“He always had a smile and was always ready to give a hand,” said Lyle Ladner, president of the Kansas Division, before requesting a moment of silence in Pacha’s memory.
Four generations of the Pacha family gathered Tuesday with the crowd of local riders, residents and visitors to witness the exchange of the mailbag, called a mochila, beside the local Pony Express Museum and Barn. Mike’s brother, Rich, was among them.
Ladner said it was appropriate the tribute was at the limestone barn that was part of Pacha’s family tree.
Two of Mike’s grandsons, Hadley and Taylor Schotte of Marysville, carried the mochila into town on horseback and accompanied a riderless horse carrying a boot placed backward in a stirrup. The tradition symbolized their grandfather’s passing.
Later, Taylor’s daughters, Richter, 3, and Rory, 2, joined their dad and uncle with the horses outside the historic barn on Eighth Street.
Sydney Diederich, Hanover, the next rider on the relay route, stood nearby and soon received the mochila from one of the Schottes and slung it over her horse, Wendy. She set the bag loaded with mail in place for the next leg northwest toward Hollenberg Pony Express Station State Historic Site near Hanover.
The ride to Sacramento normally takes about 10 days without weather delays.
National Park Service staff from Albuquerque, N.M., were at a table inside the Marysville museum and barn to help visitors earn their junior ranger badge and learn about the Pony Express trail.
A visitor at the museum, Susan Lugo, West Sacramento, said she was following the reride with her husband, a retired teacher who enjoys history and journals about the Pony Express for the couple’s grandchildren back in California.
Last year, the Lugos followed the reride east from its starting point in Sacramento. This year, the ride is reversed, and they’re headed west along the route from St. Joseph, Mo., where it started Monday.
“I think it’s wonderful,” Lugo said. “The people we have met are so caring and giving, and they really want to pass on this history. That’s the fun part about being here.”
She was impressed by Tuesday’s tribute to Pacha.
“It was really meaningful,” she said, “very heartfelt.”
Read More …
