Valley Union High School District—and one of the people entrusted with helping prepare the next generation of this valley for adulthood.

In this episode of Chopping It Up with Keith Saarloos, Keith and Dr. Sheehan sit down for an honest conversation about education, leadership, students, teachers, parents, expectations, accountability, and the changing world facing young people today.

This is not simply a conversation about schools.

It is a conversation about community.

It is about what children need from the adults around them, what educators are being asked to carry, how leadership decisions affect real families, and how a small community can work together to give its young people a stronger beginning.

Because the future of the Santa Ynez Valley is already here.

It is sitting inside our classrooms.

Chopping It Up with Keith Saarloos is recorded in Los Olivos, California, and features real conversations with the ranchers, farmers, educators, winemakers, business owners, artists, leaders, and local characters who make the Santa Ynez Valley remarkable.

The show is free.

Please buy wine.

Explore every episode at:

https://saarloosandsons.com/podcast

What does it truly mean to be a Ranchero—and why do the traditions of Rancheros Visitadores remain so powerful nearly 100 years later?

In the final chapter of this three-part oral history, Keith Saarloos and Bill Reynolds, the official historian of Rancheros Visitadores, explore the honor, remembrance, service, and horsemanship at the heart of one of California’s most legendary and private riding organizations.

After tracing the founding and California vaquero origins of Rancheros Visitadores in Part One—and its famous riders, cowboy code, art, and campfire brotherhood in Part Two—this episode reveals what the ride means to the men who experience it.

Bill begins by sharing personal memories of riding with Keith’s father, Larry Saarloos.

Larry did not merely enjoy Rancheros. He embraced it completely. He took the horses, friendships, traditions, and responsibilities seriously while never losing his sense of wonder at how much fun men could have together beneath the open sky.

Bill remembers Larry as a man willing to be humbled, contribute, laugh at himself, help others, and return even after being hurt. To Larry, the ride was a place to refill his soul, become a boy again, and experience something larger than himself.

Keith and Bill then discuss one of the organization’s most meaningful traditions: the annual remembrance of Rancheros who have passed away.

A family member or fellow rider carries the Ranchero’s hat to a stone altar. His name is read, a bell is rung, and the men with whom he rode pause to remember him.

Every member knows that when his final ride is over, the men who rode beside him will carry his memory forward.

The episode also explains why hundreds of Rancheros ride through Solvang and the Santa Ynez Valley wearing pink shirts.

Through their support of breast cancer research, Rancheros Visitadores members have contributed nearly $2 million to the Cancer Foundation of Santa Barbara. Its affiliated nonprofit, Los Adobes de Los Rancheros, also supports local students, scholarships, FFA, 4-H, agriculture, and young people who want to preserve the rural life of the Santa Ynez Valley.

Their philosophy is simple: when you can help, you should.

Keith and Bill also examine misconceptions surrounding Rancheros Visitadores and cowboy culture. The ride is not simply a gathering of powerful men, celebrities, or rowdy cowboys. Its deeper purpose is found in responsibility, humility, friendship, contribution, service, and respect.

A man’s character can be seen in how he cares for his horse—how he feeds it, waters it, prepares it, and places its needs before his own.

Their conversation expands into the larger meaning of the Western lifestyle and the enduring relationship between horses and people. Horses can humble powerful men, help people heal, reveal emotions, build trust, and create connections that cannot be manufactured by technology.

They also explore the meaning of the cowboy hat.

A cowboy hat is more than clothing. It carries expectations. The person wearing it should stop when someone needs help, treat others respectfully, stand up when something is wrong, and prove himself worthy of what the hat represents.

Because being a cowboy is not defined by what a man wears.

It is defined by how he treats his horse, how he helps the person riding beside him, what he contributes, and the character he displays when no one is watching.

This is Part Three of “Inside Rancheros Visitadores: An Oral History with Bill Reynolds.”

Originally aired Saturday at 10:00 AM on 105.9 KRAZy Country as part of “Choppin’ It Up with Keith Saarloos,” preserving the people, places, traditions, and stories of California’s Santa Ynez Valley.

