Nothing But Love :: golf blogger

License Plates

Today, I drove on the Ohio Turnpike, avoiding the road kill and rubber, past a couple of nuclear power stations, listening to the Boss on the iPod plugged into the AUX jack of the white Toyota Yaris with the peace symbol and "The Who" stickers on the back bumper. The Boss -- that would be Bruce Springsteen, not THE Boss.

The State of Ohio has about 83 different kinds of license plates for cars. In addition to the regular, ordinary, don't-pay-extra plates, there are plates for colleges, sports teams, wildlife sanctuaries, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and drunk drivers, among other types, in addition to the omni-present, mostly non-sensical vanity plates.

After driving an hour and after seeing about 30 cars with Illinois plates, I noticed a pattern. I probably should have noticed sooner, but, well, some people have to get hit over the head with things before they notice something. The Illinois plates had a group of three numbers and then a space and a grouping of four numbers.

Phone numbers.

The Illinois license plates had phone numbers on them. So, I figured what the hell. 312 is an area code for Chicago, I thought; so, I dialed the number of the license plate on the grey Chrysler Town & Country van with a fish symbol on the back, putting the 3-1-2 in front of the seven-digit number. The phone rang, and I wondered what the heck I was going to say. I had to introduce myself and tell the person why I was calling and ask if he or she had a grey Chrysler Town & Country van with a fish symbol on the back. And of course, whoever answered would ask if I was serious ... or crazy. And I'd have to figure out what to say. I know three or four people in Chicago ... maybe, by some freakish twist of fate, I'd be talking to one of them.

No answer.

Of course. Didn't I feel like an idiot. Nobody could answer the phone because they were on a road trip, travelling the Ohio Turnpike.

Posted by Bill at June 15, 2007 09:22 PM