A nonstop endurance drive of 24 hours will take place Thursday (4-20-06) over today's modern highways to mark the 81st anniversary of the opening of The Magnolia Route, also called The Mississippi Gulf Coast to Chicago Highway. Joseph M. Casey III, author of "The Magnolia Route 1923-1927," and his son, Barry, will replicate as closely as possible the original event, which ran from the downtown post office to Chicago in 1925, in the father's 1939 Jaguar Replica Car, "The Magnolia Special."

The event will start at 9 a.m. at Jones Park. At 9:45 a.m., Casey will make a speech at the downtown post office. The car will leave at 10 a.m. A pit stop at 10:40 a.m. will be at the Perkinston campus of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College.