The Military Vehicle Preservation Association Convoy Command will stop the morning of Oct. 16 in the Route 66 city of Joplin, Missouri, while on a monthlong, 2,500-mile journey on the Jefferson Highway.
According to the Joplin Globe, the convoy of 40 vehicles will visit the old Joplin airport terminal on Missouri Highway 171 at Dennis Weaver Drive from 8:30 to 10 a.m. that day. Convoy members will provide information and a history of the vehicles to visitors during the stop.
When the convoy leaves the airport, it will go west onto Highway 171, then head south on Missouri Highway 43. It will go to the intersection of North Main and Zora Avenue, turn west on Zora, turn onto Schifferdecker Avenue, then turn west onto Seventh Street (aka Route 66) to head into Kansas.
The convoy also will stay the night of Oct. 15 near the Big Brutus shovel, a common Route 66 side trip near West Mineral, Kansas.
The newspaper reported:
In addition, CFI’s “True to the Troops” wrapped truck and trailer, operated by professional driver and U.S. Army veteran Remy Braun, will be on display. The Freedom of Flight Museum inside the Old Terminal will be open for public tours that morning. Members of American Legion Post 13, which meets at the airport terminal, will assist with the visit.
The convoy is retracing the 1918 route of the highway. The Jefferson Highway Association was formed in 1915 and tasked to build a north-south transcontinental highway that would connect motorists from New Orleans to Winnipeg, Canada. […]
Joplin was regarded as the halfway mark and the city hosted the Jefferson Highway Association’s international conferences in 1918 and 1923, according to Patrick Tuttle, director of the Joplin Convention and Visitors Bureau who is coordinating the visit.
The military convoy did a full Route 66 trip from Chicago to Santa Monica in 2017.
(Image of the Military Vehicle Preservation Association Convoy in Hesperia, California, in 2017 by bossco via Flickr)