FAIRFIELD, Utah County — The red-shirted young men galloping along the dusty Western trails Saturday across Utah differed from the Pony Express riders of 1860.
Some were women.
They only rode for two-mile stretches instead of 60 miles and the trails they followed were more often asphalt than earth.
But the reasons for riding are strikingly similar.
"I do this for fun. It's hard but I knew pretty much how it'd be," said Raymond Miles, 18, of Tooele, waiting to take his second ride of the day.
"I would've liked to be one of them."
"I love it," said Colby Castagno, 18 and also from Tooele. "I got into this at 14 and I talked him (Miles) into doing it."
The riders of today face different challenges along the route — which actually started in St. Joseph, Mo., and will end 10 days and 1,900 miles later in Sacramento, Calif. Between 1860 and 1861, the turnaround time was the same, except when bad weather in Utah slowed the mail and it took up to 16 days.
Instead of watching out for savages and lawless bandits, the riders watch for potholes, cracks in the concrete, speeding cars and debris in the road.
So they still carry a pocketbook Bible for courage, good luck and Godspeed, just like in the old days.
"Today you have more things that spook the horses," Castagno said. "I had some lion statues the other day that scared my horse pretty bad."
Riders sometimes have police escorts and almost always draw crowds.
Sometimes, when they get ahead of schedule, they're expected to stop and talk with their fans or face the glare of television cameras, somewhat of an ordeal for a taciturn cowboy.
A film crew from the National Geographic cable television show tried to interview Thomas Brown as he rode into Fairfield Saturday.
"That never happened in the old days. These guys were running to beat a deadline to move the machila," said one member of the Utah Pony Express Association, gathered at the Camp Floyd/Stagecoach Inn State Park to watch the handoff.
"They wouldn't let girls ride back then, either," said Bridgett Atkin, a staff member with the Bureau of Land Management who also rides with the association.
Atkin said the letters in the saddlebags are real pieces of mail, often purchased as commemorative gifts for people at the other end of the line.
"This is a good opportunity to remember the important historic events like the Pony Express," Atkin said. "While it only lasted 19 months, it impacted development in a big way. The stations where they stopped became towns, for instance."
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