US pumpkin grower Travis Gienger had no idea he was about to enter the history books, when he drove 35 hours from Minnesota to San Francisco.
He set a record for the heaviest pumpkin ever grown in North America earlier this month with his 2,560-pound gourd.
The horticulture teacher has been growing large pumpkins for years.
Travis told Moncrieff this takes a lot of effort.
"We have been breeding them for years and cropping different plants to get the biggest and best traits," he said.
"You can't just take a store-bought seed and probably do this, but needless to say [you need] a lot of fertiliser, a lot of water, proper pruning, care."
Travis Gienger's pumpkin is forklifted to be weighed at the World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-off in California. Picture by: Terry Schmitt/UPI Credit: UPI/Alamy Live NewsHe said you have to be prepared for big results.
"When you start it, you got to think about 'I've got a 6x6 space, a couple of metres big by a couple of metres big there'.
"We loaded it on to a trailer and drove 35 hours to San Francisco... even a pinhole crack in it, or anything and you're disqualified.
"Not only that but it's losing weight going down the road once it's picked from the vine; so, we had to wrap it and keep the wind off of it and keep the moisture in it.
"We put wet blankets over it and wrapped it with Saran wrap around and then tarped it."
Travis said it will soon be in the history books: "Next week it'll be carved for the Guinness Book of World Records: the largest jack-o'-lantern ever."
