November Update

We have 3 subjects to discuss in this comms package.

a) Current level of registration.

b) Convoy details for 20 June, 2009 Indiana to Illinois

c) Introducing our march unit approach.

a) Current level of registration.

As I write this note to you, we have a total of 172 HMVs pre-registered. These 172 MVs are bringing along almost 250 people. Over 50 of these 172 HMVs and their owners are planning to go make the entire DC to SF trip. On any given day, our data shows that we will have around 65 to 70 HMVs and a little over 100 people and 10 to 12 chase vehicles.

So far, after a mere 2 months, we have 46 of those 172 HMVs registered and paid. That is roughly 26% of the HMVs registered and paid.

THANK YOU SO MUCH for your support of this great MVPA project!

Now, we need the other 126 folks that are pre-registered to register and pay their money! So, for those of you that are planning to join and have not yet registered, please send in your registration money.

The registration cost for this great Convoy is calculated two ways.

a) $100 per HMV. If you plan to bring more than one HMV, it is $100 per HMV. This registration cost covers the HMV, its Driver and Co-Driver. There is no charge for any chase or tow vehicles or other personnel in your party. It is 100 percent NON-REFUNDABLE. The primary use of these funds will be to create a very good registration package for you and your co-driver and your HMV. If, for some reason, you cannot make the Convoy your full registration package will be sent to you after the Convoy. This is a good buy if you plan to join for 3 or more days.

OR

b) $30 per day for each HMV. If you plan to bring more than one HMV, it is $30 per day for each HMV. This registration cost covers the HMV, its Driver and Co-Driver. There is no charge for any chase or tow vehicles or other personnel in your party. It is 100 percent NON-REFUNDABLE. The primary use of these funds will be to create a basic registration package for you and your co-driver and your HMV. If, for some reason, you cannot make the Convoy your basic registration package will be sent to you after the Convoy. This is a good buy if you plan to join for 3 days or less.

Please make your check out to MVPA Historical Archives. Please mail your check to me at the address shown below. Once I receive your payment, I will mark you as registered.

b) Convoy details for 20, June 2009 Indiana to Illinois

Day/Date and the days theme: Saturday, 20 June 2009 driving

Departure location: St. Joseph County Fairgrounds, South Bend, IN
Breakfast plans: at the fairgrounds, hosted by the Indiana LHA team
Special morning activities planned: stop at the Indiana/Illinois State line to be escorted by the IL State Police to the First Division Museum

Lunch stop location and plans: First Division Museum at Cantigny, IL. Special TMC09 lunch offer and a brief tour of the museum. Meet several re-enactors.
Lunch stop refueling plans: local gas stations as needed

Special afternoon activities planned: driving with a pass in review in Rochelle, Illinois

Dinner stop location and plans: Rochelle, Illinois. Special TMC09 meal plans.
Dinner stop refueling plans: local gas stations
Special after dinner activities planned: tbd

Overnight lodging plans Hotel/Motel: Special TMC09 rates.
Overnight lodging plans Camping: Special TMC09 arrangements are confirmed.

c) Introducing our march unit approach.

The military march unit approach will be used during our daily drives. This will allow us to space these march units, say 2 minutes apart, to allow civilian traffic to move between us. The exact spacing will be communicated later. Each march unit is planned to have 7 to 10 MVs of a similar size in it. That means we can expect to have march units of motorcycles, jeeps, half tons etc. Based upon the roster of MVs, we will likely have more than one march unit per vehicle size.

As I sit here today, I plan to assign you to a march unit upon your entry to the Convoy and hopefully keep you in that march unit while you are on the Convoy. We will see.

I will be asking for volunteers to act as march unit leaders and march unit tail gunners. At a minimum, these MVs will sport signs Convoy Follows and Convoy Ahead. Each march unit leader will likely carry a guest pilot and need to give the rest of the march unit the daily briefing and their daily maps. More info here as we progress. We already have four TMC09 Participants who have volunteered to lead a march unit. We will need another 5 or more march unit leaders for jeeps because we have about 30 to35 jeeps each day! Also, by having a few extra folks helping, it gives each march unit leader a rest some days. We also have two TMC09 participants who have volunteered to help us on a daily basis to prepare the team for the next day. Thanks to all Volunteers and if anyone wishes to help, I will welcome the help!

