After successful rolling protests featuring hundreds of semi-trucks in Washington, D.C., and Harrisburg, Pa., Micheal Schaffner had big plans for the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn.

Schaffner, of the trucker-advocacy organization The American Driver, had planned to lead at least 25 semis around St. Paul Tuesday morning during the convention, with horns blaring.

Despite immense buzz on the Internet before the protest, Schaffer ended up rolling alone.

“Because of the slow economy, there were no loads for truckers to take through this part of the country,” the native of Nacona, Texas, explained.

Shaffner said a few local Twin Cities truckers had planned on participating, but got nervous after some protests in St. Paul near the convention Monday got out of hand and hundreds of protesters were arrested.

But that didn’t stop Schaffner. He drove the 15-mile route around St. Paul through residential and industrial areas with his horn blaring the entire time. He even drove past the Minnesota State Capitol building.

The group hopes to draw attention to what it calls the government’s “inaction on oil prices.” Its message is that high oil prices are crushing the trucking industry and make just about everything more expensive.

The St. Paul police had no idea what to make of the Schaffner and his group, and there was initial confusion about whether the group even had a permit for the route it planned to take.

An eleventh-hour permit pushed through over the weekend and two members of the St. Paul Police Department even rode along with Schaffner in his light-blue rig on the gloomy morning. He said the department was very cooperative.

Even though his was the only truck in the protests, Schaffner considered the Tuesday protest a success.

“This is America,” he said. “One man can make a difference.”