A beautiful, partially stormy day in April we set out on a local trip to visit some of the sites along the Pony Express Trail.  This is a trail marker that is pretty close to our house.  I grew up driving past this marker twice a day.  It’s tucked away between a busy Freeway intersection and the state prison.

They are going to bulldoze the prison I guess.  It’s too bad really.  They have been great neighbors.  They don’t play their music too loud and they take good care of their lawn.  It will be sad to see them go.  Some developer/politicians bought up all the area around the prison and then convinced everyone that the prison is outdated and falling down so they need to tear it down and build a new one (on a salty, marshland that will have increasing development around it until it will also need to be moved in not very many years.)  It’s such a relief to be the benefactor of clear thinking decision makers in our government.  It feels a little like we are becoming a little bit less than pawns.  Maybe we are just the board that is being played on.

Anyway, we traveled down a little to camp Floyd.  It’s a little outpost on the Trail that does re-enactments and has some original buildings and activities for kids.  We wandered into a school group and managed to sneak into their activities.  It was a lot of fun.  Candle-making, soldier drills, adobe brick making and a tour of the hotel and the community center.  Both very cool.

The history of the Trail was crazy and the riders were even crazier.  The route was about 1900 miles long and they made it in 10 days.  Most people thought this was impossible but it happened consistently.  Many great figures out of our wild west past had a start on the Pony Express, most notably Buffalo Bill.

This is an ad for riders on the Trail.  There is definitely a clarity in their expression.  It is a little depressing, and kind of heroic, the message behind this.

We went a little farther out into the west desert and found a few little spots that were were really nice.  Oasis and secluded valleys that would have been great for camping and ambushing the riders.  It was a great little one day trip.