Hint: Get prepared to arrive no later than 1100 hrs on 12 June 2009. We will run a short Convoy, just to say we have done it before Saturday! More info later.

Finally, please check out our website, inside of the MVPAs website. Go to mvpa.org , then click on the Convoy tab. You can even look at and download the Convoy route map for each State. Check it out!

October Update 2

Detailed Convoy route maps are now available. Click the appropriate state link below.


Maryland (Map 1)
Pennsylvania (Map 2)
Ohio (Map 3)
Indiana (Map 4)
Illinois (Map 5)
Iowa (Map 6)
Nebraska (Map 7)
Wyoming (Map 8)
Utah (Map 9)
Nevada (Map 10)
California (Map 11)

October Update

In the following update I am dealing with 2 items that have surfaced:

a) Registration costs for those folks that will join the Convoy for short periods, and,
b) Insurance needs.

a) Registration costs

In a recent comms note to you I stated that the registration cost is $100.00 per HMV. This includes the HMV, its Driver and Co-driver and any chase vehicle and its passengers. So, if you have 2 HMVs that you plan to bring – it’s $200.00. This registration fee is meant to cover a registration package for the HMV, the Driver and Co-driver (some mandatory items and some goodies) and some other items.

Some folks are asking if we might consider a reduced amount for those who are joining for a day or 2.

Well, we’d rather have you joining the Convoy than not – and here is a way to cover our basic costs for the mandatory items.

For those folks that plan to register now for 1 or 2 or 3 days and for those folks that “drop in” for a day or so, you can either pay the $100 and get a full registration package or pay

$30.00 per day per HMV and you get a basic “registration” kit for you and your MV.

Each of us will see that after 3 days, it makes sense to pay the $100 – and you get the full registration package. This is also how we will address any short-term "drop-in" participants. We will NOT accept to have someone joining for the day or even part of a day without being a current MVPA member and not officially joining this Convoy. There’s too much at stake to have one person, unknown to the Convoy team, inadvertently cause a problem for the rest of the Convoy.

Several folks have already sent me their $100 checks and thanks for this. If you have sent the $100 and you plan to join for 3 days or less, I will contact you to confirm your intentions.

The checks are still to be made payable to MVPA Historical Archives, and sent to me at the address shown at the end of this note.

Click here to download a current list of stopping points. Please use this list to calculate the number of days you plan to join the Convoy.

I hope this will help. Please don’t hesitate – get registered! As we work more and more with each town that we’ll stop for lunch and dinner at, the obvious question comes out – how many trucks and people are confirmed? I need YOUR information to answer that question properly!

b) Insurance needs

We've had some members asking the question: "What insurance do I need on my HMV?" and "What does the MVPA Chapter Insurance do for me while I am on the Convoy"? Well, I'll answer these questions here.

For your HMV and your chase vehicle (if applicable), please check with your Insurance Agent to make sure that you have enough insurance to cover your assets (yes, I know – assets – which is quite relevant here. J) This needs to be your discussion with your insurance company. The needs vary State by State – so I will not recommend an amount of liability insurance. I further recommend that you talk with your Insurance Agent about a “personal umbrella” insurance policy that covers your assets. If you already have such an "umbrella policy", you may want to increase its value for the period of time you plan to join the Convoy. Again – TALK TO YOUR INSURANCE AGENT!

As a part of your final registration at the time you and your vehicles join the Convoy we will require you to show us PROOF of insurance (not the amount – that’s your business) for your vehicles – the same as you would if a Police Officer asks you for this info.

For our Convoy participants joining us from outside the US, please talk with your insurance agent in your home Country to determine what personal and liability insurance you need for yourself and your HMV.

The MVPA and the Affiliate Insurance covers us once we stop our HMV. The entire TMC’09 Convoy is an MVPA "event" – but while we are driving, our auto insurance covers us.

I hope that this addresses your insurance concerns.

Final comments for now:

• We will stop in Rochelle, IL, instead of DeKalb, IL on Saturday, 20 June’09. This city is gearing up to make us very welcome!
  
• We have about 30 registered & paid MVs and their keepers! Thanks to all. If you haven’t already, please get me your registration payments.
  
• We have some stopping points offering reduced-cost lodging and free meals and camping for us. We are starting to have some no-cost and reduced cost fuel being offered. Our team of Volunteers and the extended team of City contacts are working hard to minimize our "out of pocket" costs of fuel, food and lodging. I will soon begin to present the list of towns and agencies and sponsors that are contributing here!
  