How did Rancheros Visitadores grow from a small horseback gathering into one of California’s most enduring and famously private riding traditions?

In the second chapter of this three-part oral history, Keith Saarloos continues his conversation with Bill Reynolds, the official historian of Rancheros Visitadores, to explore the people, traditions, and cowboy code that have sustained the organization for nearly 100 years.

After documenting its founding and California vaquero origins in Part One, this episode moves inside the experience of the ride itself.

Bill describes the earliest rules and customs of Rancheros Visitadores, when the ride cost only $2.85 and food, drinks, and fresh playing cards were provided—although every rider had to bring his own poker chips.

But the ride was never only about horses.

Music, storytelling, artwork, skits, and performances were fundamental parts of the Rancheros experience. Playing an instrument could even help a prospective member receive an invitation. At night, riders gathered beneath the stars while musicians played, artists created, and remarkable men shared stories around the campfire.

Rancheros Visitadores brought working ranchers and horsemen together with artists, actors, architects, entertainers, and business leaders. Notable members included Walt Disney, Clark Gable, Art Linkletter, and California ranch-house architect Cliff May.

These men did not merely attend. They contributed.

Walt Disney provided artwork for early Rancheros publications. Western artists created illustrations, menus, and paintings. Actors and entertainers performed for their fellow riders. Everyone was expected to bring something that improved the experience for the men around him.

Around the campfire, however, fame, wealth, and professional status carried little weight.

A powerful businessman might ride beside a working cowboy. A famous actor could share a fire with a horseman he would never have encountered in Hollywood. Without their usual titles, offices, or public identities, they met simply as men on horseback.

The horse became the great equalizer.

No amount of money or influence could make an unwilling horse cooperate. Every rider could be humbled, and every rider sometimes needed help. Men checked one another’s tack, watched for danger, offered advice, and learned to say both “please” and “thank you.”

Keith and Bill explore how those shared experiences created friendships between men whose lives might never have crossed anywhere else. With several days to ride, talk, eat, laugh, and sit around the same fire, social hierarchies began to disappear and genuine relationships took their place.

They also confront common misconceptions about cowboy culture.

The cowboy code is not about recklessness, aggression, or pretending to be tough. It is built around self-reliance, honesty, humility, responsibility, helping a neighbor, and speaking the truth.

This episode reveals why Rancheros Visitadores survived wars, economic changes, cultural shifts, and the transformation of California itself.

The ride gave men something increasingly rare: time together without distraction, responsibility for their horses, the freedom to tell stories, and the opportunity to build friendships across boundaries of wealth, profession, geography, and fame.

It became a place where interesting people could discuss interesting things—and where every man was expected to participate, contribute, and help the person riding beside him.

This is Part Two of “Inside Rancheros Visitadores: An Oral History with Bill Reynolds.”

Originally aired Saturday at 10:00 AM on 105.9 KRAZy Country as part of “Choppin’ It Up with Keith Saarloos,” preserving the people, places, traditions, and stories of California’s Santa Ynez Valley.

What is Rancheros Visitadores, how did it begin, and why has this famously private California riding organization endured for nearly 100 years?

In the opening chapter of this three-part oral history, Keith Saarloos sits down with Bill Reynolds, the official historian of Rancheros Visitadores, to document the origins of one of California’s most legendary horseback traditions.

The story begins in Santa Barbara during the 1920s, when California was changing rapidly and the old ranching culture of the Central Coast was beginning to disappear. Artist Ed Borein, Elmer Awl, businessman Jack Mitchell, and a small group of ranchers, horsemen, artists, and business leaders shared a deep admiration for horses, the American West, and the traditions of the California vaquero.

Their idea was simple: gather interesting men, put them on horseback, ride through the ranches of the Santa Ynez Valley, sleep beneath the stars, share stories around the campfire, and preserve a way of life that was already slipping into history.

The earliest gathering took place in 1928. Rancheros Visitadores officially began its annual ride in 1930 and is now approaching its 100th ride in 2030.

Bill explains how Old Spanish Days Fiesta in Santa Barbara helped inspire the organization. He also recounts how Jack Mitchell returned from the Bohemian Club believing that the experience would be even better if it were built around horses. Mitchell and the other founders began inviting friends, local landowners, working ranchers, artists, entertainers, and leaders from the business world to participate.

