![\"\"](\"http:\/\/pnts.org\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/pony_express_lisa_agoitia.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nLisa Agoitia and her horse, Harmony, leave a Lake Tahoe post office. (Photo courtesy Jerry Bestpitch)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The 2,000-mile trek across eight States in ten days was part of the annual re-ride on the Pony Express National Historic Trail, which commemorates the mail service path used from 1860-61.<\/p>\n
But now something else hitches a ride inside the mochila with the envelopes: a GPS locator. That\u2019s how people from around the globe track the progress of the route in real-time, 24 hours a day.<\/p>\n
The National Pony Express Association (NPEA) and National Park Service (NPS) unveiled new features on the tracker map for the 38th annual event, said NPEA\u2019s webmaster Petra Keller, who has been a re-ride participant eight times.<\/p>\n
She said even though there have been different versions of a tracking device for the last few years, they\u2019ve made many improvements to the tracking maps this year, including adding the expected re-ride route, scheduled major exchange locations, and a legend.<\/p>\n
The map is also interactive, so you can change the topographic map view and click on the exchange locations to get a detailed schedule of arrival times and places.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nA map at www.nps.gov\/poex tracks riders carrying mail on the 38th annual re-ride of the Pony Express NHT.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
During the ride, there was another map online that showed rider location updates every 10 minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have some design changes that we want to do for next year because of some confusion \u2026 because it\u2019s not 100 percent intuitive to realize what those numbers [for clusters of rider locations] mean,\u201d Keller said.<\/p>\n
They also want to adjust the zoom, refresh, and ping settings, because they are \u201ctrying to improve based on feedback,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
NPEA even has a National Pony Express Hotline (1-855-809-8589) that gets updated with reports from the map, riders, support staff, and Radio Ham Operators. Stories, photos, and status updates are also added to a \u201cReports from the Trail\u201d webpage at www.nationalponyexpress.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n I just wanted to thank everyone for all you did to make the re-ride so successful. It is all of you (horses included) that made it happen and would not be possible without all your support and hard work. I\u2019m sure there [are] more stories to be told around a warm camp fire, swapping tales of victory and defeat. Tales to tell about \u2018When I rode in the Pony Express!\u2019 Thanks for all your dedication and hard work.<\/p>\n – Dean Atkin, NPEA National President<\/p><\/blockquote>\n