Jeremy Herndon

Private number plates have always fascinated me.  I like to look at other cars plates when I’m driving, or when stopped at a traffic light.  Many of them are designed to “say” something special and are easy to figure out what it is they are trying to say, like “LUV2FLY” or “IOIO” or “C-YA” or even “JAIL-B8.”  I’ve seen business vans with company plates with special designations that referenced the business.  If I had a daughter who drove a car, I’d definitely want her plate to read “JAIL-B8″ until she was 18 years old!  I’m sure she wouldn’t like it, but I sure would feel better about letting her out on her own!

Having these special plates, often called “vanity plates” costs more when you register your car.  Because of that, I’ve never gone ahead and bought one for myself.  I’ve always had other important bills that needed to be paid!  But I understand that there are several states that use the money raised by the sales of these plates for worthy causes, such as supporting youth sports programs.

I think that is a worthy cause, and I’m going to check and see if my state does that too.  If it does, then maybe I’ll go ahead and order a plate.  The challenge is in finding a plate that I like that isn’t already being used by somebody else already!

My wife and I decided to stay home for New Year’s Eve and just relax at home. We had a really nice dinner – beef stroganoff; one of my favorites! A nice bottle of wine, some home made bread. Relax by the fireplace and put on some mood music, dance a couple of slow dances.

The ringing phone blew those plans apart – my sister-in-law called us, in a panic. Her daughter had borrowed her car and hit a deer on the way home. The car is undriveable. She was calling me to ask me to go out with my truck and find the daughter and take care of the situation as best as I could. Since the accident was closer to my place than to hers it was hard to say no.

So my wife and I bundled up and hopped in the truck, off in search of the wrecked car. Sure enough, the front end was bashed up pretty good. We called for a tow truck and drove our niece back home. Thankfully she wasn’t injured herself – the deer was a large six point buck! Too bad for the deer, it didn’t survive the crash.

So the new year is off to a bad start – a car wreck on New Year’s Eve! Well, maybe that’s just a bad ending to the decade and we hope that this new year will be an improvement….

Bryce’s son Jared just bought a Honda motorcycle – a 900RR. It’s bright red, black and white graphics. Just sitting still it looks like it’s going 100 mph! It’s registered for 170 mph and he says it will do every bit of it! Better him than me! He just got done changing the exhaust over because it wasn’t loud enough. There again, he was questioned by “the authorities” but he produced a legal sticker and they told him to “cool it” and let him go. That’s a joke! But still, what a nice bike!

My friend Bryce has a new 4-wheeler. Actually, to me it’s a four-wheel drive Cadillac! It looks like a golf cart, and it’s all enclosed with a fiberglass top, windshield and doors. It has a full bench seat and a heater that you actually have to shut off even when it is cold out because you get so warm! It has four big all-terrain tires on it and you can go anywhere in the snow, but the other day, when I went over, to my surprise he had bought a conversion kit and turned it into a bulldozer! It actually has four independent tracks on it in the shape of a “V” and it really looks funny when you stare at it because the tracks turn independently on the front and you can go anywhere – and I mean anywhere!

The first one I ever saw belonged to the bait dealer in town where I live. He wanted something that would go anywhere anytime he wanted without worrying about getting stuck. The kit was an extra $3,000 but he said it was worth every penny. Now there are two of them in town! It’s camouflage green, so when you park it in the woods in the summer you can barely see it. He keeps asking me to come over and go for a ride, he says I can drive it, but I just haven’t had time. I hope to do it soon!

My friend has an ‘89 Camaro. He basically restored it – all he really needed was to pull a few dents, paint it, and replace the chrome that was worn out. But he went a little overboard – it had a small block 350 in it and an automatic transmission – when he was done (with the new paint and chrome) he added a big block 454 with a 5 speed standard. The car is gloss black, and it is hard to see at night. You ought to see it go!

For some reason, he can’t seem to keep rear tires on the car, it doesn’t matter which size. He has a problem leaving the remnants of the tire in the road where ever he leaves from! Last week he told me the State Police were getting tired of getting complaints about the noise that this car made. I said “which noise, from the tires, or from the exhaust?” He laughed and said “both!” He said that now he has to go down back roads and play with it when he wants to, and we all know what I mean by “play with” – screech screech vroom vroom! He gave me a ride in it, he’s a real good driver, but I don’t want to ride in it again!