• YOU will need to begin securing your hotels / campsites before the end of this year. We’ll help you with a list of hotels & campsites – and their prices.
  
• We have contacted several of you that offered to act as Contacts for us at our Stopping Points. Thanks for your help here.
  
• I personally need some help from some of you in the following areas:
  · Someone with radio experience to help manage the radios each day (distributing
  them, getting them charged, minor repairs). 3 to 4 folks will make the work easy.
  · Someone with radio / HAM experience to help manage our contacts with the ARRL
  (HAM radio guys – this is your organization).
  · Someone to help me with preparing the March Units for the next day. That will
  include preparing and giving a brief "drivers meeting" talk and assign our MVs to
  their March Unit for the next day. 2 or 3 people helping here will make this job go
  quite easy.
  · … if you can help in some way (even if you’re not sure how!) – Please let me know!
  
  Keep getting your MVs ready to roll and take care for now!
  
  Terry A. Shelswell, P. Eng., MVPA # 13957
  Director - MVPA 2009 Transcontinental Motor Convoy Project
  terry.shelswell@inergyautomotive.com
  
  

September Update

We have less than 300 days before our starting date of 13 June’09.

The executive summary is as follows: we need some of your money and help. And we have some info for you. Please read on for details.


REGISTER FOR THE CONVOY NOW

We are ready to take your registration money! The registration cost for this great Convoy is $100 per HMV. So, if you plan to bring more than one HMV, it’s $100 per HMV. This registration cost covers the HMV, its Driver and Co-Driver. There is no charge for any chase or tow vehicles or other personnel in your party. It is 100% NON-REFUNDABLE. The primary use of these funds will be to create a very good registration package for you and your co-driver and your HMV. If, for some reason, you can’t make the Convoy your welcome package will be sent to you after the Convoy. Please make your check out to MVPA Historical Archives. Please mail your check to me at this address:

Terry A. ShelswellDirector - MVPA 2009 Transcontinental Motor Convoy Project
INERGY AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS
2710 Bellingham, Suite 400 Troy, MI 48083

Once I receive your payment, I will mark you as registered and send you an email or note to say we’ve received your payment. I will announce the first 10 (excluding me because that wouldn’t be fair!) paid-up registrants in our next group comms package!


HELP NEEDED

Our team of Volunteers needs your help. THIS MEANS THAT WE NEED SOME ADDITIONAL VOLUNTEERS.

We need 3-4 volunteers to work with our city contacts in each town we stop in. You will not have to work with all the contacts, just a group of them. This group of volunteers will contact these folks in each town to organize our meals and any special events that they wish to set up for us. Please email me if you can help.

We need 3-4 volunteers that can help our radio comms Volunteer, David Wilhelm (glrwirth@embarqmail.com) manage our radios every day. Yes, we will have pretty good comms – thanks to MVPA member and TMC’09 participant, Tim Clark. Please email David and me if you can help. This work will include the following duties:

• Assign and distribute the radios to folks each morning.
• Retrieve all radios at the end of each day’s drive and place them on charge.
• Help the comms leader to make any minor repairs that are needed.
  

We need 3-4 volunteers to lead the daily preparation of the march units. This will include the following duties:

• Prepare and give a short information communications about the next day’s schedule to all “march unit leaders” each evening before a Convoy trip leg. I will help you – but I may have other duties at this time so you need to be able to cover this on your own.
  
• Maintain or create a list of march units for the next day’s Convoy trip leg. This will mean that you need to have an accurate roster of MVs, by a simple classification (¼ ton, ½ - 1 ton, 2 ½ ton+ …). We have this info already – but it will change each day as MVs and their keepers join and leave. Every MV will have a Convoy number already assigned.
  
• Help organize the launch of the Convoy after each major stop – working with the march unit leaders.
  
• I will look forward to one of the volunteers here taking the additional role of Convoy Operations Leader – to help prepare this activity before the Convoy.