From the beginning, authenticity mattered.

The founders understood that Rancheros Visitadores could not simply be wealthy men dressing like cowboys for a few days. The organization needed ranching families, working horsemen, and real vaqueros who understood the horses, cattle, equipment, craftsmanship, and responsibilities of California ranch life.

Keith and Bill recreate the Santa Ynez Valley of the 1920s: a landscape of open ranches, dirt roads, oak-covered hills, horses, and small communities separated by hours of travel. It was a place where neighboring ranchers depended upon one another to gather cattle, complete brandings, solve problems, and survive.

They also explore the history of California’s vaquero culture and what distinguished the vaquero from the cowboys, buckaroos, and cowpunchers of Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming.

In California, the availability of grass, water, favorable weather, and time allowed vaqueros to develop an extraordinarily patient and refined relationship with their horses. They braided their own reins, created their own gear, practiced subtle forms of communication, and elevated horsemanship into an art.

That culture became the foundation of Rancheros Visitadores.

Bill recounts how the earliest riders traveled through the Santa Ynez Valley, gathered at Jack Mitchell’s ranch, brought wagons and coaches, and eventually began riding to Mission Santa Inés to recognize the region’s history and receive a blessing from the padres.

Nothing about Rancheros Visitadores happened by accident. Its ceremonies, routes, expectations, and traditions were developed deliberately and carried forward by generations of riders.

This is more than the origin story of a private men’s riding club.

It is the story of the horses, ranches, artists, working cowboys, business leaders, and California vaqueros who created a tradition capable of lasting for a century. It is also the story of the Santa Ynez Valley—and why the sight of hundreds of horses riding through Solvang each May still connects today’s valley to its Western past.

This is Part One of “Inside Rancheros Visitadores: An Oral History with Bill Reynolds.”

Originally aired Saturday at 10:00 AM on 105.9 KRAZy Country as part of “Choppin’ It Up with Keith Saarloos,” a program dedicated to preserving the people, places, traditions, and stories of California’s Santa Ynez Valley.

Keith Saarloos continues his conversation with the woman behind the Saarloos family—his mother, Linda Saarloos.

In Part 2, Linda and Keith tell the story of how she and Larry “Big Lar” Saarloos followed a family dream to California’s Santa Ynez Valley.

They bought a Ballard Canyon ranch planted with approximately 14,000 Fuji apple trees and believed their first crop had already been sold. After a year of work, every apple was rejected. The family donated what they could, fed the rest to cattle and learned their first unforgettable lesson about farming.

Then Linda offered a simple idea:

They could only eat so many apple pies. Why not plant grapes?

That decision began the journey from apple farmers to vineyard owners and ultimately to Saarloos + Sons.

Keith and Linda also revisit the Roasted Bean coffee shop, Los Olivos bocce ball, horses, family business lessons and Big Lar’s habit of calling people during the worst moments of their lives.

Then the conversation turns to March 2020.

After spending what he called one of the greatest days of his life moving cattle at Hollister Ranch, Larry was thrown from a horse and suffered a catastrophic injury. He died ten days later during the beginning of the COVID-19 shutdown.

Unable to hold a traditional funeral, the Santa Ynez Valley showed up in a different way. What began as a small drive-by memorial became a 45-minute procession through Los Olivos honoring Larry Saarloos and Sue Herthel.

This episode is a story about farming, failure, marriage, grief and the community that carried the Saarloos family through its darkest moment.

Most importantly, it gives Keith the opportunity to place something permanently on the record:

His gratitude for the Santa Ynez Valley—and his love for his mom.

Episode 59 is Part 2 of Keith’s conversation with Linda Saarloos.

#SocialYnezValley #SaarloosAndSons #LindaSaarloos #ChoppinItUp #CaliforniaWine #FamilyHistory #BigLar

Keith Saarloos welcomes the most important guest he has ever had on Choppin’ It Up: his mother, Linda Saarloos.

There was only one way to get her into the studio.

He ambushed her.

