Truck convoy has only 3 big rigs passing through Kansas City, but receives huge support
A convoy of trucks and other vehicles heading to Washington, D.C., to protest government mandates rolled through the Kansas City area Friday with much fanfare.
But the convoy included only three tractor-trailers.
The trucks, along with a few dozen pickups, SUVS and cars moved through Topeka, Lawrence and Kansas City Friday, March 4. Supporters greeted the convoy all along Interstates 70 and 435.
About 10 people stood on a Bannister Road overpass of Interstate 435 in South Kansas City. The crowds grew thicker as the group moved toward the Truman Sports Complex. And dozens of supporters were waving American flags by the time the group reached Interstate 70 in Independence.
In Oak Grove, just to the east of Kansas City, hundreds of supporters gathered around Exit 28 to wave flags, honk horns and cheer on the passing vehicles. The convoy pulled into the Oak Grove truck stop to fuel up, grab a bite and use the restrooms.
“It’s kind of what I expected,” said 62-year-old Jeff Davidson. “Where it’s going to get bigger is where it meets up with them other ones out East.”
Davidson is an airline mechanic who lives in Oskaloosa, Kansas. He and his wife joined up in Lawrence and planned to drive their Roadtrek 190 camper van to Illinois.
He said he was worried about the direction of President Joe Biden and other leaders in Washington. While government mandates surrounding the pandemic may have begun the movement, he said his concerns went well beyond just the coronavirus.
Davidson wore a blue T-shirt he picked up in Branson depicting former President Donald Trump as Superman.
“We’ve got all this inflationary pressures and I’m just not happy with the way this administration is running Washington, D.C.,” he said. “I’ve got conservative values and we’ve got a liberal group up there. We see socialism on the rise.”
The “Freedom Convoy to D.C.-Midwest Route” was the second such event in a week with plans to roll through Kansas and Missouri. Another convoy that set out from California last week on its way to D.C. pulled the plug early Saturday after one day, saying there weren’t enough participants to continue.
This convoy came from Colorado and spent Thursday night in Salina, Kansas. The group planned to travel on Interstate 70, completing a “slow roll” through Junction City and Topeka on Friday morning. The convoy did not appear to impede traffic, though it was accompanied by state and local police.
The group planned to do another “slow roll” through Columbia, take I-270 north around St. Louis and stop for the night in Vandalia, Illinois.
At the Oak Grove truck stop, general manager Steve Aderman counted only three semis passing on the interstate below, though the parking lot was packed with cars, pickups and SUVs.
He said the group notified him that they would be stopping a couple of weeks ago. The giant truck stop has a sit-down restaurant, a Wendy’s, a semi service station and more than 300 parking spots for big rigs. Aderman called in a few more employees to manage the crowds, but said his business wasn’t politically involved in the convoy.
“We are here for the truckers,” he said.
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On Facebook, one supporter wrote that the crowd was disappointed by the turnout.
“All we’ve seen is a bunch of personal vehicles, like support vehicles,” wrote Oak Grove resident Kala Murphy. “Wasn’t there supposed to be semis too? Lots of people are leaving cuz nobody is sure if there’s anything else.”
The event had the flair of a festival in Oak Grove, a town of about 8,200 people. The fire department was on standby nearby. One man set up a table to sell CDs. A family handed out sack lunches and others blared patriotic music on portable speakers.
The crowds made their way into the restaurants nearby after the convoy had stopped. At the McDonald’s just off the interstate, one customer expressed disappointment at the counter.
“It was more pickup trucks than semi trucks,” she told a fast food worker. “It was kind of a let down.”
All along the route, supporters waved American flags, Confederate flags and the Gadsden flag. In the convoy, pickups flew Canadian flags. Others said “Trump 2020,” “Let’s Go Brandon” and “F*** Biden.”
Staci Teeter brought her two young children to Oak Grove to support the convoy. Both held Bibles as they waved and cheered on the group.
She said she was motivated by one thing: “Freedom.”
“It’s not the America we used to be,” she said, “and we need to get back to it.”
Pressed on what her issues were specifically, Teeter said they went far beyond pandemic mandates. She cited problems with public schools, including Critical Race Theory. She said she pulled her second-grade daughter out of Liberty Public Schools because she worried she was falling behind.
A Kansas City resident, she said her truck driver husband would have joined the convoy. But he drives for a company and wasn’t allowed to participate.
Teeter said she wasn’t worried about the turnout.
“It’s going to grow,” she said. “It just started.”
The convoy arrived in Kansas a bit later than expected the evening of Thursday, March 3, but it was greeted by one county sheriff about 20 miles east of the Colorado state line.
Sherman County Sheriff Burton Pianalto recorded a nearly 9-minute video from Goodland, Kansas, and posted it on Facebook.
“Hello everybody,” Pianalto said in his video, capturing himself driving down the highway in the dark. “Freedom Convoy is finally making its appearance. It’s actually at about the six mile marker and they’ll be coming in. A deputy will be leading them.
At the overpass west of Goodland, he said it was looking “pretty full.”
“I love to see that freedom,” he said.
Pianalto talked about the convoy and spectators that had come out to greet it.
“I love seeing the extra people out supporting their freedom. That God-given right that the constitution guarantees. You couldn’t have the United States of America without that. You got to stand up and hold our freedom.”
Pianalto parked near the 12-mile marker and recorded the convoy drive by.
“There’s not that many,” he said. “But still, it’s nice to see them out.
“... I’m a constitutional sheriff and I believe that without the constitution we really don’t have a nation,” Pianalto said. “And the constitution does guarantee the freedoms that God gave us and I firmly believe in that.”
By Friday afternoon, the sheriff’s video had more than 4,300 views and nearly five dozen comments.
“Small convoy but folks taking a stand,” one woman wrote.
Others applauded Pianalto for his take and informing residents about the convoy.
“As a veteran, i (sic) am so proud to have a sheriff that upholds freedom and the constitution. You will always have my vote.”
Another, however, thought Pianalto had gone too far.
“As a veteran I prefer sheriff’s that enforce the law equally and stay out of politics in their public persona,” one man replied. “Have any opinion they want out of uniform.”
Last week, authorities were monitoring another convoy — “Freedom Convoy USA 2022” — that was supposed to run through Kansas and Missouri. But that one quickly fizzled, with the organizer saying the group had arrived in Las Vegas with only five trucks. He recommended that supporters instead join two other convoys already in progress.
The “Freedom Convoy USA 2022,” one of several to hit the highways in the past week, planned to travel across I-70 in Kansas and Missouri on Sunday and Monday. Its goal was to reach the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday to protest during President Joe Biden’s “State of the Union” address.
Meanwhile, “The People’s Convoy,” which left Adelanto, California, on Feb. 23, continues to head toward the nation’s capital and has grown as others join it along the way. It is set to arrive in Maryland on Friday night, local media reported.
The Star’s Judy L. Thomas contributed to this story.
This story was originally published March 4, 2022 at 3:58 PM with the headline "Truck convoy has only 3 big rigs passing through Kansas City, but receives huge support."
