The National Pony Express Association will once again conduct a Re-Ride of the Pony Express Trail from Sacramento, California, to St. Joseph, Missouri, June 13 - 23, 2012. This Re-Ride will be a 10-day, 24-hour a day, non-stop event by over 600 riders and horses over the 1,966 mile route of the Pony Express National Historic Trail from California through Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas to Missouri. It is the longest event held annually on a historical trail in the nation. The event commemorates the 1860-1861 Central Overland and California Pikes Peak Express Company which carried letters and telegrams for 19 months to prove the Central Route through Salt Lake passable year round. The owners hoped to win a federal mail contract on that route. Pony Express history is preserved in the federally designated Historic Trail, administered by the National Park Service, in museums, Pony Rider monuments, books, and the annual recreations by the NPEA. Riders will carry Commemorative Letters in a Mochila, Pony Express style. The 2012 cachet will be a vignette of Pony Express history in Kansas and is available for purchase by NPEA members, historians, and philatelists. The envelopes will show they were carried by the Pony Express and the first class postage will have a special US Postal service cancellation. Only the number of letters purchased will be carried. Every year Ham Radio plays a very important part of the Re-Ride by providing communications over parts of the trail where communication by other means is not available. This gives those personnel responsible for that part of the Re-Ride information as to where the rider is and if the mail is on time. Communications between Riders and Ride Captains will be provided by amateur radio operators in the states of California, Nevada, Utah, eastern Wyoming, Nebraska, and Kansas. Links to their web pages are listed below.News Release #1 Wanted: Special Correspondents S.I.E.R.A. Watching the Pony Riders in Nevada since 1989 DCARC again brings short wave radio coverage to Utah RAMS brings short wave radio coverage to California