Driving lawnmower to visit the sick brother

Alvin Straight, who is 73 and too blind to get a driver's license, on 1994 drove 240 miles on his lawn mower from northwestern Iowa to southwestern Wisconsin to visit his ailing 80-year-old brother, Henry. When Alvin Straight learned that his brother had suffered a stroke, he bought a 1966 John Deere lawn mower, got a 10-foot trailer to haul gasoline, clothes, food and camping equipment, and started driving on July 5.

On good days he averaged about five miles an hour but about four days into the trip, the engine failed on his mower in West Bend, 21 miles from where he had started in Laurens, Iowa. Mr.

Straight spent $250 replacing points, the condenser, plugs, the generator and the starter. He made it to Charles City, 90 miles from West Bend, when he ran out of money in mid-July, and had to camp out until his next Social Security check arrived.

By August 15, he had made it to within two miles of his brother's house near Blue River, but then his mower broke down again. A farmer helped him push it the rest of the way.

He inspired the 1999 film "The Straight Story