At the risk of exposing myself to public ridicule, below is my packing list for my ride from St. Joseph to Salt Lake City. I know: the list is absurdly…
During the summer of 2020, I went on about two dozen socially-distant scouting rides in California and Nevada to check out portions of the Pony Express Bikepacking route. And it…
If all goes well (i.e., if I don’t fall again and break something between now and then), I will start from St. Joe on Monday, May 31, 2021 (Memorial Day).…
I've set a date for starting my Pony Express Bikepacking trip. My initial plan is to start from St. Joseph on Monday, May 31 and arrive in Salt Lake City…
I believe Rockville Station is the next station west of Gillespie's Store in Vacaville. At least, I haven't found references to any other. [Well, there is a plaque at a…
Five Mile Station is last station before you get to the western terminus of the Pony Express Trail in Sacramento. As such, it's not really part of my collection of…
Riding through Old Town Sacramento the other day, I came across a Pony Express memorial that somehow I'd never seen before. I happened to stop to adjust something on my…
Gillespie's Store is the next station west of Halfway House (Silveyville). It sits in front of Heritage House, a restaurant in the heart of old downtown section of Vacaville. Vacaville…
John B. McClernan, Slade's Wells Fargo Colt (Historical Notes) This is a short, wonderful book. Ostensibly, it is about one collector's attempt to authenticate an antique New Navy Colt as…
Took a ride the other day (December 10, 2020) to view the Pony Express Memorial in West Sacramento. Good thing too, as due to increased COVID restrictions, we're asked one…
Halfway House is another station marker west of Sacramento. It sits in the former town of Silveyville. As the inscription on the bench states, the residents of Silveyville packed up…
The western terminal of the Pony Express is in Sacramento, as is the end of the Pony Express Bikepacking Route. Even so, the first eastbound XP rider left from San…
Bernard DeVoto, The Year of Decision: 1846 (1942) This book took a long time to read. It's very well written—I mean, DeVoto is pretty much the Dean of western historical…
Jesse G. Patterson, A Route for the Overland Stage: James H. Simpson's 1859 Trail Across the Great Basin (2008) This is a wonderful, unpretentious, highly informative book. To quote from the…
Last July (2020), I scouted two routes between Cameron Park (actually, from Shingle Springs, a little to the east) and Folsom. The ride report is here. Based on that trip,…