Truck convoy to Washington, D.C. set to begin Wednesday

Truckers organizing “The People’s Convoy” have set Wednesday, Feb. 23 as the date the convoy will leave California heading to Washington, D.C., to protest vaccination mandates of any kind.

Previously, the group had planned a rally March 4-5 in Coachella Valley in Indio, Calif., to protest “unconstitutional mandates.” However, over the weekend, organizers updated their website with the new dates and route information.

Brian Brase, a truck driver from Ohio, is one of the core organizers of a group planning the convoy.

Brase said the convoy is organizing to protest vaccination mandates. He told Land Line on Feb. 2 the truck convoy is not an anti-vaccination movement but rather about “human and constitutional rights.”

“This isn’t about the trucking mandates. There’s so much more in play there. We are just truck drivers standing up for our human rights, and as Americans it’s about our constitutional rights,” he said. “It’s about a human being deciding what gets injected into them. We’re not about shaming people who aren’t vaccinated or shaming those who are. It’s about choice.”

The website states that truckers will depart Wednesday, Feb. 23, from Adelanto Stadium in Adelanto, Calif. The plan, as of publication time, is for the convoy to travel Interstate 40 from California to Oklahoma before hitting Interstate 44 in Oklahoma City on Feb. 27.

The convoy will continue on Interstate 44 through to Indianapolis. On March 3 they plan to take Interstate 70 before turning south and heading into Washington, D.C. The plan is to arrive there Saturday, March 5.

The group is intentionally withholding specific stop information, according to a post on its Facebook page, but it plans to release more information when the convoy is in route.

“Please note … areas are intentionally nonspecific due to the need to maintain operational security and to leave time to coordinate with local municipalities. Routes and time are subject to change,” the post states.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association supports the rights of truckers to protest peacefully and lawfully. Additionally, the Association has been actively working to get the cross-border mandates for truckers rescinded. In addition to letters to President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calling for the mandates to end, the Association is supporting the efforts of a number of lawmakers also seeking an end to the mandates. LL