MORE CONVOY INFO

As of today, we have 168 MVs pre-registered that are bringing 224 people with them! Within these numbers, 48 MVs are pre-registered to go the entire DC-SF Convoy distance. Please find attached here the following documents:

a) Please make sure I have all your vehicle information. I also need to know your LODGING plans! Please send me an email telling me that you plan to
1. CAMP most nights.
2. HOTEL/MOTEL it most nights.
3. Make a rough 50/50 split of camping / hotel

b) Click on this link to see a chart showing the number of MVs and chase vehicles and people per day of the Convoy. This is key info for our Volunteer team!

c) Click on this link to our daily planning worksheet. We have changed our stop in Dekalb, IL to Rochelle, IL. More info here soon.

Using the graph above we can see that there is likely to be an average of 70 MVs on the Convoy each day, with a peak of 84. What a great turnout of our membership! Remember - these are pre-registered numbers – and we need everyone’s money to turn these numbers into registered participants! From here on, we’ll only speak about registered (paid) Convoy participants.

We presented the TMC’09 Project at our Convention in Portland a couple of weeks ago. We had an advertising kit set up (thanks to Randy Parent for transporting it) and many thanks to all who showed up to say hi and special thanks to those 17 members that joined during the Convention. Special thanks to our Volunteers that helped us during the Convention.

One very important piece of equipment is being provided by our MV hobby Vendors. It is a reproduction WW II ¼ ton trailer – one of our spare parts trailers. The following MV Vendors have graciously offered parts:

D&L Bensinger, Ron Fitzpatrick & MD Juan: body tub, frame, axle, lunette eye, landing leg, drawbar casting, safety chains & combat wheels (all items already provided)

AJP & Lamar Rowland: wiring harness

Brian Asbury: hub caps and spring shackles

Rapco: paint

The Long Olive Drab Line: light brackets (already provided)

Veterans Memorial Museum: tires

Beachwood Canvas: the canvas and a complete trailer cover

Peter Debella Jeep Parts: U-bolts, spring plates, shocks, anchor pins & shackles, paint, bearings and hub caps

Rick Larsen Stencils: stencils (we’ll come up with a theme)

First Division Museum: trailer assembly, painting and transport to DC

At the time of writing this article, we are still missing (at least) the following components: All lights, wheel hubs, tubes & flaps, a service manual … and what-ever else a WW II trailer expert will see that we’ve missed! Please contact MVPA member and TMC’09 Volunteer Mike Fernandez (MFernan@murray.utah.gov) to identify any components that you are interested to donate to this trailer. Please assume that you will need to ship these donated parts to Wheaton, IL – to the First Division Museum. This offer is open to all MVPA members and Vendors. Thanks so much to our MV hobby Vendors that have offered to help here.

Finally, please make every effort to get your HMV in tip top shape for the Convoy. Our Volunteer in charge of Spares and Repairs, Dennis Boots (dennis@dentonboots.com), will be sending us a reminder note on what main points to check (we should all know what to check on our HMVs) to prepare the trucks. Also, we’ll provide some reminders of what spare parts to bring. I encourage MV owners of similar MVs to speak together to share spare parts. Dennis will also be working with our MV hobby Vendors to arrange for some additional spare parts to ride along with us. Several of you have volunteered to help Dennis – and thanks for that. If you have an interest to help out Dennis, please email him and me.

More comms info coming soon. Keep checking the Bulletin Board.

Take care to all of you … keep 'em rolling!

Terry A. Shelswell, P. Eng., MVPA # 13957
Director - MVPA 2009 Transcontinental Motor Convoy Project
Work: 1-248-743-5703
Fax: 1-248-526-1466
Cell: 1-586-212-9523
email: terry.shelswell@inergyautomotive.com

August Update

Good news! 41 vehicles have committed to the coast-to-coast route - 131 vehicles total.

Fuel – Flying J Gas Stations

No Flying J gas stations on the route until we get to Gary, Indiana. Flying J stations in Omaha, North Platte, Cheyenne, Rawlins, Rock Springs, Evanston,
Salt Lake City, Lodi - 10 Flying J fuel stops. Hope to secure fuel discount from Flying J.

Lodging

Need to know how many campsites are needed. KOA will not sponsor or support the Convoy. Best Westerns in lots of the towns.

Sponsors

Will add Convoy sponsors to the Web site – we encourage sponsors to use their Convoy sponsorship to their benefit.

Museums

We have a new Volunteer, Ken Swanson, to help here.

Spares & Repairs

Working on calling advertisers in Supply Line – gathering info to ask for sponsorships. 50% of the people called aren’t aware of the Convoy.

