Our friends Daryl and Lida own a Jeep Willys business in Morgantown, PA (https://www.dlbensinger.com/). We've been fulfilling some parts orders for Daryl and Lida for several years and Ding had a chance to visit with Daryl a few times while visiting his daughter in Pennsylvania. Here's a recent letter Lida sent us for those of you interested in Jeep Willys Convoys running through America.

For those of you who have already heard about our exciting experience on the TMC '09, you can skip to the end of this email for links to albums and videos.
For the rest of you, here's the scoop:

Just got back from riding from DC to Wooster, Ohio with the TMC - GREAT!! If you can join in this - Do It! Don't miss out on the biggest event the MVPA has ever run. Yes, bigger than the ALCAN Convoy and D-Day trips to Europe! This convoy is crossing the US. More members have access to this event than any other. The cost of joining up is only around $30 a day. If you have a vehicle, get in the convoy for a day or two or a week - whatever you can. If you don't have a vehicle, see if you can ride with someone and buy a few tanks of gas. Set up your camera in front and photo the convoy, then follow to next stop point. Get to the "rest" day location and help out with maintenance.

At Wooster, the Marlboro volunteers were serving meals and doing maintenance on vehicles - changing wheel cylinders, replacing bent bumpers and they even swapped an engine on a WC! There is lots to see and do. The Wooster "rest" day became a show in itself!

The response from these small towns on the "old" highway is fantastic. It's like an all day 4th of July parade every day of travel. People are on their front porches and lawns waving their American flags and applauding and filming as we go by. In one town we drove through (Ligonier) the town square was filled with people in lawn chairs waiting for us. There was even a band! And we were just driving through! Local police in some towns block the streets and the convoy runs through stop signs, red lights and all! Check You Tube for videos! Be a part of this in any way you can.

Public support for this event has been phenomenal. On our lunch and rest stops we heard a lot of interesting stories about the Lincoln Highway. One man told me about walking the route from Greensburg to the Liberty Bell in 1976 (when he was 48) to raise money for his local ambulance association. There was a 94 year old woman in East Palestine (Monday's lunch stop) who could remember watching the original convoy pass by 90 years ago! She was so excited about us being there.

The reception in East Palestine was an event in itself! There were thousands of people there. When we arrived in the town they rang church bells. At the park, the small high school band was playing patriotic songs. There were bi-planes doing fly-bys. And the meal we got was unbelievable! Food was donated by McDonald's and a Pizza place and everybody in the community brought a covered dish! It was like a giant family-reunion! We were treated like celebrities.

These small towns that were bypassed when the highway was improved and widened are the essence of small-town America. Norman Rockwell could paint a hundred pictures out of these scenes.

Check out the MVPA website (www.mvpa.org) for the schedule to see where you can join in.

Daryl and Lida (wishing we could go all the way to San Francisco!)
MVPA member number 443 - member since 1976 and can tell you this is THE EVENT!!

For anyone who is interested, you can watch our first convoy video on you tube. www.youtube.com/dlbensinger

Here are links to two TV news reports about the lunch stop in East Palestine, OH. Derek and Dylan are in our jeep in both of these.
http://www.wfmj.com/global/video/flash/popupplayer.asp?ClipID1=3867573&h...

http://www.wytv.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoid=4201@wytv.dayport.com...

I'm also posting some of our 1000 pictures to an album on Facebook. Here is the link:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=85039&id=585822579&l=8469df8c61 You don't have to belong to facebook to look at them.