Peanut Farmer Turned World Leader Now Carving in His Eighties

"It's a tricycle, Mr. President, you're on a tricycle!”

“They call it a Trikke, yeah,” said Jimmy Carter, former president of the United States. He was carving around his property in Plains, Georgia, educating CBS reporter Leslie Stahl about the Trikke's virtues (and its very existence) on the long running news show 60 Minutes (original airdate: September 19, 2010). [See video at the end of this story.]

"It gives you a workout from your ankles all the way up to your shoulders and your neck,” added the man who served as leader of the free world from 1977-1981. “There's no jarring to your joints and that sort of thing.

Stahl was unconvinced, even though she's much younger than Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, now in their mid-80s. Even after Rosalynn told her it was “great exercise” and offered Stahl a test-drive.

"No, I'm afraid,” said Stahl, a reporter who's braved the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan. “I'm a wimp.

While Stahl didn't try the Trikke, in all likelihood, she did exposed more people to the three-wheel wonder than anyone else to date. Deemed the most successful show in television history, 60 Minutes draws an average of 13.2 million viewers, numbers that dwarf the competition on both network and cable TV.

The Trikke's less than two minutes of fame on the popular news show also created a buzz within the Trikke world itself, becoming a hot topic on TrikkeTalk, the first online gathering spot for trikkers that has since been taken offline.

Many Americans remember Carter as one of recent history's most unpopular presidents, given the way the Iranian Hostage Crisis overshadowed his administration. However, as Carter himself pointed out on his book tour for White House Diary, he passed more legislation than nearly every president of the last century, meaning the peanut farmer from Georgia had one heck of a batting average when it came to getting things done.

Since his tenure in the White House, Carter has gone on to make Nobel-Peace-Prize-worthy contributions to the world through the Carter Center. In partnership with Emory University in metropolitan Atlanta, the Center is committed to human rights and the alleviation of human suffering, and seeks to prevent and resolve conflicts, enhance freedom and democracy, and improve health.

But as far as trikkers are concern, perhaps one of President Jimmy Carter's finer moments came during his 60 Minutes appearance, where he help to educate America about the wonders of the joyride of the 21st century.

Now if only someone can get Leslie Stahl on a Trikke.

More Presidential Carvings:
Teaching the President How to Ride a Trikke
The Son Who Gave the President a Trikke