BRDANY1?

For some reason, I have spent a great deal of time the last few years trying to figure out how to amuse myself while driving long distances. The incredible commute here is nothing compared to what I used to have to drive when we lived in Europe. Although I telecommuted to work then, at times I did have to actually show my face at the office, which meant driving four hours (one way) at least once every two weeks. On top of that, I also managed to conduct a research project that involved driving to schools in countries across Europe. If I ever want to make up for my carbon footprint, I probably need to plant a forest the size of a small European country.
Anyway, when driving long distances, especially on the highway, I get bored quickly. Maybe it's me, but once you've seen ten miles of half-empty highway, you've seen it all. When it comes to entertainment, the radio isn't much help. You lose signal after at most 45 minutes, and then spend every ten minutes looking for a station without static. CDs are great, but unless you want your car to look like a music store, there are only so many you can take with you, and you don't want to end up listening to the same music or book over and over again. So I discovered my absolute favorite pastime while driving: license plates.

Before moving to Georgia, Germany was my absolute favorite country to drive in. Not just because the drivers are actually courteous (unlike some unnamed countries) or pay attention to what they're doing (unlike other unnamed countries), but because of their tags. In Germany the first letters on your license plate indicate the city or county where your car is registered. So as a fellow driver, you can spend hours trying to figure out where someone with the letter "D" is from (Dusseldorf), or "HOM" (Homburg), or "NE" (Neuss). I would take great pride in figuring out which combination stood for which town by looking at names on the road signs, and seeing where cars would get on and off the highway (I was very bored). And if I couldn't figure something out, I would go home and look up the code in our "Find-it Guide" (I'm also a little over-zealous). It became quite the game for me.

Moving to Georgia meant giving up that little game of "tag". I was certain I would never find anything as entertaining. Reading off counties on people's plates just isn't as interesting, and the very few personalized license plates around here aren't enough to keep me occupied. But it wasn't long before I discovered that Georgia plates, and cars in general, actually offer a cornucopia of activities to keep my brain happy.
First, Georgia has an enormous array of special plates: university plates, military plates, and special interest plates. When you're driving down a long boring country highway, it really is strangely rewarding to figure out what the strange tag is on that car in front of you. However, this can also prove to be slightly risky; the other day I pretty much tailgated a car for over a mile, almost crawling into their trunk before I was able to see that their tag supported pediatric cancer research. What is the point of making a special interest tag if no one can read it? I also saw my first purple heart license plate just last week - when you think about what that actually means, it's quite chilling. And whenever I see an "educator" license on a car that seems to drive quite haphazardly, I always wonder what that says about our teachers :) I've seen more "support our wildlife" tags than I can count, and only the day did I learn that the cute plates that say "animal friend"are actually in support of cat and dog sterilization. I've looked online, and there are about a hundred special plates out there, and I'm guessing I'll be occupied for at least another six months.
Georgia drivers also love to put bumper stickers all over their vehicle. Coming from the woman who hated putting the parking decal on her car, I have to tell you, reading them is fun. There is the ubiquitous, but dull, "My child is an honor student at...", the more challenging "my dog is smarter than your honor roll student", the ancient political bumper stickers (this is I believe the only state where I have seen "W 04" stickers four years after the election), and if I were to get a quarter for every "support our troops" ribbon, I would be a rich woman now. There are the American Pride stickers, American flag stickers, and the "fish with crucifix". And sometimes I see a real beauty, like my old-time favorite: "cover me I'm changing lanes"
Finally, the lack of a tag in the front. In Georgia, cars only require a tag in the back, which means that most cars have an empty tag holder on the front of the car. The majority of the drivers here chose to put a personal plate in the front, and these are a lot of fun to look at. I've seen an enormous collection of sorority and fraternity plates (which sure helps me keep my Greek alphabet to date), as well as Georgia Bulldogs (the University of Georgia mascot) tags. Some people chose to express their religious views on these tags with words like "Blessed", while I've also seen John Deere tags, military plates, and those license plates that have the owner's name craftily spray painted on them. It's fun to look at the tags, and then at the driver, and try and figure out what kind of person they are - is the Bulldog-tag-man really a raging fan who tailgates every weekend? And I'll never forget the few times I saw a car that had a name like "Tracy" or "Mychelle" on the front tag, and then had a male driver.
Although I don't have a special tag, and no bumper stickers, I did contribute to this phenomenon by putting a bright pink John Deere tag on the front of my car. As a tree-hugging academic who shies away from anything country and who drives a a fuel-efficient city car I can honestly tell you I did this to amuse all those people out there like me - this will sure give them something to think about!