TMC'09 - Thanks to our Friends all along the Convoy route
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It’s October and – can you believe it! – 4 months ago we were on day 3 of our Convoy. As you might imagine, I have spent these last 4 months catching up on those thing around the house that I have postponed for months. No, I am not done yet, but the list is getting shorter.
Speaking of lists, I believe that this email includes ~ 65 folks. That’s 65 of you and your teams that helped us. Here are the names of some of those folks. I apologize in advance for the persons that I have omitted including.
DC, MD and PA: Tim Clark, Lisa Byers, Louis Derose, Scott Lisha, John Giblin, Carl Mahnken, Yves-Marie Daly, Rick Leenstra, Don Rollette; Cpl John Spishock (PA SP)
OH: Don Shaffer, John Cheney II, John Cheney, Larry Lee, Bob Lichty, Don Elzer
IN: Bill Arick, Bev Gillespie, Monty Gillespie, Master Trooper Luke Nathalong (IN SP)
IL: Mike Kozak, Bill Campion, Craig McDonald, Chris Zielinski
IA: Tom Ulik, Dale Benskin, Bob Owens, Joe Goodlove, Bud Jaeger, Jeff LaFollette, Deb Rothmeyer, Lt. Greg McGivern, Sgt. Terry Kearney, Mary Jo Kinkaid, Heather Hilgendorf-Cooley,
NE: Rich Holley, Scott Lackey, Leslie Carter, Tricia Beem, Gary Gifford, Julie Jaber, Orla Kitt,
WY: Jim Haight, Shelly Horne, Pamela Jackson, Ruth Lauritzen,
UT: Mike Fernandez, Greg Brubaker, Jay Banta, Paula Nicholson, Jess Petersen
NV: Don Wallis, Eugene Phebus Jr., Zip Upham, Juan Cortes, Geno Oliver,
CA: Norm Root, Larry Pirack, Kurt Lessor, Jodi Franklin, Wallace Levin, Terry Selk, Wes Rhea, David Drake, Reed Whitaker, Martha Cohen, Karen McClaflin, Michael Kaelin.
Here are some reflections from the Convoy that you helped in a BIG way become the success it was.
First and foremost: we did not travel to an event … this Convoy was the event.
• We drove 20 days, and rested 6 days. No one seemed to complain about those rest days. Remember the meals in FNAS and the environment @ Wooster!
• We covered 3,250 miles on the Convoy, per the 1919 mileage charts. I am sure our odometers all recorded something different.
• We traveled through 11 States plus the District of Columbia.
• We had a WW I MV on the road every day.
• We passed through or stopped at approximately 350 towns or cities or villages. That’s 350!!!!!
• We had the fabulous help of around 50 local teams for our meals and lodging and static shows at each of our stopping points & rest days.
• We parked our MVs along the curb of Constitution Avenue and left DC with a Police escort that most people only see on television.
• We crossed this great country in a 2 – 3 mile long column without reservation or restriction and in many places with Police escort.
• We had “line to line” Police escort in MD, PA and IN. A special thanks to these teams.
• We drove our Convoy carefully through a herd of cattle west of Austin NV, across an Army base in UT that very few people even know about and traveled along and over sections of the Pony Express Trails.
• We were encouraged and supported by far too many people to count! They included children and seniors, Police and Veterans, farmers and SPAM factory workers and … well, people like you and I. Our Veterans standing there (rain or shine) straight as an arrow and saluting us. Somebody shoulda’ told them … we were doing this for them. They had it all backwards.
• Who knows how many US flags we had waved for us. Some flags were large enough to cover a deuce-and-a-half!
• We consumed 2 dozen wooden clothes pins to combat vapour locks.
• We have countless photos and videos to our name – many of which we’ll never see.
• We met 2 people that remembered the original Convoy of 1919.
• We warmed the hearts of many of our Veterans, who warmed our hearts right back and caused more than one lump in our throats and tear in our eyes.
• We were escorted through a multitude of cities and towns by local & county and State Police departments. We even had U-DOT lead us from Murray to DPG. We had Volunteer FD trucks in western OH out to guide us. We even had a prisoner transfer Police car (with prisoner) escort in OH for a while! That’s a story on its own!
• We had almost all of our meals provided to us at little or no cost to us; not all – but most.
• We had dinner in Rochelle, IL while Generals MacArthur and Patton talked at us and Bob Hope entertained us.
• We consumed 4,956,234 bottles of water (an estimate) and some part of 20 cases of SPAM.
• We built a replica ¼ ton MBT from donated parts from our MVPA Vendor Community with painting & labour from the First Division Museum in Cantigny, IL. Thanks so much to Mike Fernandez who managed this project. We then towed this trailer from the First Division Museum to SF and then carried it to Evansville to be displayed during the Convention. The First Division Museum then bought the trailer from us and will place it on permanent display – until we need it again.
