Members from the Department of California traveled 400 miles on the first leg of the American Legion Pony Express ride from Hollywood Post 43 to the Pat Tillman Post 117 in Phoenix. Jeric Wilhelmsen/The American Legion

Day 1 on the Pony Express Ride for the Legacy Scholarship

After a hot and dusty day on the bike, my fellow riders and I pulled into American Legion Pat Tillman Post 117 in Phoenix. The first leg of The American Legion Pony Express Ride was complete – 400 miles were behind me. Now I could just sit back and enjoy the ride.

The Pony Express Ride first came to my attention just a few weeks ago. My understanding was that since the 2020 American Legion National Convention didn’t take place, neither would the 15th annual American Legion Legacy Run. It would be dangerous to put that many riders together in one place, in light of the pandemic. In lieu of that, a virtual Legacy Run was created on legion.org so supporters could still donate to The American Legion Legacy Scholarship Fund, which provides scholarships to children of post-9/11veterans who died on active duty or have a combined VA disability rating of 50 percent or greater.

Despite the opportunity to donate online, a small group of American Legion Riders decided they still wanted to hand deliver checks to National Commander James W. "Bill" Oxford as it's been the tradition. I was able to join them on the 2,300-mile journey. I even convinced a couple of good buddies and fellow riders to join me from my post in Hollywood, Calif., to Phoenix, where I would connect with the Pony Express Ride group.

My buddies, Michael Hjelmstad who currently serves as the 6th area vice commander for the Department of California, and Karl Risinger who is our post events manager, met me in the Post 43 parking lot bright and early to start the ride. Because I’d been talking about this so much, a few members showed up to see us off. Before we left, I was a bit surprised when a couple of my fellow Legionnaires, Max Thayer and Simone Lara, presented me with checks for the Legacy Scholarship to carry and hand deliver to the national commander. Simone even handed us a couple small plastic dinosaurs to keep us company along the way.

At 8 a.m., it was kick stands up as our small group headed to U.S. 10 which would take us to Phoenix. The first thing I noticed – it was hot, almost weirdly so considering it’s October. Riding east in the morning put the sun shining directly into our faces. Regardless, we were on a mission and kept moving forward.

As we made our way across the southwestern desert, I couldn’t help but think of the actual Pony Express riders of the Old West. But I’ll admit, I’d much rather be on a motorcycle than a horse.

We had a few stops along the way, one in particular was at Chiriaco Summit, the location of the General Patton Memorial Museum. We got some cool shots of the plastic dinosaurs that Simone gave us while we were there. And we made several stops to rehydrate along the way.

We stuck to our schedule and put in our miles until we finally pulled into Phoenix around 5 p.m. and were greeted by the kind folks at Pat Tillman Post 117. After some drinks and conversation with our fellow riders, who would be joining us on the next leg, we called it a day. The first of six in our journey to American Legion National Headquarters in Indianapolis.