In the pre-dawn hours of Monday November ninth, four large vehicle carrying trailer rigs rolled onto interstate-30 to begin their journey northeastward from Texarkana Texas. Their combined cargo, consisting of various makes and models of fourteen automobiles, six large vans, and six black suburban’s occupied most of the available double deck transport area of the convoy. The suburban’s with dark tinted windows, as the only vehicles less than two years old, had been outfitted with special fortifications for use by the men who would eventually occupy them. Additionally, each of five vans that contained no rear compartment seating had been equipped with a less cumbersome array of necessary gear. The last of the six vans would serve a different purpose, and as such, had maintained its normal array of bench seating behind the driver’s seat. If all went according to the plan, then each of the four large trucks would deliver their payload on Wednesday the eleventh.

Last minute preparation before the journey began included the collection of all cell phones from any of the drivers except for the lone burn phone that the lead driver possessed. He had already driven a rig to Amarillo just over a week prior, and had used that burn phone to signal number twenty three that he had returned safely as planned via a one way flight. Each of the men had also been reminded that only limited communication between the four trucks would transpire throughout the entirety of the mission. Such rare communication would be necessary only if one truck from the small convoy had been out of visual formation for a prolonged period of time, and then only via the use of coded messages transmitted on CB radios. That type of plan was nothing new for truckers, as before the advent of cell phones, CB radios had been employed for decades as the primary mode of communication for information on traffic accidents, construction zones, or the presence of law enforcement. What made them attractive in this instance was that the CB radios provided a way to communicate under cover without a satellite traceable cell phone footprint. Each driving pair had also been pre-instructed on the sequence of which CB channels would be used for any contact within the various states they would pass through along the way, and that transition from channel to channel would coincide with the crossing of the appropriate state lines.

Once attaining a comfortable cruising speed, the lead driver glanced in his left side mirror to confirm that the other three had fallen into formation. He knew, and was well experienced at having driven many of them before, that a vast network of interstate highways at their disposal could provide alternative routes if necessary. Fortunately the weather forecast of the next seven days in the eastern half of the country implied that there would be only minor storm activity, so each crew of two drivers believed that the primary route could be adhered to.

If that favorable forecast proved to be correct, then the small convoy intended to pick up interstate-40 on the outskirts of Little Rock Arkansas and follow it eastward until the genesis of interstate-81 well beyond Knoxville Tennessee. From there they would take a more northeasterly course through the Shenandoah Valley within the western portions of Virginia. Finally they would pass through a narrow fragment of both West Virginia and Maryland before closing in on their intended drop off location. By employing tandem driving teams in each truck, it was also ensured that the long distance haul could be made without stopping for any purpose other than fuel, food, or restrooms. Additionally, the empty rigs could immediately begin the return journey along the same route only moments after unloading their cargo.