How many people were at the final space shuttle launch yesterday? I don't know, upwards of a million I hear. I got there almost five hours before the launch took place, so I had to find a way to occupy my time. Rather than counting all the people, I started counting cars. Well, sorta. I decided to put my camera to good use and started collecting license plates. I thought I might be able to get all fifty states, but I didn't quite make it. Alaska and Hawaii were two of the expected no-shows, but I also failed to find a few others that were a whole lot closer. No DC or Puerto Rico, either, but I did get two Canadian provinces. Let's take a look...
1. Alabama-Some states were easy pickin's, like Alabama. It borders on Florida, and it has a huge space industry, so they were everywhere. I tried to find the most interesting one I could, and this firefighter plate was it.
2. Arizona-This was one of the last ones I found late in the day. Arizona was a long drive, but probably not the longest.
3. Arkansas-That's not too far away. There's a diamond on there for the only diamond mine in the US, and it's a national park You can go there and try to mine your own diamonds.
4. California-Now that's a long drive, but still not the longest.
5. Colorado-The heat at the launch must have been murder on these poor folks. They even have snow-capped peaks on their plates.
6. Connecticut-Wherever possible, I tried to get vanity plates, or at least something out of the ordinary. I'm not sure if this was a human driven car or not. I, for one, welcome out new robot overlords.
7. Delaware-Does Delaware have anything other than plain plates? I don't think I've ever seen anything other than this color scheme.
8. Florida-I had my pick of Florida plates, so I went with a Gator plate. Go Gators!
9. Georgia-No idea what he meant by Faction. I tried to find a Gator plate from Georgia (they do make them), but I couldn't.
10. Idaho-All they have to push with their plates is potatoes? Come on...
11. Illinois-Boring...
12. Indiana-Still pretty boring. These 'In God We Trust' plates really proliferated after 9/11. I guess people didn't trust in God much before that...
13. Kansas-This appears to be the only plate I shot twice, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. I thought there's be more duplicates, but I seem to have done a pretty good job of remembering what I had shot and what I hadn't.
14. Kentucky-Another good vanity plate. If memory serves, this was on a Honda Insight.
15. Louisiana-Is it just me, or do Louisiana plates look an awful lot like California plates?
16. Maine-Lobster. Figures. We have lobsters here in Florida, too, but they don't have the big claws like that. I guess they fight less down here.
17. Maryland-Entropy, eh? Chaos.
18. Massachusetts-Another state with boring plates.
19. Michigan-When I was little, the only colored plates you saw were Michigan, and they were blue. Nowadays, every state seems to have every color. Hard to tell at a glance what you're looking at.
20. Minnesota-Maybe if we use out imagination, this could be a vanity plate. Perhaps there were 176 girls in this car. Maybe.
21. Mississippi-Is DN an RN, or is DN married to RN? I guess we'll never know...
22. Missouri-Show me something more exciting that this one. At least there's a little bird on there, but why is it hidden and small?
23. Nevada-The west coast turned out to be well represented. I thought those would be hard to find, but I think I got all but the northern plains and rockies.
24. New Jersey-Ha! Jersey represents with a nice vanity plate.
25. New Mexico-As far as I remember, this was the only plate from New Mexico I saw, and I was pretty excited when I found it. I guess I'm pretty easily excited.
26. New York-Another good vanity plate from New Jersey's neighbor.
27. North Carolina-A surfing plate from the East Coast? That's just wrong. You may as well have a NASCAR plate from Pennsylvania.
28. Ohio-Ohio is a pretty common plate in Florida. During the winter at certain spots, I think they outnumber Florida plates. I'm serious...
29. Oklahoma-This is a big improvement over the old 'Oklahoma is OK' plates.
30. Oregon-This makes two of the three west coast states. Did I find a Washington? You'll just have to wait and see...
31. Pennsylvania-Yes, folks, it's a NASCAR plate from Pennsylvania. Sigh...
32. Rhode Island-I cheated just a little on this one. All the other plates were on parked cars, but I saw this one while driving out of town afterwards. I knew I needed it, so I shot it as he drove by. Then I drove by him, then he drove by me, etc, etc, as I sat in traffic for two and a half hours.
33. South Carolina-Yes, I know you can't read it, but it says South Carolina on the bottom of the plate. Trust me.
34. Tennessee-Probably my favorite of the fancy plates, but likely not a favorite of police officers who are trying to read it.
35. Utah-This plate has been on this car for a while if it really came out in 96. Here in Florida, they send you a new plate every few years whether you need it or not. I guess the license plate people need something to do. Do convicts still make plates? I doubt it.
36. Virginia-This was the only plate whose owner I spoke to. He was sitting there outside the car, so I asked for permission before I shot it. He told me it was his wife's plate. It was a bright yellow New Beetle, in case you're curious.
37. Washington-And here's the last of the west coast states. Didn't think I was going to get them all, did you?
38. West Virgina-I put this in the same category as the 'In God We Trust' plates, very popular after 9/11, but not so much before.
39. Wisconsin-Last but not least, this is Wisconsin. I thought I was going to get to 40, but I guess not. Now, what states am I missing? Alaska and Hawaii, obviously, North & South Dakota, Vermont, Montana, New Hampshire, I'm drawing a blank here on the last four... While I'm thinking about that, how about those two Canadian provinces I mentioned.
Not just plain old Manitoba, but Friendly Manitoba.
And Ontario, another common sight here in Florida. Now what other states am I forgetting about? Wyoming? Iowa (I'm cheating now and looking at a list...), Texas. Wait a minute? How did I not shoot a Texas plate? They were everywhere! Texas has a huge space industry, so they came out in droves. Surely I shot one of those... Nope, I guess not... Somehow I suspected while I was shooting that I would overlook something simple, and there you have it. Does this count as messing with Texas? I hope not. That leaves one more state... Nebraska. There, that's all fifty, of which I shot 39 and saw one more but didn't shoot it. Not a bad haul, and a good indicator of just how many people came out for the big show.
