1.17.2012

License Plates
I collect license plates. I have since I was about 12 years old. It all started when I pulled an old rusty piece of metal off my grandpa's old trailer that was decaying out in his pasture one summer while in Canada for a family reunion. I took that old Alberta license plate and cleaned it up a bit, and from that summer day on, I've collected license plates. When I got back home to California I had a conversation with my scout leader who happened to be one of the coolest old men in the world (he restored old cars, was a world war two vet, and had the sweetest wife a man could ask for) and mentioned the license plate I had found and how I wanted to find more like it. He had started a collection over the years in his garage and told me some of the stories behind his coming across some of them. It was fun to think of the future collection I would have. A couple weeks later I got a package in the mail. He had sent me a few old plates from his collection. It was better than getting gifts on Christmas or my Birthday because it was totally unexpected. I thanked him and from that time on I collected license plates.

Whether it was my grandmother finding them at the flea markets she would go to, me finding them on the road, or some other random circumstance that would bring me in contact with the newest piece of my collection, I continued adding to my quiver of plates.

The four you see up above are the latest I've found. The Hawaii one was inherited from The Goat House, the place I lived in Hawaii for several years. The other three were found in antique shops in Montana and Alberta over the summer. I don't know exactly how many I have but it's somewhere around thrity or so. I can't wait to have my own garage so I can hang them up in the rafters like good 'ol Scoutmaster Perry. Seriously though, I look forward to having my future garage more than my future house. I'm a weirdo.

2 comments:

IHLolofie said...

What a fun thing to collect! My uncle also collects license plates AND has them in his garage. Where are you right now? Don't know if you're near or if you even want it but I have an Idaho plate for you if you don't already have one. I had to get Hawaii plates when I registered my car here on the island. Let me know!

Marilee said...

Brother Perry, the best scout leader of all time!