FROM: Sam DiMuzio
PST
A Rookie’s Adventure June 21, 2018
This was everything I hoped for and so much more!! Ever since my friend Sally Taylor posted her experience last year on Facebook, I was like “how do I do this!?!” It took me till March to join the Nevada Division and 3 months later here I am, riding 3 legs of Nevada’s 33.4 mile Section 1: Woodfords, CA to Carson City, NV.
Apache, my 11 year-old Southern Nevada mustang, and I carried the mochila for a 2 mile stretch just 4 miles out of Woodfords, then a 2.2 mile stretch into Genoa, and a last minute mochila re-assignment had us carrying it about 2.5 miles into South Carson across Hwy 50.
The first leg had us starting about an hour later than expected. So we parked on the side on the 2 lane road and waited, anxiously patient/patiently anxious. My adrenaline kicked in as we watched the caravan of police escorts and trailers follow the Pony rider down the hill. My pony wasn’t sure what was going on as the Pony rider rode up, but because we had been practicing with one of the NV mochilas for the past month as soon as that mochila was placed on his back he knew what to do. Off we went!
Granted my usually unflappable pony wasn’t really accustomed to riding on the road or a road shoulder, so I took his shying at the big black cows we saw the whole time or strange looking barn in stride. Once he settled down, we made great time to the next exchange shaving off about 4 minutes of the time deficit. Before the mochila was exchanged, I had just enough time to sign my name on the mail bag.
The second leg has us riding 2.2 miles from just south of Walley’s Hot Springs to the historic town of Genoa. By this time it was 91* and we were riding into a headwind about a mile into the ride. I learned my pony is not a fan of painted white things on the road. At one point, he crow hopped leaving me wondering “what just happened?” Turns out he “jumped” over the painted bicycle for the bike lane. With that opinion firmly in place, his booted feet kept us running squarely in the middle of the travel lane all the way into Genoa.
Reaching the town of Genoa was a little surreal. I was expecting a crowd as it’s a pretty historical spot for the Pony Express as well as Nevada’s oldest settlement. But I wasn’t expecting a parade-day crowd! There were people lining both sides of the street a good 1/3 of a mile up from the exchange point! What a rush that was! I was waving to everyone I could as we cantered into town. I want to thank our Ride Captain, Ron Bell, for giving me that honor. It’s one I won’t forget and thanks to technology I don’t have to! The GPS tracker needed fresh batteries so after they placed the mochila on the next rider’s pony, the charismatic Ron entertained the crowd with an informational speech on the mochila. Soon the GPS tracker was back in place and the Pony was back on duty as Rider Alina and her pony Belle took off down the road! Apache and I stuck around for about 25 minutes as we answered questions from the crowd and posed for pictures.
Having one more leg to be a part of, we loaded up and headed to our next spot about 8 miles down the road, waving to the Pony rider as we passed him. We had a solid 25 minutes of rest for the horses before we were to buddy ride with Ron and Dandy into South Carson. The decision was made to give 28-year-old veteran XP pony, Dandy, a rest this leg and let me and Apache carry the mochila into South Carson while we maintained a little slower pace. Ron and Dandy led the way through the houses and sagebrush trails to behind the Walmart Shopping Center at a brisk trot. But neither horse had any inclination of going slow are we cantered through the grass at Fuji Park and on the dirt of the bike path on HWY 395.
I will say that sitting on very patient and unperturbed horses while waiting for the crosswalk light to turn green to cross a major freeway intersection during the tail end of rush hour traffic in Pony Express uniforms with the actual mail was another surreal moment. As I’m sure the motorists on the freeway were in similar disbelief. Once the light turned green we trotted across, waved to cars that honked, and picked up the canter once more on our way to our final exchange and conclusion to our Pony Express Re-Ride adventure for 2018.
I am proud to be a part of this group as we were able to make up most if not all of the time deficit, hopefully relieving a little of the unintended stress from the later sections. I am already looking forward to next year and how many other sections we can take part in-1 day is not enough! Good luck and happy trails to the rest of the riders! May your horses’ feet be steady and the wind at your back!
Go Pony! Go!!!
