A Denton couple is currently crossing the United States as part of a convoy of historic military vehicles.

Dennis and Marilyn Boots are among convoy participants who left Washington, D.C., on June 13 and are scheduled to arrive in San Francisco on July 8.

The journey commemorates the 90th anniversary of a transcontinental convoy undertaken by the U.S. Army’s Military Transportation Corps in 1919 to demonstrate the need for a mechanized army.

The 1919 procession of vehicles traveled the path of the Lincoln Highway, and the current convoy is following the same route. As an added tribute, the Military Vehicle Preservation Association planned the convoy in conjunction with the nation’s President Lincoln bicentennial celebration.

The convoy includes military vehicles of all eras, from those used in World War I to current issue, including cargo vehicles, motorcycles, staff cars and jeeps.

About 40 vehicles are making the coast-to-coast trek, Dennis Boots said by phone from a lunch stop in Lexington, Neb. About 100 vehicles will join the convoy en route and complete portions of the trip, he added.

Boots, a former Army captain, served with the combat engineers, with one tour of duty in Vietnam. He is driving a Vietnam-era jeep that he restored.

“I’m the last vehicle in the convoy,” he said.

As maintenance officer of the convoy, he leads a team of volunteers that is responsible for all repairs and maintenance needed along the 3,250-mile route, which cuts through the nation’s heartland and crosses portions of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and California.

His wife is “chase lead” for the convoy, Boots said, which means she is responsible for seeing that all civilian vehicles carrying family members of convoy participants stay on schedule.

“I trailered my jeep from Denton to Washington, and my wife is in the family car,” Boots said.

The oldest vehicle in the convoy dates back to 1919, Boots said, but conditions are much different today than they were when the first convoy began its journey. Only 650 miles of the original route were paved, Boots said, and a unit of engineers stayed busy.

“They rebuilt virtually every bridge and culvert,” he said.

Harsh weather conditions have been a challenge on the current trip, Boots said.

“We have come through some bad weather,” he said, adding that one storm near Woodbine, Iowa, brought winds that the National Weather Service clocked at 73 miles per hour.

“The hail was blowing horizontally through my jeep,” he said.

The convoy is the culmination of two and a half years of planning, Boots said, and participants are committed to reaching their goal.

“They’re good folks,” he said. “Everyone owns their own vehicle.”

LES COCKRELL can be reached at 940-566-6887. His e-mail address is lcockrell@dentonrc.com.

ON THE WEB

More information about the commemorative journey, including a live convoy blog, can be found online at www.mvpa.org.