FROM: Sam DiMuzio
PST
Kaity and I make it to 2nd & Curry in Carson City and offload Apache. We have about 10 minutes to chitchat with the crowd when I hear “Rider Coming!” Holy Moly already?? After quickly relaying my route to the 4 police motorcycle escorts, the mochila is loaded, I’m saddled, and we are off!
We take off down E Musser and head towards Mills Park. AHHH grass to run on! Apache picks up a canter, we interrupt a soccer game, and head to the eastbound side of HWY 50. It’s a 4-mile stretch to the next exchange point at Arrowhead Dr. The motors escort keep Apache entertained as every time they hit their sirens at an intersection, he calls back to them LOL!
I Facebook Live some of this section as well (seriously go check it out on the National Pony Express Nevada Division page LOL)
We wave and say hi to passing cars and the people stuck at the intersections because of us. Lots of people see us and come running out the businesses we pass. This is soo mucjh fun. My boy may not be fast or flashy but he is safe, sane, and steady. We keep the same trot pace the whole way down and even get to “illegally” cross 6 lanes of highway LOL!
We pass off to Christina and give Pach a few minutes to rest. We then load up and head 11 miles down the road. Kaity and I switch sections-she and Rhy will take this 3 mile stretch and Pach and I will do the following 2miles. We hang out on the side of the highway until the incoming rider’s rig joins us. We offload Rhy and Kaity then head to our next spot.
I park just a bit down Ft. Churchill Rd and shortly have a crowd. I have no idea how people find us in the middle of nowhere, but it sure is fun! I chat with everybody, answer questions, and say CHEESE a bunch. Soon Kaity and Rhy come trotting along and me and Pach are off again.
We say Hey! to some more folks down the road and soon it’s dusk. We pass off the mochila to the next riders and take off about 8.5 miles down the road to our last exchange point. We lost our clean-up rider to an injury a couple of weeks back and haven’t been able to find a replacement. This year has been tough on Nevada for horse and rider pairs and our rider count is waay down.
Kaity and split what I originally calculated as 4-mile section-she’d do 2 and I’d do 2. I just remapped it-it’s closer to 6 miles. She and Rhy did the first 2 miles (this was his first night ride!!) and Apache and I did the final 4. Plus, there was a cattle guard. I was actually quite surprised I was able to get back up in the saddle after dealing with the gate. We truck along and finally get to the hand off with section 3. We were still 10 minutes ahead of schedule! Now to drive to the start of Section 5 and get some sleep!
Mile Tally: Apache: 15 Rhy: 10
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GO! PONY! GO!
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(( ))………..
Sam DiMuzio
NPEA-Nevada Division
Secretary
From Sam DiMuzio
From Sam DiMuzio