Posts Tagged ‘re-enactment’

Convoy's national press; South Bend stragglers

June 24, 2009

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:

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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.

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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/.

Alice at South Bend; another Alice on the road

June 19, 2009

The 2009 Lincoln Highway conference was a lot of fun — so much so that I couldn’t keep up with this blog! Tuesday evening found us at dinner with  special guest Emily Anderson, who along with copilot Christie Catania is retracing Alice Ramsey’s pioneering 1909 trip. That’s them below along with dad Richard Anderson, who built the car from parts.

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But that’s not the only Alice Ramsey trip re-creation!

Dana McNair alerted me that she and Dorothy Grace are also driving much of the Lincoln Highway in commemoration of Alice Ramsey’s 1909 trip. Dorothy is driving a 1913 Model T and Dana is driving a 1909 Cadillac.

We stopped for the best chocolate cake in the world at Niland’s Cafe in Colo, Iowa, and got to put our cars in the gas station for photos. We stood at the confluence of the Jefferson and Lincoln highways. How cool is that!

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Friday morning found them eating breakfast in Missouri Valley, Iowa, when they saw Emily drive by! You can follow their journey at aliceramsey-theroadtrip.blogspot.com/.

UPDATE

Dana just sent this update from Nebraska:

We are so enjoying this trip. We are definitely driving without fanfare. We are just having fun, stopping to visit folks who have been kind enough to offer us lodging or a visit. Camping or fixing cars along the way, sometimes under trees by the side of the road, sometimes in truck stops, it all depends on the autos and whether they are having a good day or not. We have met some great folks, and as it is so low key it is very intimate. We have a lot of new friends in cafes and truck stops.

Sometimes is does get a little discouraging to be confused with the Emily Anderson trip and we do hate to disappoint people but what we are doing does count in it’s own way and the purpose has always been just to drive the drive and have fun together. So, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your writing back to us, truly it makes us feel good about our trip that at least someone is keeping track of us besides our mothers.