Games.

Okay, remember when you were a kid and you went with your family on a Sunday afternoon drive?  Your dad didn't have a destination, you all just hopped into the family car, and off you went.

You meandered along two lane, unmarked country roads, enjoying the scenery;  nobody even cared if you got lost.  Every road eventually went somewhere.  Occasionally you would pass a barn where you would see a beautifully colored advertisement for some tobacco company.  Or, maybe you'd be lucky enough to have a Burma Shave sign on your side of the road, so you wouldn't have to read it backwards.

"Hardly a driver

is now alive

who passed

on hills

at 75

Burma Shave"

Oh, yes, somebody in the back seat would turn around to read them when they were on the opposite side of the road. 

"at 75

on hills

who passed

is now alive

Hardly a driver"

The trick was remembering it, to read it right after you passed the last sign.

Then there was the "Cemetery-Cow Game"

The players would count cows on their side of the road, (very tricky in a moving vehicle) often getting quite a large count.  However, if your opponent saw a cemetery on your side of the road and pointed it out, you lost all your cows and had to start over again.  The trick was to see your cemetery first and distract your opponent from seeing it.  "Oh, look, I've a terrible hangnail."

Ahhhh, those were good times.

Of course, the best game was when you were actually going on a long drive, with a destination far from home.  Like going to Ocean City, New Jersey or to visit an aunt in Indiana.  Then in a collective effort we would look for License Plates from as many states as we could.  I don't remember as a kid we ever completed a list, but it was a lot of fun looking for them, plus it helped us learn the names of the states without having to be 'forced to' by some teacher in a classroom.

I still enjoy playing the License Plate Game.  When the kids were growing up we played all the time.  The one I will remember most is the one where we actually had to touch each plate.  Seriously, if we saw one we didn't have, my husband would stop the car (often mid-aisle in a parking lot) and one of the kids would jump out of the vehicle, dash to the parked car, quickly touch it, and then dash back to ours. 

I do not recommend playing this particular version today...vehicles now have bells and whistles and you are quite likely to set off an alarm by accident.

Anyway, I still play this game to this day.  Since I don't travel much anymore, it has become difficult to see plates from out of state.  So, (more years back than I can remember) I decided to see if I could collect an entire set of plates from watching television.  It could be from the news, sit-coms, movies in any format and informational programs as well.  I simply had to be able to read, the name of the state, on the plate.

Piece of cake....

.....thought I. 

Hold on buckaroo!  This is not as easy as it sounds.  First, I printed out a list of the states, and as I found a plate, I would check it off and then write in the name of the show I was watching at the time I saw it.  Idaho--FBI Files, Mississippi--Heat of the Night,  Ohio--The Drew Carey Show.  And so it went.  I discovered this game became more and more difficult as more and more times than not, shows pixilated the plates.  Grrrrrrr.

Eventually my list shortened, I was down to Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota and West Virginia.  I was about to quit this dumb game, I really didn't have anything to prove to anybody, all I had to do was chuck the list into the trash.  However, I kept the list folded in a kitchen drawer and a couple more years went by.  Occasionally I would see a plate on TV, dash to my list only to discover it was a plate I already had.  I was very, very discouraged.

Finally I was down to two states.  South Dakota and West Virginia.  Then, while watching a mini marathon (of all shows imaginable---Monk) there before my very eyes was a vehicle with a license plate from South Dakota.  I was beside myself.  I dashed to my list, checked the state off, and added the name of the show.

Whooooo, hooooo.  I'm down to my last state.  "Come on West Virginia, I know you're out there."

I have to say I'm glad I didn't give up on this game.  It proved to me I've got the stuff to "stick things out".  It also proves I'm an idiot...who the heck expects an old woman who does nothing but ramble to still be playing a childhood game?  But, then again maybe that's the whole point, it takes a rambling old woman.

Reality is, I can't wait till I find West Virginia, I'm going to use it as the first state on a new list, and start all over again.  You have the guts to join me?  I'm betting not.  Beside, I'm betting I can complete my list before you anyway.