Drive Time

In Idaho, during my teen years, I used to drive a delivery van for a local office supplies place and had a route from Rexburg to Idaho Falls, which is about a half-hour drive one way. To stay awake, I often took a large bag of baby carrots and graham crackers to munch on. At one point, I even tried listening to audio tapes of the Book of Mormon (didn't Mark Twain once call the Book of Mormon "chloroform in print"? The audio tapes didn't do much to change that--maybe they should have Jim Dale read it...). But most often, I would play what I guess you could call the "even sum game" with the license plates, which in Idaho generally had 5 numbers or so, and, off to the left, a one-number and one-letter abbreviation that would tell you what county the car was from. I would try to add the numbers to two equal sums. Exciting.

Nevada, unfortunately, has license plates with three numbers and three letters. Doesn't make for exciting math (or math that's far too advanced for my brain). So, I've turned to word games. I've been fascinated with palindromes for a long time, regardless of how nonsensical and weird they are. I even bought a collection of them, called "I Love Me, Vol. I", which happens to be a palindrome. Here are some of the fun things I've noticed while driving:

While not a palindrome, the local shopping center Boca Park spells (albeit poorly) "Krap a Cob" backwards.

If you switch two letters in the street "Anasazi", you could spell the much more menacing "As a Nazi."

A very Las Vegas palindrome I found: "Casino: On is A/C." And, since it's 105, that is almost always appropriate.

This one doesn't make a lot of sense, but it talks about different types of cars that people drive: "Navajo? A Toyota. O.J.? A van."

A memo to Avon about a likely opportunity to sell more makeup: "Avon. Re: Pus Supernova."

I wrote this one tonight: "'Tis I! So, cat....Tacos, is it?" I like this one--probably because I like the idea of someone talking to their cat about what might be for dinner.

One of my co-workers commented, after I had told her excitedly about my palindromes, that "you like all the weird stuff about English." I guess she's right. But at least it keeps me awake while I drive.