Keith bought his mom a cup of coffee, told her they were going somewhere fun and walked her directly into the Krazy Country 105.9 studio. What follows is Part 1 of a funny, deeply personal conversation about the woman behind the Saarloos family.

Linda shares stories about growing up as the youngest of six children, moving from Pipestone, Minnesota, to Southern California, competing in nearly every sport available to girls before Title IX and meeting Keith’s father, Larry “Big Lar” Saarloos, when she was sixteen.

Keith and Linda also talk about surviving colon and breast cancer, her continuing fight against bone cancer, the family nickname “The Wolverine,” the Saarloos baseball legacy and Linda’s unofficial position as the most dedicated sports fan at Texas Christian University.

Then there is the story of the living-room furniture money, the Model A and the freshly painted car parts stored throughout Linda’s house.

This is a conversation about motherhood, marriage, sacrifice, resilience, baseball and the importance of recording the stories of the people we love while we still can.

Episode 58 is Part 1 of 2.

Choppin’ It Up with Keith Saarloos is recorded in the Santa Ynez Valley and broadcast on Krazy Country 105.9.

#LindaSaarloos #SaarloosAndSons #ChoppinItUp #SaarloosFamily #TCUBaseball #SantaYnezValley #FamilyHistory

We traded community for convenience.

We gained every song ever recorded in our pockets—but somehow ended up listening to the same things alone.

In Episode 57 of Choppin’ It Up, Keith Saarloos sits down with John Wright, the preservation architect, winemaker, music promoter, and founder of Standing Sun Wines who has created one of the Santa Ynez Valley’s most interesting new gathering places: The Analogue Room in Solvang, California.

The Analogue Room is a vinyl listening lounge, wine bar, beer bar, bottle shop, and restaurant built around a beautifully simple idea: put down the phone, choose a record, pour a glass, share some pizza, and listen together.

John shares how he traveled from Maryland and Washington, D.C., to Manhattan, Pennsylvania, Malibu, and ultimately the Santa Ynez Valley. He explains how two master’s degrees in architecture, years spent restoring historic barns, a fascination with physical craft, and a love of music eventually led him into winemaking at Standing Sun Wines.

Keith and John also revisit the nationally touring artists who played Standing Sun, including The Revivalists, American Aquarium, Cody Canada, Kathleen Sieck, and Tom Curren—and explore why live music, vinyl records, wine, food, movies, and even the World Cup become more meaningful when experienced with other people.

This episode is about music—but it is really about something larger.

It is about the importance of the “third place”: somewhere beyond home and work where people can gather, slow down, discover something new, make a friend, and remember that life was never intended to be experienced entirely through a screen.

Explore The Analogue Room:
https://www.analogueroom.com/

Follow The Analogue Room:
https://www.instagram.com/analogueroomsyv/

Explore Standing Sun Wines:
https://www.standingsunwines.com/

Follow John Wright and Standing Sun:
https://www.instagram.com/standingsun/

Heard on KRAZy Country 105.9:
https://www.krazfm.com/

Choppin’ It Up with Keith Saarloos is recorded in California’s Santa Ynez Valley and features conversations with the farmers, ranchers, winemakers, chefs, artists, musicians, entrepreneurs, and local characters who make this place special.

What if a horse could show you something about yourself before you had the words to explain it?

In Episode 56 of Chopping It Up with Keith Saarloos, Keith sits down with Justine Schreyer Lewin, founder of Roundbarn Ranch and Co., and co-founder Victoria “Tori” Fertitta Mortensen for a powerful conversation about horses, human behavior, authenticity, loss, joy, and rediscovering who we really are.

Roundbarn Ranch and Co. is a Santa Ynez Valley nonprofit built around the horse-human connection. Through Equine-Guided Education, participants work alongside horses to develop greater self-awareness and practical tools for navigating personal and professional challenges.

This is not horseback riding—and it is not therapy.

It is a non-clinical, future-focused experience where horses provide immediate, honest, and completely nonjudgmental feedback. Because horses respond to body language, emotions, energy, and authenticity, they often recognize what we are carrying long before we are ready to admit it ourselves.

