WWIIJN6
It has been a busy day. I talked my way out of another ticket (link to cop one in texas) and won $75 on a scratch lottery ticket. It is a good thing that when the police search my license plates they always come back clean. I don’t know how long I can keep dodging these speed traps though. I don’t think it helps the fact that I almost always have out of town plates when they pull me over. I know that in Indiana and Michigan, if you’re in either and have just crossed over the border, you are more likely to get pulled over if you’re an out of state driver because they know you can bring in more revenue than someone in state. I learned this from a friend who is a State Trooper. The people you meet.
License Plate and I were driving down I 24 in Tennessee the other day when we came to this little town outside of Nashville. I hadn’t been to this state in a long time and really wasn’t planning on spending too much time here. I had a friend waiting for me in Georgia who was getting ready to ship out for the military. Regardless, I ended up having to stop for gas and to get the tires looked at. While my sweet Toyota runs really well, there is only so much she can do about keeping me from hitting rocks and nails and goodness knows what else on roads next to construction sites. It all worked out though. And I came away with a great story to tell.
I filled up at a little service station that looked like it should have been closed. I’m really happy that I wasn’t. As the elderly mechanic came out to take a look at my car, he informed me that he was also the owner and the only person who was there who would be able to help him. He was an incredibly friendly man and he asked me about my out of state license plates. I explained I was heading down to see my friend before he left for his tour of duty overseas.
When I mentioned the military, this old, hunched over man straightened himself up. He asked me what branch my friend was in and I said the Army. He straightened up even farther, which I wasn’t sure was possible. He explained to me he was proud to see people still serving this land’s military after all the time he spent in it. After a few basic questions, he launched in to his story about storming the beaches of Normandy on D-Day. He was the only man on his boat to survive the landing and he was wounded in the leg as he took cover behind a breaker. He ended up not getting the bullet removed for three days. He never stopped fighting though. He just kept pushing on. That’s what they had to do to free the world from evil. He showed me the bullet casing. He keeps it around his neck. He also showed me his license plate WWIIJN6. June 6, 1944. D-Day.