Bob Moore rides Casey on Highway 50 at Stateline during the annual Pony Express re-ride in 2013.
Pony Express re-riders made short work of Carson Valley arriving 90 minutes early and riding on before 7:45 a.m.
“They should call Nevada the pick-up state,” Genoa resident Deby O’Gorman said after her ride.
O’Gorman and her appaloosa mustang Monk added to the Pony Express’ lead on Wednesday, cutting time off her ride from Fuji Park to the Jacks Valley Fire Station.
She arrived at 6 a.m., just 22 minutes after leaving Carson, to turn the mochila containing the ride’s letters over to Reno resident Nicky Weiss, riding Spirit, a wild mustang adopted from the BLM.
Weiss made the ride to the entrance of the Genoa Lakes Resort Course by 6:15 a.m., turning the mail over to Mike Murphy, who took 30 minutes getting to Genoa at 6:45 a.m.
Only a handful of people made it to Nevada’s oldest settlement to watch the transfer. Genoa, Ill., residents Barry and Kay Schrader were in Gardnerville visiting Joyce Wensmann.
Barry Schrader is a columnist for the Daily Chronicle in Illinois and said the ride would be fodder for his column next week. Kay Schrader and Wensmann were high school classmates in 1960.