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American Morning
Interview With Brad Hauter
Aired June 05, 2003 - 09:54 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. You want to talk about a bumpy ride? It has been a bumpy ride for Brad Hauter. What do you expect? He's been driving a lawn mower across America. Hauter is riding his power mower from San Francisco to New York, raising awareness and money to help Keep America Beautiful. We should tell you that Yard-Man is sponsoring the trip. They provided us with these pictures. Brad is on the home stretch of a 5,500 journey before he crosses the finish line here in New York City, later today.
He is joining here outside of our AMERICAN MORNING studios. Good morning, congratulations.
BRAD HAUTER, MOWER DRIVER: Thank you very much. It is pleasure to be here.
KAGAN: What's been the hardest part of this gig?
HAUTER: I tell you what, the weather on this East coast the last couple weeks has been tough. It's been in the 50s and rainy and there has been flooding, so that has made it a little bit difficult.
KAGAN: And so you are not just driving this thing across America, you are mowing lawns.
HAUTER: Yes. I think we have cut about 40 lawns so far, and one of the things that we are doing -- on our Web site you will notice our route, Yardman.com, it will show the different cities we go to -- we've cleaned up parks and community centers, and planted flowers and trees and done some projects with Keep America Beautiful and their local affiliates, and then also, we went through Arkansas and Tennessee at the same time the tornadoes hit, so we did some impromptu cleanups.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: What kind of mileage does this thing get?
HAUTER: You are not going to believe this. This is about 25 to 30 miles to the gallon. So it's better than, probably, 90 percent of the cars that are out here on the street.
CAFFERTY: And you go pulling into a gas station rest stop off the interstate and say fill it up?
HAUTER: Well, we actually -- we have a big support vehicle like a NASCAR trailer, and there is a little fuel cell in there.
CAFFERTY: All right. What's the worst thing that happened to you along the way?
HAUTER: The saddest thing, I saw a dog get hit and then the people left it, and I...
CAFFERTY: You got robbed in Texas, right?
HAUTER: Yes, that -- I guess that would be a bad thing, too. Our whole truck and trailer was stolen on Easter Sunday, and inside of it -- we found the truck and trailer dumped about 50 miles from the hotel later that day, but all of the Yard-Man mowers, the Yard-Man string trimmers, the T-shirts that we sell for Keep America Beautiful and pictures of my kids were taken.
KAGAN: Oh, no. Now, this was the second time that you've done this.
HAUTER: Can you believe it? Can you believe it?
KAGAN: What does your wife think, first of all? Do you mow your lawn at home?
HAUTER: Yes, I do. Except for this past month -- couple months, my neighbor has done it, but my wife is a wonderful woman, and she's real supportive. She's from Denmark, where they have such efficient recycling programs and the country is so well taken care of that this is a passion for her as well.
KAGAN: What do you do after this is all over?
HAUTER: I slide back into anonymity and start coaching soccer camps again.
KAGAN: Maybe you can stop by the Cafferty home and mow one more lawn.
HAUTER: Absolutely. Can I get keys to the house, because I'm going to be needing lunch too, when I'm done.
CAFFERTY: No. No. Absolutely not.
KAGAN: Wants it for free. Brad Hauter, thank you so much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired June 5, 2003 - 09:54 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. You want to talk about a bumpy ride? It has been a bumpy ride for Brad Hauter. What do you expect? He's been driving a lawn mower across America. Hauter is riding his power mower from San Francisco to New York, raising awareness and money to help Keep America Beautiful. We should tell you that Yard-Man is sponsoring the trip. They provided us with these pictures. Brad is on the home stretch of a 5,500 journey before he crosses the finish line here in New York City, later today.
He is joining here outside of our AMERICAN MORNING studios. Good morning, congratulations.
BRAD HAUTER, MOWER DRIVER: Thank you very much. It is pleasure to be here.
KAGAN: What's been the hardest part of this gig?
HAUTER: I tell you what, the weather on this East coast the last couple weeks has been tough. It's been in the 50s and rainy and there has been flooding, so that has made it a little bit difficult.
KAGAN: And so you are not just driving this thing across America, you are mowing lawns.
HAUTER: Yes. I think we have cut about 40 lawns so far, and one of the things that we are doing -- on our Web site you will notice our route, Yardman.com, it will show the different cities we go to -- we've cleaned up parks and community centers, and planted flowers and trees and done some projects with Keep America Beautiful and their local affiliates, and then also, we went through Arkansas and Tennessee at the same time the tornadoes hit, so we did some impromptu cleanups.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: What kind of mileage does this thing get?
HAUTER: You are not going to believe this. This is about 25 to 30 miles to the gallon. So it's better than, probably, 90 percent of the cars that are out here on the street.
CAFFERTY: And you go pulling into a gas station rest stop off the interstate and say fill it up?
HAUTER: Well, we actually -- we have a big support vehicle like a NASCAR trailer, and there is a little fuel cell in there.
CAFFERTY: All right. What's the worst thing that happened to you along the way?
HAUTER: The saddest thing, I saw a dog get hit and then the people left it, and I...
CAFFERTY: You got robbed in Texas, right?
HAUTER: Yes, that -- I guess that would be a bad thing, too. Our whole truck and trailer was stolen on Easter Sunday, and inside of it -- we found the truck and trailer dumped about 50 miles from the hotel later that day, but all of the Yard-Man mowers, the Yard-Man string trimmers, the T-shirts that we sell for Keep America Beautiful and pictures of my kids were taken.
KAGAN: Oh, no. Now, this was the second time that you've done this.
HAUTER: Can you believe it? Can you believe it?
KAGAN: What does your wife think, first of all? Do you mow your lawn at home?
HAUTER: Yes, I do. Except for this past month -- couple months, my neighbor has done it, but my wife is a wonderful woman, and she's real supportive. She's from Denmark, where they have such efficient recycling programs and the country is so well taken care of that this is a passion for her as well.
KAGAN: What do you do after this is all over?
HAUTER: I slide back into anonymity and start coaching soccer camps again.
KAGAN: Maybe you can stop by the Cafferty home and mow one more lawn.
HAUTER: Absolutely. Can I get keys to the house, because I'm going to be needing lunch too, when I'm done.
CAFFERTY: No. No. Absolutely not.
KAGAN: Wants it for free. Brad Hauter, thank you so much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
