Pony Express re-ride heading for Carson

The 30th re-ride of the Pony Express is crossing Nebraska and Colorado today on its way to Sacramento.

The first rider left St. Joseph, Mo., at 10 a.m. Tuesday on the way to deliver the mail to Pony Express Plaza, Old Sacramento,

8 a.m. June 19.

The route between the Missouri and Sacramento rivers will be over the Pony Express National Historic Trail, a distance of 1,966 miles. The trail crosses eight states - Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and Nevada to California's central valley.

The pony is expected to arrive in Carson City on Highway 50 at 6 a.m. Thursday on the way to Sacramento. The time can vary by hours.

The 10-day, 24-hour-a-day event will commemorate the 149th anniversary of the founding of the Pony Express. Started by Russell, Majors, and Waddell, a Missouri freighting firm, it carried letters and telegrams from 1860-1861 on the Central Route to prove it passable and win a proposed federal mail contract. The route from San Francisco to St. Joseph is now part of the National Trails System and administered by the National Park Service.

More than 500 riders and horses will be stationed at intervals to relay a mochila filled with personal mail and commemorative letters. The mochila, a leather square with four cantinas (pockets) sewn in each corner, is of similar design to the ones used by the Pony Express. The cachets honoring Pony Express history in Nebraska have been purchased by NPEA members and the public for 1860 prices - $5. Information and updates on the re-ride will be available from several sources.

The Web site, www.

xphomestation.com, will have real time coverage including reports and pictures.

The Sierra Intermountain Emergency Radio Association will host a hotline 246-3756, Monday through Thursday from reports by mobile radio teams in Nevada.

A GPS unit in the mochila will transmit the location of the rider 24 hours a day during the entire event. The rider location can be found at www.ponyexpressnation

altracking.com.