Tractor tour raising awareness for Parkinson’s passes through South Dakota

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) - A Washington man is making a cross-country trip using an unconventional form of transportation for an important cause.

On Sunday, Mike Adkinson arrived in Sioux Falls after beginning the tour from northern Minnesota.

The story begins when Adkinson was planning to sell his brother, who lives in Minnesota, his tractor. Sadly, his brother was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease.

Last year, in an effort to raise awareness for the disease, Adkinson began traveling backroads across the country at 13 miles per hour on his tractor.

“When my brother Dan got Parkinson’s, it hit home of course. You’re kind of lost as to what to do and how to help. This was one way I could do that,” Adkinson explained.

He’s making the trip again this year, traveling from Northern Minnesota to his home in Washington.

“We’re up to like 90,000 per year are diagnosed, new diagnoses of Parkinson’s. The awareness is: 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,” said Adkinson.

Adkinson has been on the road just shy of three weeks, and he believes he won’t reach his home until the end of July.

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