Generations and license plates

A small motel parking lot in Utah. I'm closing the top box and about to walk away from our bikes when a young boy and who I assume is his grandmother walk towards me.
They are looking at all of the license plates on the cars. He is excitedly calculating in his mind and out loud which has travelled the farthest. He knows where his home is and he knows where he is now.

I call out to him whilst catching his grandma's eye. "You may want to take at look at these bikes", I say as I point to my wife's and my GS sitting quietly off to the corner of the lot.
He seems a little shy. Nonetheless with his grandmothers gentle reassurance he walks to the back of the bikes and sees the Australian registration. His eyes light up, he has made a discovery, and we talk for a few minutes before they continue on.

There are no walls in parking lots, no barriers to the joy of a child imagining the breadth and expanse of our world.
My wife and I ride motorcycles. We are part of a broader family, a larger community of peoples from places that are not solely defined by the plate on the back of our bikes. We revel in the differences, the peculiarities, the individualities within of the group.

A few days later, the news of Ali's passing came. I wondered if in his lifetime this young boy would ever know of a man like Ali.

Style, charisma, commitment and extra large huevos.
om

It must have been heart warming to participate in a young boy's excitement about working out distances and imagining what the places represented by the plates are like. I'm sure people from Australia must seem like aliens from Mars to him. Nothing like the pure innocence and imagination of a child. Good for you for participating.

I hope you will understand that some of us see very little to admire about the character of Ali. His physical abilities are without doubt worthy of admiration; his character less so.

akbeemer said:

I hope you will understand that some of us see very little to admire about the character of Ali. His physical abilities are without doubt worthy of admiration; his character less so.

Click to expand...

Well said Colonel..........few though, will understand the special relationship that those that served of their own free will during that time share, and how, perhaps, we looked down upon those who shunned their duty to OUR country. Unfortunately, that chasm is still there and I am afraid, widening.

By the way, in the MACV compound in Ban Me Thouit I shared my billet with some of the wisest and wizened warriors I ever encountered.......Aussies of course........God bless these United States........Dennis

Nice job Mark. Nothing so promising as feeding the imagination of a child.

akbeemer said:

...I hope you will understand that some of us see very little to admire about the character of Ali. His physical abilities are without doubt worthy of admiration; his character less so.

Click to expand...

DennisDarrow said:

Well said Colonel..........few though, will understand the special relationship that those that served of their own free will during that time share, and how, perhaps, we looked down upon those who shunned their duty to OUR country. Unfortunately, that chasm is still there and I am afraid, widening.

Click to expand...

So you gentlemen don't believe that one's beliefs may make them a conscientious objector?

Mod hat on >

Let's not go down this rabbit hole gentlemen

Mod hat off <

bogthebasher said:

Nice job Mark. Nothing so promising as feeding the imagination of a child.

Click to expand...

Agreed

Did he ask you if y'all rode them all the way there?

henzilla said:

Agreed

Did he ask you if y'all rode them all the way there?

Click to expand...

Not that, but he was trying to place Australia in the context of other countries he had heard about at school. Malaysia was the one he chose to compare it with regards distance.

It's strange how the world can seem so big when we are small and so small when we are big (old).
Rejoice in the differences - one world.

Last year when we were camping at Mesa Verde, a family walked past our site and the kids got very excited seeing our Alberta plates. They were playing a game to see how many different state plates they could spot. Ours were the first Canadian plates they had seen.

mcmxcivrs said:

Last year when we were camping at Mesa Verde, a family walked past our site and the kids got very excited seeing our Alberta plates. They were playing a game to see how many different state plates they could spot. Ours were the first Canadian plates they had seen.

Click to expand...

We were on the Cabot Trail and had some folks ask if we rode all the way from Texas...I told them no, we had to push them a little bit H gave me an eye roll

They thought about that and got a big laugh and more discussions afterwards

That's what I do at rallies, look at all the license plates from all over. Doesn't everyone do that?

Harry

Mark H said:

Not that, but he was trying to place Australia in the context of other countries he had heard about at school. Malaysia was the one he chose to compare it with regards distance.
.

Click to expand...

Good to know that some kids still like to learn geography. Many of the folks I know can't name all 50 states, much less try to figure out where another country is.

I'm kinda like that kid (and others here). One of my favorite thing to do at rallies (especially Horizons Unlimited) is take pictures of plates from different states and countries. Bonus points if I find a car/truck/bike at a grocery store or somewhere where there is no rally.

License plates and the like...

It's great to run into curious people who aren't immersed in their DADs (digital addiction devices), especially if they are children. I travel mainly in the western states and (due to generally lighter traffic loads on the roads I'm on) look at most license plates AND the occupants of the vehicles. One just never knows what or who is going to come into view.

A great story.

This warms my heart, & reminds me of when I was a boy and filled with wonder at the world. Distance and travel fires the imagination to this day, and the allure of travel has been in no way reduced. The little boy within me lives, and faraway places inspire wonder whether I've traveled to them or have yet to get there.

Thanks for posting.