Meet America at 30 miles per hour - June 24, 2009

By Sgt. 1st Class Mark F. OunanJuly 1, 2009

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The following was written by Sgt. 1st Class Mark F. Ounan, an Active/ Guard infantry Soldier currently assigned to the 324th Military Police Btn., Chambersburg, Pa. Ounan is also the only current Soldier and Military Vehicle Preservation Association member taking place in the 2009 MVPA Convoy. Here's an exert from the journal he's keeping as he travels cross-country.

Travelling from Jefferson, Iowa, to Gretna, Neb., took a complete day. Along the way in Iowa we were able to visit large stretches of the Lincoln Hwy, which are still gravel and dirt roads. My little Dodge does very well on these dirt roads. It was built in the day when most roads were muddy tracks and the wheels are big and made to take a beating.

Yesterday, June 23, was our last day driving in Iowa; the towns got farther apart and we saw a lot fewer people.

As we travel along, every small town we go through has one or two houses with people who somehow know the convoy is coming and are waiting at the end of their driveway to wave at us.

For the last three days, it's been 100 degrees with very high humidity. The car does not like this weather. We are suffering from vapor lock, which is a condition that happens in hot weather when the car gets overheated and the gasoline actually boils in the fuel line before it gets to the carburetor. This makes the car sputter and stop and we have to pull to the side and let the engine cool down. This happened three times in one day and we fell behind in the convoy. But we were able to coax the car back to life and catch up and finish the day with everyone else.

In Gretna, Neb., the American Legion treated us to a barbecue dinner and the next morning provided a hearty breakfast of Spam and fixings. They also presented each of us with a brick from the original Lincoln Highway.