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Nora's Walkmobile
When his wife, Nora, suffered a heart attack a few years ago and was told by her doctor to walk 2 miles every day, Chris Amacher, Marshall, Ill., built her a "self-walker", al-lowing her to get the necessary exercise in even the coldest weather.
"Nora's Walkmobile," as Chris calls it, is a "labor of love." It's
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Nora's walkmobile AG WORLD Ag World 12-2-19 When his wife, Nora, suffered a heart attack a few years ago and was told by her doctor to walk 2 miles every day, Chris Amacher, Marshall, Ill., built her a "self-walker", al-lowing her to get the necessary exercise in even the coldest weather.
"Nora's Walkmobile," as Chris calls it, is a "labor of love." It's heated, has plywood sides and a Masonite roof, and measures 6 ft. long, 4 ft. wide and 6 ft. high. It's attached to a 3-pt. hitch-mounted bale fork behind the Amachers' Massey Ferguson 85 tractor. The house has windows on 3 sides, and a curtain draped over the rear opening. As Chris pulls "Nora's Walkmobile" along the Amachers' gravel lane and blacktop road in front of their farm, Nora can walk to her heart's content - there's no floor between her and the road. "In case I'd accidentally fall down, the rear curtain would just go over me," says Nora, who wears an insulated vest and coat while walking. "If I get tired, I can sit down on a seat and cushion mounted in the shed's front corner."
To provide heat, a 4 in. corrugated plastic tube extends from the- tractor's enclosed manifold back to the house. An old car heater, equipped with a switch for high or low setting, is used to regulate heat. "You'd be surprised how much heat comes in," says Nora. "The outside temperature can get down to zero and it's still warm inside the house."
Sunshine coming through the side windows also adds heat.
To keep himself warm while driving, Chris added an enclosed cab to the previously open-air tractor. He can look back through the rear window, and through the shed's front window, to see how Nora is doing.
"Walking Person" signs are posted atop all 4 sides of the cab, as well as in front of the tractor. On the rear side of the shed, there's a slow moving sign, as well as flashers and tail lights.
A front-mounted blade clears snow off the road.
For more information, contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Chris Amacher, Rt. 1, Box 240, Marshall, Ill. 62441 (ph 217 826-2487).
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