Keith, Justine, and Tori discuss:

• What horses can teach us about being human
• How horses mirror human emotions and behavior
• The difference between Equine-Guided Education and equine therapy
• Grief, loss, healing, and rediscovery
• Authenticity, trust, leadership, and self-awareness
• Why no previous horse experience is required
• Ground-based experiences involving grooming, groundwork, and problem-solving
• Creating corporate retreats and personal-growth experiences
• Making these opportunities financially accessible
• Why Roundbarn is “not for everyone, but for anyone”
• Learning to disconnect from the noise and reconnect with yourself
• Why joy can be one of the most practical tools we possess

This is a conversation about horses—but it is really a conversation about people, the things we carry, and what becomes possible when we finally become honest with ourselves.

Learn more about Roundbarn Ranch and Co.:
https://www.roundbarnranchandco.com/

Explore Roundbarn experiences:
https://www.roundbarnranchandco.com/enterthebarn

Follow Roundbarn on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/roundbarn_ranch/

Listen, follow, and share Chopping It Up with Keith Saarloos with someone who needs to hear this conversation.

🍇 Can a German banjo player, an American opera singer, and a vineyard in the Santa Ynez Valley change the way we think about wine?

It sounds like the beginning of a movie... because it almost is.

What happens when a German banjo player, classically trained opera singer, and entrepreneur walks into a California winery?

You get one of the most unexpected conversations we've ever recorded.

Glass Rose has lived a life that's anything but ordinary. From music and performance to creating Verjus, a centuries-old ingredient that's finding new life in modern kitchens and cocktails, this episode is about curiosity, reinvention, and asking better questions.

In this episode we discuss:

• What Verjus is and why chefs love it

• The surprising history of Verjus

• Why Verjus may be the future of non-alcoholic beverages

• Growing grapes for something completely different than wine

• Music, opera, and performance

• Moving from Germany to California

• Entrepreneurship and starting over

• Why curiosity beats certainty

Whether you're a wine lover, chef, entrepreneur, musician, or simply enjoy hearing remarkable stories, there's something here for you.

(Part 3 of 3) 📱 Who built the digital world we all live in today?

💻 How did the internet move from dial-up to the smartphone in your pocket?

🌾 And after helping shape the future of communications, why would someone leave it all behind for a ranch in the Santa Ynez Valley?

In the final chapter of this three-part conversation, Keith Saarloos sits down with former FCC Chairman Dennis Patrick to discuss the digital revolution, the birth of modern media, and why the greatest innovations in life may have nothing to do with technology at all.

Dennis shares how his work after the FCC led him to Time Warner, AOL, and the early days of integrating voice, video, and data—the foundation for today's internet, smartphones, streaming services, podcasts, and digital communications. He explains how decisions that once seemed to be about improving television pictures ultimately transformed nearly every aspect of modern life.

But this episode isn't really about technology.

It's about what comes after.

Keith and Dennis discuss why Dennis chose to leave Washington, New York, and the corporate world behind to build a life on a working ranch in the Santa Ynez Valley. Together they explore faith, family, freedom, community, raising children, and why the future may depend less on more technology—and more on meaningful human connection.

📺 The birth of high-definition television

💻 How digital technology changed everything

📡 Voice, video, and data become one

📱 Bringing the internet to mobile phones through AOL Wireless

🎬 Building the future at Time Warner

🚀 The unintended consequences of the digital revolution

🤠 Why Dennis Patrick left Washington for ranch life

🥩 Zaca Creek Ranch, cattle, coffee, and the Santa Ynez Valley

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Family, community, and raising children in a digital world

🇺🇸 Why freedom, conversation, and human connection still matter more than technology

This episode begins with the future of technology...

…but ends with something much older:

A handshake.

A family dinner.

Watching the sunset.

And remembering that the greatest innovations in life have always been the people sitting beside us.

#ChoppingItUp #KeithSaarloos #DennisPatrick #DigitalRevolution #AOL #TimeWarner #Technology #Internet #Smartphones #SantaYnezValley #Leadership #Community #Freedom #AmericanHistory #Podcast #KrazyCountry1059

🇺🇸 In this episode: