Matt Land, who was driving on much of Route 66 with a propane-powered lawn mower built by his employer, Dixie Chopper, is supposed to finish his 2,000-mile trek from Indiana to California this morning, reports the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal.
He was hoping to meet with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, but the guv has already made it know that he’ll be too busy. The propane mower is significant to the environmentally conscious Golden State because it pollutes less.
In the desert, he faced blowing sand and a strong headwind. In the Rocky Mountains, his riding mower hugged the edge of a switchback road that climbed thousands of feet.
“I was going up the edge of the mountains, there’s no guardrail, and when I looked over the edge there was about a 400-foot drop,” Land recalled.
In Phoenix, he was caught in rush-hour traffic and had several close encounters with cars. Most drivers were surprised to see a lawn mower traveling at 30 mph.
“They had no idea I was closing the gap in traffic so quickly . . . When doing something like this, you really get the feeling of what it’s like to be a hood ornament,” Land said. […]
In his daily blog, a week into the trip, Land wrote:
“The days are beginning to take a toll on my 44-year-old body. There were sections of the road yesterday that were pretty rough. I probably haven’t drank enough water or eaten enough. If anyone knows how to stop leg cramps, I would appreciate … that knowledge.”
Alas, Land encountered little luck meeting with politicians during his trip, although he did have an audience with Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
But Land isn’t bitter about it; in fact, he offered advice for prospective politicians:
“If the politicians of this country really want to get back in touch with what Americans want, I will loan them my lawn mower and they can drive across America. They will get the opportunity to talk with a lot of good people,” Land said.