For example, he owns two large ranches, and the car/sports business emperor is also heavy into the production of beef cows, bulls for breeding, horses, raising alfalfa and more. He entered those enterprises at first mostly to save a hunting and fishing location at an Idaho ranch that he loved, where he had once been invited to fish.

A son of one of the co-owners "told me that it was in bankruptcy and up for sale," Miller remembers. He said he loved its many elk, deer, moose and bears — and its reservoir full of fish — and wanted to preserve it. He not only bought it but later purchased two nearby ranches to expand operations.

"I just had a call that the 1,350th calf was born at the ranch this year" of an expected 3,000 or so, he said excitedly during one interview.

The original ranch owner in Idaho told Miller about the opportunity to buy another ranch in Utah, near the northern tip of the Great Salt Lake — another location with a lot of wildlife such as antelope and deer. He says he owns 25,000 acres there and has grazing rights on 79,000 acres of adjacent public land.

"If you want to ride around the perimeter fence, it would be 204 miles on a horse," he said. "It's a big son of a gun."

Another example of pursuing a dream is the Mayan theme restaurant, where divers leap from waterfalls while customers eat Mexican food atop trees or in other parts of jungle decorations.

"As I traveled around the country, I saw themed restaurants. Kids love them. They are kind of different and allow you to escape the real world. Elements of different things I saw over time came together," and Miller says he wanted his own such restaurant.

When he was obtaining zoning for what is now the Southtowne Auto Mall in Sandy, he says he forced a city hungry for that overall development to include approval for the Mayan where Larry H. Miller Subaru now sits — but city leaders were not exactly thrilled with that idea.

Plans changed when an unusual opportunity knocked. Miller says Jordan School District Superintendent Barry Newbold called and asked him to consider buying quickly the old Jordan High School site near 9400 S. State.

"Some deals with others had fallen through," Miller explains. "He needed to sell the site to make payments on a bond that was coming due." Newbold says he had also been told that Miller had already considered developing the site, so maybe both could benefit from a quick sale.

Miller said he began exploring options for the site more in-depth and found that Sandy city officials wanted something that would generate major sales tax revenues.

It looked like a good place for the Mayan — and what would become Jordan Commons was born and evolved. It is a complex of theaters, restaurants and an office tower where Miller has moved most of his businesses.