History Trippin' 

We’ve been having so much fun looking for license plates.  I know this is nothing new.  People who like travel games do it all the time, and it’s a great distraction for kids, but I am suddenly addicted.  There are 2 different games you can play: either see who can find the plate that’s the farthest away in a given period of time (which is good for short trips, like an hour or two) or try to find as many states as you can on your trip (which is good for long trips).  You will be amazed at how far we Americans travel in our cars!  For the second variation it really helps to have a blank map of the US.  That way the kids can keep track of which plates they’ve spotted by coloring in the states (of course the adults don’t really need a map because we already know how to color and we can probably just remember what we saw and besides, we don’t compete with our children because that would be, well, childish, right?).   It’s also a fun way to sneak in a little geography lesson.  So guess which plate I, I mean we, spotted today in Missouri?  ALASKA!  And just a few days ago we saw MEXICO!  No kidding.  My point is not, as you may be thinking, that we are easily amused.  It is that living on the road has eliminated enough stress from our everyday lives that we are able to enjoy even simple things.  It wasn't that long ago that I was so distracted and so busy that I would have overlooked something like this.  So go ahead, try it.  I know you're busy, but try it anyway.  See how many different plates you can find.  I think it might actually be the cure to road rage.