FROM: Patrick Hearty, Utah NPEA
PST
Utah’s Team 3 carried the mail from Simpson Springs to Murray Park in Salt Lake Valley, and man, did they do it right. Team 1 picked up an hour coming across the desert at night, and Team 3 picked up another half hour between Simpson and Eagle Mountain. After that, you do not gain any time, as all rides are on city streets with pavement, traffic, etc. But on the first half, we had Pony Express riders of the highest order. Trever Carpenter left Simpson and rode 2 miles in 5 1/2 minutes. A few minutes later, Gregg Hearty did his 2 miles in 7 minutes. Not all of us are young, skinny wirey fellows like that, but everyone turned it up a notch to make up for the loss of 6 of our riders due to health problems, etc. Horses were flying in and out of trailers as Kellie Kimber made repeated on-the-fly schedule changes. She’s a marvel. One near miss, though, when Oakly Rogers’ horse found an open post hole, and got a little dust on the mochilla (and on Oakly). Frantic times, but we delivered the mail at Murray Park at about 6:30 P.M., only about 1 1/2 hours behind schedule, now. I can’t say too much about the effort our riders and their horses gave. Everyone was asked for a little extra, and every one delivered. Best of luck to everyone to the east.