Author: Will Grant
Reviewed by Chloe Fuksa
The only connection this book has to Christmas is that it would probably make for a pretty great gift to the cowboys and cowgirls in your life this holiday season. The Last Ride of the Pony Express tells of horseman and journalist Will Grant’s 2,000-mile, 142-day ride from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, in the summer of 2019. With his two horses, Chicken Fry and Badger, Grant explores the history of the Pony Express Trail, as well as the spirit and the condition of the American West today.
There are so many different components that Grant fits into this tale. For instance, early on, he explains his process of finding the two horses, what qualities he was looking for, the places he went to look, and why he ultimately settled on the two he did. Later on, when he’s staying the night at a dairy farm or in corn country, he explains what those industries are like today and all the ways they’ve changed over the years. He talks about rangeland management, sage grouse habitats, the Onaqui wild horse herd – while interweaving the story of the Pony Express, how the waystations worked, and what the riders must have experienced.
The Last Ride of the Pony Express is Grant’s first book, and it certainly doesn’t have the same overall spark as, say, a Bill Bryson travelogue. There are some dry, choppy parts, but the prologue has a strong enough hook, and the adventure itself, over all those miles, is really interesting and impressive by Grant. For the friends and family in your life with a fascination of the West and its ethos, The Last Ride of the Pony Express will be a welcome gift.
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