Washington man reflects on driving his tractor 1,700 miles

Mike Adkinson drove his John Deere tractor from Bellingham to Perch Lake, Minnesota, a 1,700-mile trip. 

Mike's brother Dan had been diagnosed with Parkinson's last year, which caused him to hatch the plan, although he says it began as a joke when his brother-in-law kept joking about needing a tractor, so Mike would offer to drive his tractor from Bellingham to Lake Perch, where his brother-in-law lived.

But then it was no longer a joke.

When Mike's brother Dan was diagnosed with Parkinson's, Mike's response was, "I think I can raise donations by doing this."

On his trip he went  

Statistics say that every nine minutes, someone in the country is diagnosed with Parkinson's.

Adkinson's visited people affected by Parkinson's during his cross-country trip.

bit.ly/tractor-trip. 

The trip started on May 15 and arrived at his destination on June 23. His average speed was about 15mph. 

His goal was to raise $50,000 for the American Parkinson Disease Association. By the time he reached Perch Lake, he had raised over that amount.