Texas governor Rick Perry underestimates Prius as hay hauler

[Ray Moore]

Rick Perry is all wet: You can put hay in a Prius
By John Kelso
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Sunday, July 27, 2008
While speaking to the Chamber of Commerce in San Antonio, Gov. Rick Perry made the point that Texans will continue to drive their pickups no matter what gas costs by saying: "You can't put a bale of hay in the back of a Prius. It don't work."
That sounded like a dare to me. A double-dog dare, as a matter of fact. Why couldn't you pack hay into a Prius? Heck, I'll bet you could get a small pig on the back seat of a Prius with a ramp and an electric prod.
So on Friday, I borrowed a Prius hatchback and took it out to Callahan's General Store in Southeast Austin to see just how much hay you can jam into one of these weenie hybrids.
The big problem with this experiment was finding the darned Prius. I called the Texas Department of Transportation, since I heard they had some Priuses there. But they didn't seem to want to play along and loan me one for the day. Maybe they were afraid Perry would cut off their funding if they took part in this caper.
I also called Champion Toyota on the Motor Mile in South Austin. Rick Walter, a sales guy there, said they couldn't lend me a Prius. "No, because they're back-ordered for six months," he said. Then he speculated on how much hay could be loaded into a Prius.
"I would say half a bale," he said. "I would say maybe a whole bale, if you put the seat down."
So, it was off to Callahan's General Store in a Prius I borrowed from a colleague at work. When I got to the counter, I explained to the clerk what Perry had said and that I wanted to load as many bales of hay into a Prius as would fit in there.
"That's cool," said Ivey Kapp. It was as if she deals every day with nutjobs who come into Callahan's and ask to load hay into hybrid cars. She called the store's warehouse on the phone to explain what was going on. "Go back there and ask for Geraldo, and he'll load it in there," she told me.
I drove the Prius into the warehouse out back, past the live chickens, and parked near the hay bales. Three guys working in the back started to stuff bales of hay inside the Prius.
I stopped them when they started to remove the baby carrier so they could squeeze in even more hay. I thought that might be a bit much. Although, when you stop and think about it, Cheerios ground into the car mats are even worse than hay, right?
It turns out the car salesman's estimate was way short. The three Callahan's workers stuffed three bales in the back end of the Prius, then slid another one in through the back seat and stacked it on top of the first three.
"And we can put one in the front seat," said Maurice Chavez. Soon, the three guys had the Prius absolutely jammed full with five bales of hay. Only the driver's seat remained hay-free.
Five bales of hay — that's probably a world record for a Prius, but who's counting?
"I'm glad (Perry) didn't say how many chickens can you fit in a hybrid," said Wayne Slayton, one of the three guys who loaded the Prius. "That would be a lot of mess right there."
Not that the hay wasn't messy enough. After the guys loaded and unloaded the hay out of the Prius, it looked like a farm had exploded inside the car.
I took the Prius over to the Genie Car Wash on South Lamar and had it cleaned up. I didn't want the co-worker who owned the car to kill me.
There was so much hay in the Prius that it clogged up the vacuum cleaner. Of course, I had to explain to the Genie Car Wash guy writing up the ticket what Perry had said, and why the inside of the car had all that hay debris in it.
"I just thought you were crazy," said Bryant Logan, manager of the car wash. "We get a lot of those, too."

[EJFB1029]

Well I'm glad you proved the crook Perry wrong, he has been wrong for a long time for Texas.

[sophia_frederika]

Too funny That really sounds like something my mother would do. If only there was a pic to go along with it.

[micheal]

Sometimes, Perry just makes some dumb statements. I wonder how many Texans actually every haul hay. Hauling a couple square bales shouldn't be an issue in the back (as the story said) as long as you lay a tarp or something down for the mess.

Pretty funny story though. But it really is true that this thread is worthless without pictures.

[hobbit]

Except that what I've been seeing on my roadtrip is that bales
are now these huge round rolls that weigh about ton per, which
I don't think would be too good for a prius.
.
_H*

[biff_debris]

I did the same thing with wood pellets: six in the hatch, four in the back seat and two in the front seat: that's 12 x 40 pounds = 480 pounds... almost half a pallet, and really only two "typical" passengers! Of course, they're smaller than bales, but... I can load a whole ton in the good ol' Ranger pick-up with the seven-foot bed.

Rather use the Prius for commuting and listening to loud music. Let the pick-up do what it was designed for!

[Godiva]

I hope he got pics.

I would have guessed only three.

[texdon]

Perry is right! Sure any cowboy can put hay in the wife's Prius but will spend hours cleaning it up -impractical demonstration. Toyota are you listening!!!!!! Get busy on that A-BAT!!!!!

[Kaybob]

Originally Posted by sophia_frederika

Too funny That really sounds like something my mother would do. If only there was a pic to go along with it.

There IS a photo! Simply go to Rick Perry is all wet: You can put hay in a Prius
then click on the photo to enlarge.

And thanks for posting my husband's column!

[qbee42]

Too bad he didn't have a sunroof. Then he could have filled the empty spaces with loose hay poured in from above.

Tom