the whole thing sort of began as *** joke Mike Atkinson's brother in law always talked about needing *** tractor. So mike would sarcastically offered to drive his tractor from Bellingham Washington to perch lake Minnesota. Then one day it wasn't *** joke. And finally I thought, you know, At 76 I could use *** challenge like that. So I'm going to do that before he left on the 1800 mile journey. Mike got another reason to go. His brother Dan was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and it really hit our family really hard. And of course there's not much you can do to help. So I just thought, you know what, I think I can raise donations by doing this. So he did. He drove through snow sleet and at times an unforgiving sun. The tractors, right wheels were always *** foot from the ditch. Mike's john Deere tops out at about 15 miles an hour, which is *** major reason why it took him six weeks to travel from Washington To Minnesota. The miles went by slowly, but the donations piled up quickly. By the time he reached Minnesota Mike had raised more than $50,000 for Parkinson's research. He'd spend his nights in motels and during the day people give him donations and treats one guy stopped me and he had beef jerky and and another couple of gals stopped and they had Chocolate Brownies. I really enjoy meeting people and they enjoyed meeting the tractor guy and his 15 mile an hour mission to help others. He's the most caring, genuine, passionate person I know and it was for such *** good cause that we're all supportive and we're just thankful he made it here in one piece.

'I could use a challenge like that': 76-year-old man drives tractor across the country

Updated: 3:27 AM EDT Jun 24, 2022

Imagine driving across the country－1,800 miles－in a tractor. A Washington state man just made the journey.The whole thing sort of began as a joke. Mike Adkinson's brother-in-law always talked about needing a tractor.So Mike would sarcastically offer to drive his tractor from Bellingham, Washington, to Side Lake, Minnesota. Then, one day, it wasn't a joke. Watch the video above for the full story.

MINNEAPOLIS —

Imagine driving across the country－1,800 miles－in a tractor. A Washington state man just made the journey.

The whole thing sort of began as a joke. Mike Adkinson's brother-in-law always talked about needing a tractor.

So Mike would sarcastically offer to drive his tractor from Bellingham, Washington, to Side Lake, Minnesota. Then, one day, it wasn't a joke.

Watch the video above for the full story.