• We celebrated the 4th of July in a military town and had almost exclusive use of our Nation’s TOP GUN school grounds – Fallon NAS. Oh yeah, we also won 1st place for best parade entry in the July 4th Parade in Fallon!
• We traveled on 1.1 miles of the exact same road that the original 1919 TMC team drove over in CA. We each received an original LH brick from our friends in Gretna, NE.
• We finished up with a HUGE Police escort into and out of San Francisco and back to the Alameda NAS. Thanks to the MVCC for the lunch @ the Western Terminus of the LH.
• Our friends at the Alameda NAS & USS Hornet Museums hosted a great finale with a banquet, premier cot accommodations aboard the Hornet and wine & cheese with President Roosevelt aboard his “floating Whitehouse”, the USS Potomac.
With all this said, the MVPA and our “TMC’09 Core team” (it would seem we need a new name) are beginning early planning for our next Convoy in 2012. This next Convoy is a part of what is becoming a 10-year plan that will most likely include at least a Convoy celebrating the 100th anniversary of the 1919 Convoy.
It’s October and – can you believe it! – 4 months ago we were on day 3 of our Convoy. As you might imagine, I have spent these last 4 months catching up on those thing around the house that I have postponed for months. No, I am not done yet, but the list is getting shorter.
Speaking of lists, I believe that this email includes ~ 65 folks. That’s 65 of you and your teams that helped us. Here are the names of some of those folks. I apologize in advance for the persons that I have omitted including.
DC, MD and PA: Tim Clark, Lisa Byers, Louis Derose, Scott Lisha, John Giblin, Carl Mahnken, Yves-Marie Daly, Rick Leenstra, Don Rollette; Cpl John Spishock (PA SP)
OH: Don Shaffer, John Cheney II, John Cheney, Larry Lee, Bob Lichty, Don Elzer
IN: Bill Arick, Bev Gillespie, Monty Gillespie, Master Trooper Luke Nathalong (IN SP)
IL: Mike Kozak, Bill Campion, Craig McDonald, Chris Zielinski
IA: Tom Ulik, Dale Benskin, Bob Owens, Joe Goodlove, Bud Jaeger, Jeff LaFollette, Deb Rothmeyer, Lt. Greg McGivern, Sgt. Terry Kearney, Mary Jo Kinkaid, Heather Hilgendorf-Cooley,
NE: Rich Holley, Scott Lackey, Leslie Carter, Tricia Beem, Gary Gifford, Julie Jaber, Orla Kitt,
WY: Jim Haight, Shelly Horne, Pamela Jackson, Ruth Lauritzen,
UT: Mike Fernandez, Greg Brubaker, Jay Banta, Paula Nicholson, Jess Petersen
NV: Don Wallis, Eugene Phebus Jr., Zip Upham, Juan Cortes, Geno Oliver,
CA: Norm Root, Larry Pirack, Kurt Lessor, Jodi Franklin, Wallace Levin, Terry Selk, Wes Rhea, David Drake, Reed Whitaker, Martha Cohen, Karen McClaflin, Michael Kaelin.
Four months before we launched – February – we were holding regular conference calls to nail down all the details that we could think of in preparation of the Convoy coming to your city or state or region.
I want to take this opportunity to formally thank each and every one of you and your teams for your fantastic support and professionalism in helping our Convoy team across our great Country and receiving our Convoy every day for either (or both) lunch and dinner plus our overnight stop.
I want to take this opportunity to formally thank each and every one of you and your teams for your fantastic support and professionalism in helping our Convoy team across our great Country and receiving our Convoy every day for either (or both) lunch and dinner plus our overnight stop.
I hope that you have had the opportunity to check out some of the many videos and thousands of photos that are on line. It has been a humbling experience for us, the Convoy Participants to see the photos & videos of … all those people expressing their acts of patriotism to our Country… through their acts of kindness to us! It was simply amazing.
Here are some reflections from the Convoy that you helped in a BIG way become the success it was.
First and foremost: we did not travel to an event … this Convoy was the event.
• We drove 20 days, and rested 6 days. No one seemed to complain about those rest days. Remember the meals in FNAS and the environment @ Wooster!
• We covered 3,250 miles on the Convoy, per the 1919 mileage charts. I am sure our odometers all recorded something different.
• We traveled through 11 States plus the District of Columbia.
• We had a WW I MV on the road every day.
• We passed through or stopped at approximately 350 towns or cities or villages. That’s 350!!!!!
• We had the fabulous help of around 50 local teams for our meals and lodging and static shows at each of our stopping points & rest days.
• We parked our MVs along the curb of Constitution Avenue and left DC with a Police escort that most people only see on television.
