Sue Sitter/PCT Mike Adkinson, of Bellingham, Wash., stands near his tractor and trailer on a stop at Rugby’s Northern Lights Inn. Adkinson was on his way to Perch Lake, Minn., to raise awareness for Parkinson’s disease.

Tractors and other farm machinery often share the road with cars and trucks on U.S. Highway 2 through Rugby, but one small tractor caught the attention of several area motorists June 15.

Mike Adkinson, of Bellingham, Washington, stopped his small John Deere 3320 tractor and small trailer for the night at Rugby’s Northern Lights Inn. The trailer bore a road map tracing a route from Bellingham to Perch Lake, Minnesota. Over the map, bold red letters spelled out, “Tractor Trip for Parkinson’s.”

“This is the fifth week I’ve been on the road,” Adkinson said. “The tractor gets to maybe 14 or 15 miles an hour and that’s it. So, it takes quite a while to travel.

“It took 4 ½ hours to travel from Minot to Rugby today,” he added. “If it’s raining or muddy, that takes longer.”

Adkinson began his journey at his home in Bellingham. He and his wife give social media updates daily, documenting the towns he traveled through and people he met each day on Highway 2.

The idea for the road trip through five states came from his need to sell his tractor and a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease close to home, Adkinson said.

“My brother-in-law in Minnesota, he would always say, ‘I need your tractor.’ I thought, ‘Well, I should drive it there,'” Adkinson said. “Every year, we’d laugh about that.”

“Then, my brother in Washington got Parkinson’s,” Adkinson said.

“I thought, it’s so hard to figure out what to do for family when they get Parkinson’s, I thought this was something I could do and he’d get a kick out of following me and watching me do it,” Adkinson said of his idea to make the 1,732-mile trip.

Raising awareness

“So, we saddled up with the American Parkinson’s Disease Association, the APDA Northwest Chapter, and they do all the collecting of the money,” Adkinson said. “People send it in there because they’re a 501 c 3. So, once we decided to do that, we hatched the idea.”

Adkinson said he’s been raising both money and awareness for Parkinson’s disease with his tractor trip.

“I’ve done some speaking and meeting with individuals with Parkinson’s, or people who’ve lost somebody close to Parkinson’s, so I’m bringing some awareness to it,” he said.

According to information from the APDA, the disease affects approximately one million people in the United States. Parkinson’s disease has no known cure and usually strikes adults over 50. Symptoms included tremors, movement difficulties, sleep problems, anxiety, and depression. Complications from the disease lead to death in its later stages.

The APDA said research points to genetics, environmental toxins, or repeated head injuries as possible causes.

“We’ve also set a goal for $50,000 that we’d collect and get donated. I’m happy to say we’re at $44,000 or $45,000 already, so, we’re feeling good about that.”

‘Wonderful people’

“Plus, all of the wonderful people I’ve met are incredible,” he added.

Adkinson said people have even stopped him along his route on Highway 2 to give him donations.

“I’ve been stopped and people have brought me popcorn,” he said, smiling. “People brought me brownies, beef jerky, and different things along the road.”

Adkinson said he and his wife checked with highway patrols in the five states he planned to travel through before they decided on Highway 2.

“Everyone said, ‘Stay off the interstates; don’t travel at night; use the shoulder when it’s available and have a fluorescent orange triangle on the back of your trailer for safety and have flashing lights on the tractor,'” he recounted.

“And one other time, we’ve traveled on Highway 2. And we had such a good time when we took it,” he added. “So, it was a no-brainer. It also gave me the opportunity to visit smaller towns and visit with people and meet people.”

On the road, Adkinson said drivers have been courteous.

“Everybody’s been wonderful,” he said of those who shared the road with him. “There have been truckers who’ve shaken their heads, probably, but nobody’s given me any kind of grief.”

Help from business

Adkinson noted, “One of your businesses here has been instrumental in helping me all the way across the state. That’s Gooseneck Implement.

“They’ve been good donors and they’ve provided me with anything the tractor’s needed for this trek,” he added.

Adkinson’s social media pages document how employees from Gooseneck’s Williston store escorted his small tractor into town through heavy rain.

“They’ve gone way beyond our expectations. They’re an incredible organization,” he said.

Gooseneck also presented Adkinson with a $750 donation to the APDA.

In Rugby, Adkinson made sure to snap a photo for Facebook of the Geographical Center of North America monument at the intersection of U.S. Highway 2 and North Dakota Highway 3.

“We’re on Facebook extensively, with pictures and stuff that I do – little videos during the day,” he said. “And we’re also on Instagram and TikTok. So, that’s been where we’ve gotten thousands of followers.”

Adkinson added the majority of his donations for Parkinson’s disease have come through social media.

He said people can donate to his ride by visiting apdaparkinson.org/Northwest and clicking the “Donate Today” button in the green box near the bottom of the webpage. Information on donating and more is also available at www.facebook.com/tractortripforparkinsons.

Adkinson said he hoped to arrive in Perch Lake by the weekend of June 25. He added his family would be there to greet him and celebrate with a get-together.

Next, he and his wife would travel back to Bellingham by more conventional means.

“Part of the idea was my brother-in-law would buy the tractor when I got there,” Adkinson said, adding with a smile, “Although, he told the media that was if I didn’t wreck it.”