(ABC 6 News) — It’s a museum in motion.

The Military Vehicle Preservation Association’s eighth annual transcontinental convoy entered Iowa on Monday morning, having departed from Albert Lea, Minnesota, after seven days of journeying through the North Star State.

The fleet of vehicles consists of dozens of meticulously preserved and/or restored privately-owned American military vehicles, dating from the World War II era to the modern day.

“We have a quarter ton jeep, some three-quarter ton cargo trucks and ambulances, and then we have two-and-a-half ton and five ton cargo trucks,” said convoy commander Dan McCloskey. “We’re sort of a roving museum.”

The final destination of the convoy is New Orleans, by way of the historic Jefferson Highway, which spans the nation 2500 miles north to south from its starting point near Winnipeg.

“It’s a 28 day trip,” said McCloskey. “We’re running about approximately 100 miles a day at 35 miles an hour.”

Many of the vehicles are equipped with amenities you’d see in a typical camper or RV.

Morris Waid of Panacea, FL has restored a 1972 AM General 2.5 ton all-fuel truck, a workhorse for the U.S. Military that would have been employed in a multitude of uses including cargo, troop and munitions transport as well as use as a wrecker or digger.

“I guess you might say it’s more of a motor home now,” Waid laughs. “It has a bathroom shower, sinks, microwaves, refrigerator and beds.”

John and Joni Varner of Longville, MN are making the journey in their customized 1953 Dodge quarter-ton ambulance, recognizable as the same make in the opening credits of the television show M*A*S*H.

“It was always on a runway or in a hangar,” Varner says, “So no rust at all. It was Navy Blue when I bought, but I put it back to Army Green; the way it came from out of the factory. It’s a fun labor of love.”

“We’re here to show people the military vehicle history of the military,” said Varner, “…but we’re also here to honor veterans. I’m a veteran U.S. Army. You really don’t get to know America until you drive it at 35 miles an hour and come in to an Albert Lea or an Adams or Austin small towns where people just really get excited to see the vehicles and they’re fun to talk to.”

The convoy spent the morning in Northwood before heading to Mason City, where they will camp until continuing their journey Wednesday morning, arriving in New Orleans on October 28.