Summer is but a fading memory as we've now hit October. Many of the out of state plates we saw in abundance back in July are now long gone. It's all Wisconsin now and a few random Minnesota, Michigan, and Illinois plates.
Hope of finding our last plate has disappeared for this year.....perhaps next Summer we can give it another go is our prevailing thinking.
So on this Wednesday I just picked Harper up from school and we needed to pick up a golf trophy I had engraved. So we are making our way down College Avenue and I just happen to be looking out the right side of my car and I glimpse what I'm almost sure was a District of Columbia license plate parked right in front of the Chase Bank. So I pull around the next corner, pay the meter (good for 8 minutes), and walk with Harper back to where I saw the car. Sure enough, that's what it is! I have literally found the oasis in a barren desert of America's Dairyland plates. Harper nearly shrieks when she sees it.....even she realizes how rare this is.
I see they have 22 minutes left on the meter. I quickly snap a picture of Harper by the plate. If you click on the picture to enlarge it you can notice the chocolate smudges on Harper's face from the granola bar she just ate. Next question is how do I get Sawyer's picture by it since that would officially conclude this quest.
I decide to hang out for a few moments to see if they show up which I expect considering how much time is left on the meter. I then realize my meter has probably ran out. So Harper and I race back to my car and put in another 2 quarters.....hoping that while we're gone they don't come out of whatever building they are in and leave. The car is still there as we round the corner so we are in good shape yet.
So we start hanging out and Harper is being great considering this has to quite boring for her.....but she manages to keep herself occupied.
Unfortunately, I soon become a sitting duck for 2 young guys preaching about the Book of Mormon. One of them is named Elder Orson and the other one's first name is also Elder but I can't remember his last name. They are from the church of latter day saints. I am soon reluctantly immersed in a one way conversation about some guy who created the Book of Mormon in the 1800s. I'm laughing inside thinking about asking them to pose for a picture for the blog. I did get Harper's picture with the book after they left. At this point she was getting annoyed and she refused to smile or look at me for the picture.
The meter expires for the District of Columbia car and I pump in another quarter while we continue to wait. Another 15 minutes go by with no sign of them. Now it's time for a note on the windshield which thanks to the Book of Mormon I now have plenty of sheets of paper to write on. I transcribe this note.
The meter expires again and I put one more quarter in it. I then start to put this note under the windshield wiper when 2 young guys show up. They are predictably giving me some quizzical looks as I launch into the License to Smile 50 story. They seem slightly impressed I got a rather cool 'cool' from them as they then told me they were leaving right now for Chicago.
I was hoping they'd be in town for just a few more hours when Sawyer gets out of school. But no such luck. A part of me wanted to see if they would follow me to his school and I could pull him out of class to get the picture. But I thought that might be a bit much to ask.
I'm thinking finding another one all the way up in Northeast Wisconsin may also be a bit much to ask as well. But we've had plenty of twists and turns in this quest already so I suspect more surprises are on the horizon.
