- Pony
Express
- Exploring the Pony
Express
- We dropped off the RV to have the rear
grill replaced, so we had the day to explore.
After stopping at the Barnes and Noble to
check out the books on the area, we decided
to explore the Pony Express route. The
Pony
Express route is a National Historic
Trail.
We headed south and west out of town. Our
first stop was a small town with an Inn and pony
express stop. Unfortunately the museum was
closed but we got a nice picture of a couple
horses and a wagon. We read that the pony
express had stops every 10 miles or so. We
headed west looking for the stops. Most were
marked by a sign or marker. Some even had
remnants of a house or stop. After a few stops
we looked at our gas gauge and decided to make a
slight detour for gas. The small station/cafe
had a greasy spoon smell, but a nice brochure
and map of the pony express trail. We headed
back to the trail. We stopped at the markers and
decided that we definitely needed to come back
for some rock hounding and hiking.
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- As we moved west we could occasionally
see the original historic pony express and
overland stage trail. The picture on the left
shows the ruts that are still visible. Many
of the areas are covered with beautiful
wildflowers.
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The road became less traveled to the point
where we saw very few other people. We noticed some
horses off to the south and realized that we hadn't seen
a fence in miles. These were wild horses. The small herd
of mustangs were a ways off the road, so we decided to
take a hike. We tried to stay down wind, so they couldn't
smell us. The herd was led by a large stallion. There
were also a few colts. The black stallion stayed between
us and the herd, but didn't seem to mind us being nearby.
The shaggy mane, dirty back, and scarred legs made it
clear that these were wild horses. When you see old
movies, you generally see these beautiful, clean "wild
horses" that aren't wild at all. The real ones are
beautiful, but not nearly as well-groomed.-
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We continued down the road and realized that
the time was passing quickly. We decided to stop
at the restored station, then head back. The
building was sitting many miles away from
civilization. Someday we'll have to follow the
Pony Express route from beginning to end.
Larry got so interested in the Pony
Express and the wild
horses that he made separate pages for each.
Check them out!
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Created by
Annette
Lamb and
Larry
Johnson, 7/01.
- Updated 5/02.
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