Mike Adkinson of Bellingham, Wash., is riding a tractor across the country to raise awareness and raise money for Parkinson’s Disease. He recently made a stop at Grossenburg Implement to have the tractor checked.
By Dan Bechtold
Editor
A Washington man is making a cross country trip using an unconventional form of transportation for an important cause.
Mike Adkinson of Bellingham, Wash., is driving a 2008 John Deere tractor across the country to raise awareness for Parkinson’s Disease. His older brother has been diagnosed with the crippling disease.
Parkinson’s disease is a progressive disorder that affects the nervous system and the parts of the body controlled by the nerves.
Adkinson rolled into Winner last Wednesday morning to have Grossenburg Implement check a slow leak on the tractor. He is making the trip from Northern Minnesota to his home in northwest Washington. Along the way he stops and talks to people about Parkinson’s Disease.
He has been on the road for three weeks and believes he will not reach his destination until the end of July.
As he travels, he is journaling about the trip, taking pictures and posting them on his Facebook site. He pulls a small trailer behind the tractor.
He feels making people aware of the disease is important. “Let’s get behind all this research with money and our commitment because if this disease is not put in check it has the potential of breaking our healthcare system,” he explained.
Adkinson says he averages 60 to 70 miles a day with an average speed of 12 to 13 miles an hour.
He says many people stop him on the highway. “Some just want to talk and tell me about a loved one that has died,” he said.
He explained while in Winner a lady came looking for him after her son told her that the guy with a tractor is here. She told her son she was going to go out and find me. “She caught up with me and we had a nice discussion.”
Adkinson told another story of when he was traveling from Lake Andes to Platte. At one point Adkinson made a wrong turn. A farmer chased him down to tell him he made a wrong turn. “He knew my tractor from the local TV news. Before he headed me in the right direction we had a nice visit.”
This is the second consecutive summer Adkinson has made a trip from Washington to Minnesota. Last year on the trip he raised $56,000 and this year the goal is $100,000.
He is raising money for the American Parkinson Disease Association northwest chapter which is located in Seattle, Wash. This chapter covers six states.
“I hope we make the goal. It will totally be successful in the fact that, you know, I probably wave two to four hundred times a day to people on highways. And a lot of those people wave back with a lot of vigor and so I think they’ve seen it. So they see the tractor, they kind of know what’s going on and that’s good,” Adkinson said.
The Washington man explained this trip just seemed natural. “After what we have been through in this country the last few years I just wanted to go out. I did not want anyone with me and I just wanted to see what is going on in America. Let me tell you I am pleasantly surprised, everyone has been wonderful.”
He stays in motels on his journey and has found people are very generous giving him a room for half price or for free.
The 77 year old man is retired. He has a degree in social work and spent many years in the mental health field. Then he switched gears and built log homes for 20 years in Washington and then had an internet business.
As he rides his tractor across the United States he hopes people will follow his journey on the Internet and find it in their heart to donate to the American Parkinson Disease Association.
Persons can find his website at tractor trip for Parkinsons.
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