PR & Communication

Media contact list being developed - want media coverage along the route
Working with the Lincoln Highway Association to supply them with information for a brochure.

Donations

Once in a lifetime opportunity to participate - if you can’t go on the Convoy please consider making a donation to help the team. Donation packages sent to Flying J, veterans groups, American Truck Historical Society, Alameda Naval Museum, USS Hornet Museum and KOA.

LHA & MVPA Contacts

LHA – 13 organizations have agreed to be contacts.
MVPA – 4 clubs have responded – would like to secure more support from MVPA chapters along the route.

June Update

- 13 June 2009 - Convoy rolls out of Washington, DC
- 8 July 2009 - Convoy rolls into San Francisco, CA – 26 days later

- Daily mileage requirements have been reduced and we added 3 days.

- 125 HMVs and their keepers have expressed interest in joining the Convoy. Thanks to all of you! We’re hoping that after talking to folks on-line and at HMV events MANY MORE MVPA members who will “drop in” along the route. So – please – get the word out to your fellow members in your local MVPA affiliate clubs to identify themselves to our Convoy Commander, Terry Shelswell. It is REALLY important to have a good list of participants for our volunteers to do their very best to plan food, lodging, fuel, etc.

- A rest day is planned after 4 driving days.

- The longest mileage day is from Ely, NV to Fallon, NV @ 263 miles. That’s the good news. The REALLY good news is that we have DoD approval to go through the Dugway Proving Grounds (DPG) – which is rare.

- Towns are beginning to contact us to ask if we can stop for lunch or dinner.

- We have started to contact potential sponsors. The monies we receive on a national basis will be used by the registered Convoy participants who are on the Convoy. Any monies YOU get from your own local sponsorship efforts are YOURS. Go to the Convoy Support page for more information.

- We are in process of making a “pre-run” of the route. Several MVPA members are doing this across specific states. This will help our volunteers confirm assumptions and plans.

- REMEMBER – we expect to drive these trucks – with the obvious exceptions of WWI HMVs, WWII HMVs that are not going to be able to maintain the 35 mph Convoy average speed and track-laying vehicles. We will drive, not trailer, our HMVs on this Convoy, except as noted above.

- If you are interested in helping as a volunteer or signing up for the Convoy, please contact Terry Shelswell by going to the MVPA Convoy Form at http://forum.freeboards.net/index.php?mforum=mvpaConvoyforum

January Update

- We have over 60 interested participants to date - and many are interested to make the entire route.

- Additionally, almost 20 folks have offered to help us in this project. Thanks to every one of you! As we get a little further in the basic planning of this project we will be contacting you.

- To add your name to the list, contact me! How? Follow the link (below) to the mvpa Convoy Forum, select the section "Sign up for Convoy" and send "tshelswell" a note with your name and MVPA #. I will get back to you!

- We have a map set of the 1919 route and we are currently reviewing this route in detail - with input from several MVPA & LHA members who live in specific areas along the route.

- These activities are helping us to define the level of detail that we will provide to the Convoy members - showing every town along the route, day by day.

- Well, here are the beginnings of the CONVOY SCHEDULE! We will update this as details firm up.

- 10 - 12 June'09: Meet us in Washington and let's get ready to roll!
- Saturday, 13 June'09: Official departure from Washington, D.C.
- Sunday, 14 June - Wednesday, 17 June'09: Daily stops not settled at this time.
- Thursday, 18 June'09: Arrive in South Bend, IN.
- Friday, 19 June'09: Join the LHA in a parade in South Bend - as a part of their 2009 annual Conference.
- Saturday, 20 June - Friday, 3 July'09: Daily stops not settled at this time.
- Saturday, 4 July'09: Join San Francisco for a 4th of July parade!
- Sunday, 5 July'09: Prepare to return home.

- We will meet with a person, in late January, who has organized a recent car Convoy across the route to capitalize on his experiences.

- We have a draft merchandising plan developed that includes a new logo for this Convoy project and a draft list of what items we will offer for sale during HMV shows, etc.

- We have an advertising plan that covers specific 2008 & 2009 HMV shows, as well as a list of groups / companies that we will call upon for sponsorship.

- We have received an endorsement from the Lincoln Highway Association! With this endorsement, we will submit our request to the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission for their endorsement.