Friday, May 18th: KANSAS to NEBRASKA

Today is my 21^st Anniversary and I don’t get to be with my man.  L  And even worse yet is driving through western Kansas with 90 degree weather, no air conditioning, and 40 mile an hour winds.  Happy Anniversary honey – wish you were here!  No actually I’m glad you are home today in beautiful Santa Rosa!  J

We sadly said goodbye to Kara and her family this morning and headed out for Nebraska.  Kansas is everything you would think I would be driving through it – flat, hot, windy, straight roads, and boring!!!   And Nebraska is not much better.  It had a few more hills, rocks, and trees, but there is not much out here. 

We just kept driving for hours through really small nothing towns.  We stopped at one town to get gas and we were going to buy the kids a slurppy, but they didn’t have any.  Then we drove up the street to Dairy Queen, and it was out of business.  McDonalds seemed to be the only place open here, so out of total desperation, we went to McDonalds for McFlurries and I got a smoothie.  WOW . . . that’s desperate because I can’t stand McDonalds, but we were so hot it actually tasted good!

The one exciting stop of the day was seeing a sign off of the freeway for a Pony Express stop.  Of course we had to pull off and go see it!  It was small, because that’s exactly what they were like, but adorable!! 

This was one stop of many along the Missouri to California route for the Pony Express from April 1860, to the last run on November 20^th, 1861.  We’ve been to the final stop and museum  in Old Town, Sacramento, California.  This innovative overland mail service lasted only 19 months but was an important part of the history of the  American west.    The brave riders of the Pony Express helped spread important news, shrink the continent, and bind the nation that was being torn apart by the Civil War.   In the mid-1800’s pioneers anxiously awaited mail from back home but it took months to arrive, and by then the news was old.  Three partners started a new firm, the Central Overland California & Pike’s Peak Express Company making the official name of the Pony Express.  They raised money in New York and political support in Washington, D.C.  The company had 67 days to hire riders, station keepers, and mail handlers and buy horses, food, and other supplies and distribute them to stations across the route.    The route was organized into five divisions, numbered east to west.   The first leg ran from St. Joseph, Missouri to Fort Kearney, Nebraska Territory on the Platte River, which is exactly where we were.  The second went to Horseshoe Station near Fort Laramie, Wyoming Territory.  The third took the emigrant trail to Fort Bridger and Salt Lake Valley in Utah.  The fourth, to cross the Great Basin, they followed a route opened in 1858 which ran south of the Great Salt Lake desert to north of today’s Eureka, Nevada.  The fifth leg was the toughest of the trip, crossing the Nevada desert and rugged Sierra Nevada, finally arriving at Sacramento and San Francisco, California.    The Pony Express established home stations every 75 to 100 miles to house riders between runs and smaller relay stations every 10 to 15 miles to provide riders with fresh horses.   Some of the famous names for the Pony stations are Kearny, Chimney Rock (which we are going to tomorrow), Scotts Bluff, Fort Laramie (which we are going to in Wyoming), Sweetwater, and Fort Bridger were already famous in western history from the wagon trains.  Many were upgraded from existing stagecoach stations, but some were built from scratch.  The route expanded from 85 stations on the first ride to 147 stations by mid-1861. 

The advertisement read: “Men Wanted! . . . Men familiar with the management of horse, as hostlers or riders, not for the faint of heart.  Must be between age 14 – 40 and weighing no more than 120 pounds.  Must carry 20 pounds of mail and 25 pounds of equipment, and not be afraid of death.”    Yikes!!!  That’s definitely not for the faint of heart.   The company bought 400-500 horses, many thoroughbreds for eastern runs and California mustangs for western stretches.  Horses averaged 10 miles per hour and sometimes went up to 25 miles galloping.   During a riders 75-100 mile route a rider changed horses 8 to 10 times about every 10 miles.  They would quickly get a fresh horse at each stop and sometimes stop for a quick meal or drink. 

In April 1861 the Pony Express brought news of the outbreak of the Civil War and on its last run it brought news of battles and lists of dead and wounded to anxious westerners.    In 19 months the Pony Express marked a milestone in our nation’s communication system and became an enduring legacy.  Ever since 1978 the National Pony Express Association rides the rail in a 10-day, round-the-clock, non-stop event.  More than 500 riders fallow a 1,943-mile route that is as close as possible to the original trail.  That Pony Express post was very exciting to see!! 

We drove a little longer up the freeway and FINALLY we arrived at the Walmart in North Platte. We were exhausted from driving!  Praise God tomorrow we are going to Mount Rushmore!!