Antique military convoy hitting the streets of St. Joseph

By Leah Rainwater

The roads in St. Joseph will be active with antique military vehicles on Thursday evening.

The Military Vehicle Preservation Association will be driving the original 1918 route of the Jefferson Highway.

The original route spans over 2,500 miles, passing through St. Joseph throughout the drive.

“They’ve been working on this convoy, I’ve been working on this convoy for the last year,” said Raymond Bliley, a spokesperson for the MVPA. “But this is our eighth convoy.”

Bliley said there’s some hoops the convoy has to jump when it comes to traveling long distance with big trucks.

“They’re driving the original highway of Jefferson highway as much as they can,” said Bliley. “Some of the highway is now occupied by interstate and because the vehicles don’t want to go anymore than 35 or 40 miles an hour, they take all secondary routes.”

Bliley also said vehicle convoy’s are a past time that the whole group likes to participate in.

“Taking all these vehicles into small, little towns on back roads through America, and say, ‘This is what we do’,” said Bliley. “We restore historic military vehicles to honor those that served.”

Thursday wasn’t the only chance to see the MVPA convoy.

Drivers will also make a stop at the National WWI Museum and Memorial on Saturday, Sept. 12 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The convoy will end in New Orleans, Louisiana by the end of October.