Cross-country Lawn Mower Man Not Out To Cut Grass

Gary Hatter, 46, of Champaign, Ill., has already driven more than 900 miles on his trip that started June 1 in Portland, Maine. He has traveled through Boston, New York City and New Jersey before reaching Philadelphia on June 18. His plans were to move south toward Baltimore and Washington on June 19. In the photo above, Hatter drives past the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City June 14.

Hatter has driven all of that way and has yet to cut a single blade of grass. "I haven't had a chance," he said. "The first part of the trip, it did nothing but rain, and there's been nothing but concrete since."

The primary goal of Hatter’s adventure is to raise money for a third back operation, following two failed operations to remedy the spinal disk degeneration he suffers from. He injured his back unloading milk 21 years ago as a truck driver and has been unable to work since. The operation will potentially stave off nerve damage that doctors have told him could leave him paralyzed. Hatter said he has raised several hundred dollars through donations and selling autographed checkered flags for $5.

The current world record of 4,039 miles and 51 days of straight driving on a lawn mower is also at stake. Hatter expects to break that record sometime around Aug. 1, but said that it is only a rough estimate that depends on driving conditions. Reaching the 14,000-mile mark is even harder to estimate.

"We were shooting for the middle of October, but I think realistically we're looking at more like Christmas," he said.

Hatter’s 17-year-old son, Gary Jr., follows along in a car for safety, and police escorted him through the Lincoln Tunnel to get from New York into New Jersey and over the Ben Franklin Bridge from Camden, N.J., into Philadelphia. The safety conditions are necessary as Hatter is traveling approximately 9 miles per hour. That’s not a particularly high speed, but it is much more difficult to drive a mower on the road compared to driving it on a yard, according to Hatter. "There's a lot of concentration, a lot of focus, you've got to know what you're doing all the time," he said.

The initial expectations were to travel 100 miles a day through the Northeast, but Hatter said he isn't even close to that in urban areas. "Every time I hit a stoplight red and have to sit and wait – I'm only going 9 miles an hour to begin with – and that cuts me down to about 5 or 6 miles an hour," he said.