Lincoln Highway News

Many, many newspapers across the country are reporting on stops of the Military Vehicle Preservation Association 90th anniversary convoy as it makes its way across the U.S., mostly via the Lincoln Highway. The convoy launched from Washington, D.C. on June 13 and at times has as many as 150 historic military vehicles. An example of an article announcing its plans can be found in the Lexington [Neb.] Clipper-Herald, which reports that the military convoy will stop at the Heartland Museum of Military Vehicles at noon on Friday, June 26. The MVPA has posted numerous photos on Flickr such as this one from near Jefferson, Iowa:

A parade through South Bend was part of the LHA conference last Friday. Here are some photos after the group left the overnight stop at a fairgrounds; some of the vehicles were awaiting repair such as the first one below.

The Transcontinental Motor Convoy of 1919 was a project of the Army’s Motor Transport Corps. The group decided to organize a military convoy to drive from coast to coast, from Washington D.C. to San Francisco, traversing the newly created Lincoln National Highway, conceived just seven years earlier. It took 62 days to travel 3,251 miles, averaging a little more than 50 miles per day, to cross from Washington, D.C. to San Francisco, Calif. It is best known today for Dwight Eisenhower being one of its young officers. The MVPA is anticipating the 2009 trek across the U.S. to take 26 days. For more information, visit www.mvpa.org/.

Tags: 90th anniversary tour, antique trucks, Jefferson IA, Lincoln Highway, military convoy, parade, re-enactment, South Bend IN

This entry was posted on June 24, 2009 at 9:58 am and is filed under highways, history, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, transportation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.