Rural Missouri - March 2023 - 5

Missouri
RURAL
Volume 76 | MARCH 2023 | Number 3
EDITORIAL STAFF:
Caitlin Whaley, VP communications
cwhaley@ruralmissouri.coop
Jim McCarty, editor
jmccarty@ruralmissouri.coop
Paul Newton, managing editor
pnewton@ruralmissouri.coop
Megan Backes, creative director
mbackes@ruralmissouri.coop
Zach Smith, field editor
zsmith@ruralmissouri.coop
Angie Jones-Wheeler, designer
ajones@ruralmissouri.coop
ADVERTISING:
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573-659-3400
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Rural Missouri
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Rural Missouri (ISSN 0164-8578) (USPS 473000)
is published monthly by the Association
of Missouri Electric Cooperatives, 2722 E.
McCarty Street, Jefferson City, MO 65101, Caleb
Jones, CEO/executive vice president. Individual
subscription rate: $12 per year or $25 for three
years, taxes and postage included. Group rate for
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and postage, paid from equity accruing to the
member. Delivery as specified by subscriber. If not
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offices. Copyright 2023, Association of Missouri
Electric Cooperatives. Call for reprint rights.
Circulation of this issue: 579,332
RM | PERSPECTIVES
Get a horse!
by Caleb Jones | cjones@amec.coop
T
here's a funny story about a
man from Texas who liked
to brag about how huge his
ranch is. He told his friend
that if he set off in his truck at sunrise,
the sun would be setting by the
time he got to the other
side. His friend replied,
" I had a truck like that
once. "
We've all had a truck
or a car like that. It sure
seemed like that was
just about every car I
owned. At the Jones
farm we figured out
pretty quickly when
Detroit gives you lemons,
its best to just
pucker up and figure
out how to fix it.
I spent many a day
(and night), wrench in
hand, on the side of the
road learning the finer
points of repairing my
" cursed " combustion
engine. I learned how to
think on my feet when I drove home
using a fishing line connected to the
carburetor because of a broken throttle
cable in my GTO. I am positive my
negotiation skills were refined having
to explain to a police officer that my
brake lights do work but only when
the headlights are off.
As I tell these stories to my son,
Max, I'm beginning to wonder what
he is going to do when he starts driving
in a decade and his electric vehicle
breaks down. Will he get out the
diagnostic computer and make the
electrons flow again?
If Max is anything like his dad,
he is going to find some way to put a
little more pep in his electric ride for
bragging rights on the neighborhood
quarter mile. I bet my favorite catalog
from JC Whitney will even make a
comeback, supplying chips, gadgets
and floor mats emblazoned with lightning
bolts.
These fancy electric vehicles get
a bad rap with most of my gearhead
friends. They don't like the idea of
anything being forced on them, not
until you can drive to Kansas City
and back without having to recharge.
They also don't cotton to the idea that
electric vehicles are going to save the
planet - they won't.
What I can tell you is electric
My association with lemons includes this " Campaign Caddy " that
often needed a jump start.
cooperatives see EVs as a good thing
because, charged at night, they help
level the peaks and valleys that make
delivering electricity to your home
inefficient. As electric vehicles become
more common I can see incentives for
charging during off-peak hours.
While my buddy, Rusty, gets his
share of grief for driving a " space
car, " sometimes even from me, he
is helping his fellow co-op members
of Boone Electric Cooperative keep
their lights on. Electric cars aren't for
everyone today, but they may be for
our kids or grandkids. That's not a
bad thing.
Remember this: those brave early
adopters in their tin lizzies and jalopies
had to suffer the cruel taunts of
farmers driving by in their horsedrawn
buggies, saying, " Get a horse! "
Caleb is the executive vice president
and CEO of the Association of Missouri
Electric Cooperatives and a member of
Boone Electric Cooperative.
MARCH 2023 | RURALMISSOURI.COOP 5
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Rural Missouri - March 2023

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