Brothers set out on epic road trip with goal of seeing game at every MLB stadium
MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) - During every home stand Twins fans fill up the seats to watch their beloved team, many coming from all across the state of Minnesota.
Steve and Dave Ahart are a little different from your everyday Minnesota fans, however, simply passing through on a roadtrip for the ages.
“We were looking for a good experience,” Steve Ahart said. “It’s a once in a lifetime experience.”
The Ahart brothers are driving to all 30 MLB parks in about 30 days, and Sunday’s visit to Target Field marked stop No. 14 on their journey.
“It was basically feeding all of the schedules into a spreadsheet, grouping them together by region and pinning them together,” Steve said. “We’ve done about half of the ballparks, but only about a quarter of the mileage.”
The Aharts are only at the midway point, and there are already times where Steve and Dave can be running on fumes from exhaustion.
“Some days we go with a little less sleep than what we’d like to have,” Steve said, though their vehicle isn’t running on empty any time soon.
What makes their trek even more shocking: they’re doing all of this in Steve’s new electric car that arrived a month before the trip began.
“When Steve got his electric vehicle, he asked me if I wanted to go for a test drive,” Dave said. “I didn’t realize it was going to be an 18,000 mile test drive.”
What began as retirement celebration for Dave is now a race to the record books.
The Ahart brothers were trying to watch a full game at each MLB ballpark in a record time of 28 days, but downpours have dampened their solar-powered journey. Rain delays and postponed games are now throwing off their original plan and putting them behind schedule of their original target.
Another record is still in reach and this one has nothing to do with baseball or time. They're trying to go the distance of completing the longest voyage in an electric vehicle ever recorded by the Guinness Book of World Records.
“The record is like 13,800 and we’ll be doing more than 18,000 or 19,000 miles,” Steve said.
The adventure is fueled by clean energy and some hopes of helping Mother Nature, but a stronger brotherly bond is the real home run here.
Spending time with your brother, Dave says, is the most rewarding part of the trip.
“I think that it’s been great,” Steve added. “We’ve had a lot of time together. I don’t think we’ve been apart on this trip.”
The Aharts are also trying to raise money for Boys and Girls Clubs on their journey in each city they visit. If you would like to contribute, visit the brothers' website by clicking here.