Huh?

The things you see while driving around making drain snake deliveries...

Yesterday, west of Midland, Michigan, a pickup with New York plates passed me. Neither is unusual. I see New York license plates with some regularity, and my new old van is routinely passed. What caught my eye, though, was the vanity plate on that pickup. EVL DAD. Evil Dad?

I am curious what the story is behind that one.

Due Credit or Stopped Clock?

I still don't trust government. It's incompetent, and to a great degree because it tries to do things which it is incapable of doing. Education comes to mind; we've all had our share of horror stories about the DMV too I'm sure.

But in the interest of playing fair, the Michigan Secretary of State deserves props from me this morning. When I ordered my new license plate sticker online last Wednesday a window opened to tell me it would be three weeks in coming. That was an acceptable time frame, as my April birthday was just about three weeks off then.

Lo and behold, the new registration and tag came today. Or yesterday, Monday as it were. 

Well, okay, credit where it's due. Everything came in under three weeks. But I still don't trust those incompetents.

Quick change

You've all noticed I should think that when you're in Michigan the overwhelming majority of license plates are Michigan plates. Shockingly, it's the same way in other states. In Ohio most plates say Ohio. In Indiana, Indiana and in New York, New York. But get this: when you're driving and cross a state line the majority of plates changes almost immediately.

Yes, that's going to happen. But I mean it happens absurdly fast. Cross into Indiana from Ohio and in about 17 feet nearly all plates say Indiana. It's true I tell you. You would figure it would take a few miles of travel yet it doesn't. Cross a state line and bam! It's like a magic trick, the change happens so fast.

Okay, so don't believe me. But watch how quickly it happens the next time you're driving into another state. You will be amazed.

How convenient

Yesterday I renewed my license plates over this neat little thing called the Internet. It was quite convenient, especially as all Michigan Secretary of State offices are closed due to the corona virus panic attack. But I've done it in the past anyway. It's very easy. So why was I being charged $1.65 as a 'convenience' fee?

Isn't it quicker, easier, and healthier (he snidely points out) to renew this way? And I certainly do confess that I wouldn't stand in line at the MSOS for two or three hours to save a buck sixty five. Still, to do something in a manner which is quicker and cheaper for everyone (I'm not tying up an SOS employee for ten minutes) and yet be charged for it grates on me.

It's not just government agencies doing it. I go to the stadium to buy baseball tickets (when there's actually baseball that is) because I don't see the point in paying three or four bucks per ticket for the convenience of buying them online. But at least I have the option of not attending baseball games. I have to deal with the state government. A government which gets plenty of money from me anyway through the myriad forms of taxation such as license plate fees.

Rant over.

Pray for Vermont and Delaware

Yeah, I know. That's the wrong kind of lead in, especially as there's nothing that I know of wrong in Vermont or Delaware. I just need them for myself.

I play license plate bingo when on the road. As I'm coming off a long road trip, I thought I might have a chance to see a lot of plates. And I have: 48 in fact. I've also seen for the first time one from Puerto Rico, one from Sonora, a Mexican state due south of Tucson, Arizona, and several from the Indian nations in Oklahoma. Then there's the 4 Canadian provinces I've spotted: Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, and Alberta. But the 48 states I've seen constitutes a record. The best I've spotted before was 47.

So now you know what I want you to pray for. I'm on my last overnight hotel stay and will be back in the 313 tomorrow night. And I need to find plates from Vermont and Delaware to obtain the coveted perfect score in license plate bingo: to spot all 50 states.

My apologies then if I had you scrambling to find out what's happened in Vermont and Delaware. But I have about 10 hours on the highway tomorrow to find them or I will have to content myself with a mere new high score.

In case you're wondering (and I know you are) my record for Canadian provinces is 7. I do not expect to break it tomorrow.

License plate bingo

We've all played license plate bingo, right? When you're on a long road trip you try to see how many license plates you can spot from how many different states. On one trip when my family was young we saw plates from 47 states (we missed only Alaska, Hawaii, and Delaware) and 7 provinces of Canada. It's fun!

Now that I'm on the road a lot I play the game myself. I've notice some things which might help you do even better when you play license plate bingo. It all begins with paying attention to the trucks on the highway.

To begin with, you'll get Maine and Oklahoma rather easily. For whatever reason, probably registration fees I presume, an awful lot of truck trailers are plated either Maine or Oklahoma. While Oklahoma may be fairly easy to spot on cars, Maine isn't, being small and tucked away in the far northeast of the US. With this tip, it's an easy gain of one relatively hard to find state.

It's also easier to find various plates if you look for the name of the truck line. If a truck trailer is blue (although it may be white) and says WERNER, it's plated in Nebraska. If the trailer is white and says SAIA, it's from Louisiana. Heartland Express trucks are plated Mississippi. It works every time: see those trucks, you gain three states.

This works for Canadian provinces too. If a trailer says 'Moe's Trucking' it will have an Ontario plate. With Bourassa or Normandin, the plate will be Quebec. Spot Bison Trucking and you'll gain Manitoba. These work every time too.

And that's how you can gain several states or provinces easily when you play license plate bingo. But one more caveat. If at the top center of a plate you see spelled out U-T-A-H, all in capital letters, it's from Utah.

That's a joke, son.

Now go play the game and enjoy these easy and exciting tips.

The license plate change trick

You've all noticed I should think that when you're in Michigan the overwhelming majority of license plates are Michigan plates. Shockingly, it's the same way in other states. In Ohio most plates say Ohio. In Indiana, Indiana and in New York, New York. But get this: when you're driving and cross a state line the majority of plates changes almost immediately.
Yes, that's going to happen. But I mean it happens absurdly fast. Cross into Indiana from Ohio and in about 17 feet nearly all plates say Indiana. It's true I tell you. You would figure it would take a few miles of travel yet it doesn't. Cross a state line and bam! It's like a magic trick, the change happens so fast.
Okay, so don't believe me. But watch how quickly it happens the next time you're driving into another state. You will be amazed.