Old Tractor Across Country

sourgum

Member
This outfit is heading across the country after having started at Sarasota, FL about a month ago. Old John Deere A with a truck cab mounted on it. From pictures it looks like the alternator or generator has been up sized to handle the lights from the camp trailer behind it. And there is something like a tom-tom navigation display in the cab with GPS route headings for the driver. There are twin straight pipes coming out the hood if you look closely. There maybe other mods made to the tractor not obvious to me, but you have to be pretty brave to head across country on an old rig like this. There appears to be no support vehicles following him, so he does his own flat tire changes on the camper and minor mechanical work when he can handle it. He is making maybe 50 miles a day and was in Vernon, TX yesterday. He collects money for a fund drive for US veterans just about wherever he stops. Got to give the guy a big E for effort and a bunch of credit for what he is doing.
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Any good fund raiser gets a big E from me.

I really like the cab on the A. Gives me hope I may have a gas tractor with a cab.

However, no support or excort vehicles may be very dangerous for a slow moving tractor.

Cops have a bicycle ride fundraiser. One was killed in an accident. Good ideas to raise money may be dangerous, especially the way some people drive.

The other day I was working in the yard close to the road. A guy in a pick up goes flying by me. Didn't even get in the left lane. That's scary.
 
Is this the same guy that drove to Alaska on a tractor and wrote a book about it? He was doing it as a something of a Christian evangelistic effort, I believe.
 
I have posted about Ivan on here before. In 2014 he drove the same rig from Pennsylvania to California , backed the rear wheels in the Atlantic and wet the front wheels in the Pacific. I met him when he traveled through Indiana. This trip is going a Southern route.He writes a Blog most days and if you sign up you will get an email every few days. As to safety he rides the berm as much as he can. His website is a good read. And for a good cause.
If you click on the "map" it will give you a real time as to where the tractor is. joe
here
 

Many, not all, of those lone wolf charity fund raisers are scams. They deduct their "expenses" from the take before anything goes to charity, and their expenses are usually pretty darned high such that little to nothing goes where they claim.

God bless you if you donate to vets, but there are established charities that are audited to maintain their tax exempt status, and you know where your heard-earned money is going, including what the percentage for overhead amounts to.

If he is a traffic hazard I hope the cops give him a real hard time.
 
His charity is listed on the website posted below. The charity has tax exempt status from the government. His fundraising trip is not a scam. It is a bucket list thing for an old retired guy to do something for others who maintained our freedoms, maybe made it back here in not such good shape. His track record from the 2014 cross country trip was donating 140,000 dollars, all the proceeds from the 2014 trip to help injured veterans. The police have stopped him multiple times out of curiosity but not for any traffic violations. They want there picture taken with him and to be associated with his effort. Some of them give him their cell phone number and say you call me if you need anything I got your backside covered in this county. Most of the campgrounds where he stays give him a campsite free of charge each night. So he has very few expenses, his time he donates for free.
 
Ivan funds everything out of his pocket, 100% of the donations he collects goes straight to Wounded Warriors- If you ever have a chance to meet him you will be impressed.
 
It sounds like fun, other than dealing with traffic. I think it would be neat if there was an off road trail across the country, such as following as close as possible to old trails, like the Oregon Trail. Then I'd like taking my utility atv or a utv with a small trailer/camper attached and set out- provided it was a group effort.
 
Geo-tho,[no support or excort vehicle]he is 8' wide, I go down the state hyways 12' to 16' wide several times a week, its called farming, thats how we get it done!!
 

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