• We crossed this great country in a 2 – 3 mile long column without reservation or restriction and in many places with Police escort.
• We had “line to line” Police escort in MD, PA and IN. A special thanks to these teams.
• We drove our Convoy carefully through a herd of cattle west of Austin NV, across an Army base in UT that very few people even know about and traveled along and over sections of the Pony Express Trails.
• We were encouraged and supported by far too many people to count! They included children and seniors, Police and Veterans, farmers and SPAM factory workers and … well, people like you and I. Our Veterans standing there (rain or shine) straight as an arrow and saluting us. Somebody shoulda’ told them … we were doing this for them. They had it all backwards.
• Who knows how many US flags we had waved for us. Some flags were large enough to cover a deuce-and-a-half!
• We consumed 2 dozen wooden clothes pins to combat vapour locks.
• We have countless photos and videos to our name – many of which we’ll never see.
• We met 2 people that remembered the original Convoy of 1919.
• We warmed the hearts of many of our Veterans, who warmed our hearts right back and caused more than one lump in our throats and tear in our eyes.
• We were escorted through a multitude of cities and towns by local & county and State Police departments. We even had U-DOT lead us from Murray to DPG. We had Volunteer FD trucks in western OH out to guide us. We even had a prisoner transfer Police car (with prisoner) escort in OH for a while! That’s a story on its own!
• We had almost all of our meals provided to us at little or no cost to us; not all – but most.
• We had dinner in Rochelle, IL while Generals MacArthur and Patton talked at us and Bob Hope entertained us.
• We consumed 4,956,234 bottles of water (an estimate) and some part of 20 cases of SPAM.
• We built a replica ¼ ton MBT from donated parts from our MVPA Vendor Community with painting & labour from the First Division Museum in Cantigny, IL. Thanks so much to Mike Fernandez who managed this project. We then towed this trailer from the First Division Museum to SF and then carried it to Evansville to be displayed during the Convention. The First Division Museum then bought the trailer from us and will place it on permanent display – until we need it again.
• We celebrated the 4th of July in a military town and had almost exclusive use of our Nation’s TOP GUN school grounds – Fallon NAS. Oh yeah, we also won 1st place for best parade entry in the July 4th Parade in Fallon!
• We traveled on 1.1 miles of the exact same road that the original 1919 TMC team drove over in CA. We each received an original LH brick from our friends in Gretna, NE.
• We finished up with a HUGE Police escort into and out of San Francisco and back to the Alameda NAS. Thanks to the MVCC for the lunch @ the Western Terminus of the LH.
• Our friends at the Alameda NAS & USS Hornet Museums hosted a great finale with a banquet, premier cot accommodations aboard the Hornet and wine & cheese with President Roosevelt aboard his “floating Whitehouse”, the USS Potomac.
With all this said, the MVPA and our “TMC’09 Core team” (it would seem we need a new name) are beginning early planning for our next Convoy in 2012. This next Convoy is a part of what is becoming a 10-year plan that will most likely include at least a Convoy celebrating the 100th anniversary of the 1919 Convoy.
As a part of closing the 2009 Transcontinental Motor Convoy project, we are preparing an “after action” report. Part of this AA report deals with objectively identifying project elements that we need to keep for future convoy projects, and those elements that could have gone better.
There is always room for improvement.
During the next weeks I will contact some of you to discuss the Convoy activities through your area. Our team will appreciate in advance your help here.
Again, thanks very much for your strong support of the TMC’09 project and the MVPA.
Included are a few photos. Their selection is random – because it is impossible for me to select a “best place” or “most memorable moment” (they began when Muriel and I left Clarkston, MI on 10 June and ended when we arrived back home on 13 July). I, personally, am indebted to you and your teams for your superb and professional actions during the planning and execution of this project. I look forward to working with you again in the future. The MVPA and the TMC’09 project team will not forget your support and service.
Please be so kind and pass this note on to your teams with our thanks.
Sincerely,
Terry A. Shelswell, P. Eng., MVPA 13957
Convoy Director, TMC’09 Project
There is always room for improvement.
During the next weeks I will contact some of you to discuss the Convoy activities through your area. Our team will appreciate in advance your help here.
Again, thanks very much for your strong support of the TMC’09 project and the MVPA.
Included are a few photos. Their selection is random – because it is impossible for me to select a “best place” or “most memorable moment” (they began when Muriel and I left Clarkston, MI on 10 June and ended when we arrived back home on 13 July). I, personally, am indebted to you and your teams for your superb and professional actions during the planning and execution of this project. I look forward to working with you again in the future. The MVPA and the TMC’09 project team will not forget your support and service.
Please be so kind and pass this note on to your teams with our thanks.
Sincerely,
Terry A. Shelswell, P. Eng., MVPA 13957
Convoy Director, TMC’09 Project