Miles of trucks

Extended an invitation, the miles-long People's Convoy accepted it and made a one-hour stop Friday afternoon in Tucumcari as the cross-country protest against coronavirus restrictions rolled to Washington, D.C.

Big trucks and conventional vehicles, numbering in at least the hundreds, stretched down two miles of Route 66 in two lanes as dozens of residents waved an assortment of American and other flags to greet them as they rolled off Interstate 40. The co-organizer said the convoy stretched 16 miles before reaching Tucumcari; another area resident on social media stated it was 10 miles.

The lead truck pulled into the parking lot of the closed Hardee's and used a flatbed trailer as a stage. Two representatives from the convoy gave speeches by bullhorn to about 100 people gathered there, along with a welcome by Mayor Ruth Ann Litchfield.

Brian Brase, a co-organizer of the People's Convoy who hails from northwest Ohio, said Tucumcari was the first town to extend an invitation after about 1,000 miles from where it began Wednesday in Southern California.

"I think that's amazing, especially in a state where we were warned wasn't going to be too friendly to us," he said. "They've absolutely been friendly. We're really impressed with it; we're happy we've come here."

Mike Landis, a trucker from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, also was struck by Tucumcari's hospitality.

"It's pretty awesome to have a town reach out and ask you to come do this," he said. "Quite a bit on the other side think we're crazy or racist. I don't think if that was the case, a whole town wouldn't ask us to come and spend some time. It's pretty impressive."

With the help of local liaison Robert Kryder, Tucumcari/Quay County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Scott Crotzer extended an invitation to the convoy - especially when he learned an estimated 1,000 vehicles were participating.

Crotzer was motivated not by red-state nor blue-state reasoning, but green - as in the color of money people in the convoy would carry.

"I'm trying to work on a plan to make sure businesses stay open and reap the benefit," he said one day before the convoy arrived. "We're trying to keep it in a positive light. Somebody's got to feed all these people."

Kryder also praised city officials' effort to draw the convoy.

"The city is stepping up real nicely to make sure there's limited impact and make it as smooth as possible," he said.

The People's Convoy website indicated participants would have stayed overnight Friday in Glenrio - a nearly deserted settlement with no facilities. That was another reason Crotzer reached out.

However, the convoy's organizers also accepted an invitation to stay overnight instead at Russell's Travel Center in Endee. Local law enforcement, playing mostly a traffic control role, helped escort the horn-honking convoy out of town after it spent about an hour in Tucumcari.

Crotzer said he was disappointed but understood the decision by the truckers not to stay.

"There were a lot of deciding factors in that," he said. "One was they felt like they didn't have enough capacity at the truck stops so that everybody could take showers.

"If we get some meals out of them and some of the domestic travelers, maybe we can persuade them to stay," Crotzer said as the vehicles rolled by. "They won't have the services (at Russell's) like there is here. Hopefully, we get a fraction of them."

The People's Convoy was inspired by recent anti-vaccine and anti-mask blockades by Canadian truckers that shut down a major trade route between Canada and the U.S. for nearly a week.

Brase said the People's Convoy's goals are to end the national state of emergency over COVID-19 and halt vaccine and mask mandates.

"We want our daily lives, our communities, to go back to normal," he said. "We want our economy to get better, we want to get things moving again. What we're trying to do is restore liberty and freedom as granted to us by our Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights."

Brase said his organization also wants "accountability" through bipartisan congressional hearings about the origin of the virus and the government's responses to the pandemic.

Brase said the fact many states have or are about to end their mask mandates has not dissuaded him.

"The state of emergency was extended, which allows them to roll it back at any time," he said. "States are rolling back their mandates because of this, because they've had enough."

Though Brase acknowledged he is not vaccinated and had contracted the virus, he insisted his group is not anti-vaccination.

"I don't know if the vaccine is bad for you," he said. "We're not anti-vaxxers, not at all. We just believe in the freedom of choice. You should be able to choose to put that into your body."

Brase also said the convoy was "loaded with Democrats and Republicans." Slogans and flags seen on those vehicles on Route 66 - including a few that expressed support for former president Donald Trump - indicated the convoy was a right-leaning one.

The People's Convoy is scheduled to arrive in the Washington, D.C., area by Friday. Brase remained coy on what would happen at that time.

"We're going to hold our plans a little close to the vest," he said. "We will release that information when we're ready to release that information. The People's Convoy is a peaceful, law-abiding, loving, bipartisan convoy."