After logging a couple of hundred thousand miles in the air and on the ground and visiting with nearly a hundred Walker operators, I have a confession to make. I have not been writing about a mower. Instead, I have been writing about the people who do the mowing. But if you’ve been a Walker Talk reader over the years, you know that.
For my money (and speaking for the Walker family, too), this magazine has never been about mowers; it has been about the people who operate them. Mowers can’t talk. People can, and they’re the ones who make for interesting reading. To complete the thought, I have met some interesting people over the years.
If there is one common denominator in the stories, it is simply that Walker operators represent a cross section of the industry. Stories have been about large companies, small companies, minority-owned businesses, institutions, corporations, cities and just about any property where there is grass to be cut. There is no doubt Walker Mowers have their niche, but at the same time, people in all walks of life have found very agreeable applications for the “little yellow machine.” Not to say every interview was conducted in agreeable weather. Contractors have talked with me about their mowers and their businesses in the middle of snowstorms and downpours. Other interviews have been conducted in the middle of the desert. One contractor, I recall, talked about recently moving to Phoenix from Bermuda. He said it took him months to adjust to the “dry” heat. In fact, he spent the first few weeks running between buildings because he couldn’t take the sun and heat.
Beware the Weather
No matter where I traveled, weather was always a concern. Images are always more colorful when the sun is shining, and I wanted to capture people in action. As the saying goes, be careful what you wish for. After shooting who knows how many rolls of film, or more recently, digital images, I never adapted to how fast operators mow. I would walk one way around a house or property, only to find the lawn already mowed there and by the time I retraced my steps… You guessed it, the lawn was cut there, as well.
I always faced a similar challenge when it came to taking photos of operators handling clippings or picking up leaves. After giving instructions on what I wanted an operator to do, he or she would do it, instantaneously, and I would be left standing there looking foolish and looking for another photo opportunity.
Animals provided a recurring theme on Walker trips. I have toured a koala bear park and touched a kangaroo’s nose in Australia, and tip-toed around alligators in Florida. During one interview, a Walker user was giving me a driving tour of his properties when I casually asked if any of his employees had ever been bitten by a snake. “Never,” he responded. Never, that is, until 10 minutes later when he answered a call to take a crew member to the emergency room. Snake bite, of course.
Cemeteries and More
When you cover stories about maneuverable, compact mowers, chances are you will see your share of cemeteries. I don’t recollect offhand how many cemeteries I have visited, but a dozen would be a good estimate. One visit was accompanied by a ghost story. Three apparitions dressed in Civil War garb, I was told, made their way around the headstones presumably checking on friends and relatives. Rest assured I never saw them. If I had, someone else would be composing this article. My wife was treated to an unexpected tour of a crematorium in New Zealand. The cemetery manager’s office was adjacent to the crematorium and he had a window that overlooked the facility. Just as we walked in, a body was being… well, you can guess, and Ann May never accompany me on another Walker story.
Walker Talk stories were always full of surprises, and lots of food. Sharing a meal is always a good way to relax and talk about business. One dinner meeting in a restaurant was interrupted when a contractor’s competitor approached and quietly handed me a note. It read, “If you want the real story, come and talk with me.” Supping another evening at a popular tourist attraction in Texas, a contractor’s family and I observed a slight-built German visitor attempt to down a 72-ounce steak in an hour. Success meant the meal would be free, a $50 value. He never made it, but a documented rumor told of a major league baseball pitcher who consumed a similarly huge steak in only 9 minutes. Another rather stout patron had won two meals by devouring two steaks in the allotted time.
More than a few contractors have invited me into their homes for breakfast. I have flipped pancakes in Washington state and “flipped out” when a kind couple in Australia offered an “Aussie” version of scrambled eggs. Trust me, they are not what we are accustomed to. My wife and I have tasted wine in a vineyard, consumed cookies and milk in a church, and eaten for “half price” at restaurants where the grounds were maintained by a Walker Mower. Bet you didn’t know your mowers had that kind of pull!
By the way, after traveling the equivalent of several times around the world looking for Walker Mowers, I have never been taken seriously ill on a trip. Oh yes, I have been air sick, car sick, sea sick and only once… food sick, and that had nothing to do with eggs.
Love of Equipment and Life
Among traits many Walker users share is their industrious nature and love for their equipment. Some of the story subjects were tinkerers, too. Here is an excerpt several years back, and this is typical of so many Walker users. Referring to a couple in Kansas, the story reads, “They custom-design and build their own trailers. And they have made several attachments for their Walker Mowers including an aerator, a sprayer and a fertilizer spreader. They have also tailored an enormous leaf-handling system for their trailers, customized software for their business operation, built their own operating and storage facility, and designed and built a couple of jacks to facilitate servicing their Walkers.” This would be equivalent to a lifetime of accomplishments for me. For them, it appeared to be a proverbial walk in the park.
In reality, that is what Walker Manufacturing, Walker Mowers and Walker Talk were and still are all about. The mower is only a means to an end, and that end is to help owners and operators make a better life for themselves and their families.
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