Ryan Tripp, a 12-year-old from Beaver, has the right last name. He finished a 3,116-mile trip across the country Thursday - at 10 miles an hour on a lawn mower.
The 42-day odyssey was launched to raise money for a baby who needs a liver transplant. He finished the trek in style by mowing part of the U.S. Capitol's West Front lawn while an army of photographers from all major TV networks watched.That's a Tripp trip for the record books - literally. He broke the old record of 3,034 miles by lawnmower and now makes the trip into the Guinness Book of World Records.
"We broke the old record yesterday, just outside Baltimore," said Ryan's father, Todd. "The president of Walker Mowers (who had loaned an $8,000 mower for the journey) showed up and gave Ryan the mower to keep for his own."
To prove to Guinness he broke the record, Ryan kept a log signed by people across the country that verified odometer readings. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, was the last witness to sign, at the U.S. Capitol.
"All I can say is, what a way to get out of school," Hatch told Ryan - who missed the first five weeks of school for the journey.
"I do have a lot of homework," said a smiling, sunburned Ryan.
He added the trip was rather uneventful. His lawn mower never broke down during nine or 10 hours a day driving. "I never got lost - but my dad did," he said.
His father said, "We missed a couple of signs once or twice that must have been hidden behind a bush or something. So we went a total of 20 or 30 miles out of our trip along the way - which isn't too bad."
It also rained heavily for five days. "But I just wore my rain gear," Ryan said. His dad added, "I think he liked the rain better than the heat. The days with temperatures in the 90s and high humidity in Nebraska were hard on him."
Ryan made the trip as friends and relatives took turns leading him in one car, and his father followed in a truck with blinking lights. Everyone communicated by radio. They had to stay off freeways, and they warned law enforcement they were coming. The Maryland State Patrol even gave them a motorcycle escort.
Ryan's dad, who owns a landscaping business, said, "The whole thing started one day when we were coming back from a job and my truck broke down. Instead of walking home, we decided to ride a lawn mower back. Ryan said, `I'd like to cut the president's lawn someday because I drive a mean lawn mower.' It kind of took off from that," he said. So Ryan wrote to the Guinness Book of World Records and Hatch to help arrange the trip.
Hatch said the White House said it wanted to allow Ryan to mow its lawn but worried that would lead to too many similar types of requests for access to the White House for various causes. So Hatch arranged permission for Ryan to cut some Capitol grass instead.
However, Ryan ended up at the grassy Ellipse in front of the White House anyway on Thursday because of miscommunication. When his family discovered that national press was waiting at the Capitol, they quickly loaded the mower into a trailer and drove there fast.
Ryan wanted to use the trip to raise money for a liver transplant for Whitnie Pender, a 4-month-old, and he spread cards across the country asking people to send donations to the Whitnie Pender Fund at the Utah Independent Bank, 195 N. Main, Beaver, UT 84713.
Whitnie's father, Brian, flew to Washington to give Ryan a plaque in thanks.
"This has been wonderful," Brian Pender said. "We've had people from California to Boston send letters of support and call. He's touched a lot of people. And besides the money, it's been real good for our family to help us focus on something positive."
He said his daughter has a liver disease that does not allow the organ to drain properly, and a transplant is needed in the next four to six months. He and the Tripps said they are unsure how much has been raised by the trip.
Ryan's entire family flew to Washington to welcome him, and they plan to spend a few days sightseeing before flying home - except that his father has to drive his truck and the lawn mower back to Utah.