I like license plates. In 43 years of marriage, we have most of the license plates my wife and I have ever purchased \u2013 or at least the colorful ones.<\/p>\n
Using baling wire to attach them to our backyard fence, we have a potpourri of plates. My wife, Stephanie Moran, came west from New Jersey, and we have her vintage Jersey license plate, which is now faded yellow and black with the motto \u201cThe Garden State.\u201d We met in San Francisco. When she drove to Colorado to be with me to see if our relationship would \u201cwork out,\u201d she came over Donner Pass in a 1968 Volkswagen bug, which we christened \u201cGrumpy\u201d because of its mechanical attitude. Sometimes it ran. Sometimes it didn\u2019t. The car is long gone, but we still have the California license plate.<\/p>\n
We have a Garfield County license plate from 1976 when I started teaching fourth grade in Silt, when it still had dirt streets and wooden water lines. We have a bland, fading Ohio license plate from our years of graduate school and the birth of our first child. On the fence are two New Mexico license plates from our time in Silver City, when I directed a university museum and our second son was born.<\/p>\n
My academic career took me to Middle Tennessee State University, so on the backyard fence, we have a decade of Tennessee license plates. The plates include a state park plate with wild purple irises, the standard Tennessee plate that has a design like a soccer ball in the middle, and my vanity plate, 63 BIRD, for the 1963 Thunderbird I owned and proudly drove with the mammoth 350 horsepower engine, the tilt-away steering wheel and the taillights modeled on the afterburners of F-1 jets. Sold the car. Kept the plate.<\/p>\n
And like so many other Colorado exiles, when life and careers force us away from the state we love and we finally get to come back home, we have a few of the traditional Colorado license plates with snow-clad mountains sprawled across the top.<\/p>\n
Back in Colorado, within two days of coming home, we ditched the out-of-state license plates on our vehicles to purchase the green and white ones so we could become \u201clocals\u201d once again.<\/p>\n
License plates. We pay for them. We put them on our cars and trucks. Then after a while the plates wind up on fences, barns, sheds and all variety of objects d\u2019art. They sell in antique stores. They become collectible.<\/p>\n
In Durango at 1008 Oak Drive, Paul and Julie Booth nailed license plates all over their shed. \u201cThe shed\u2019s old and the wood\u2019s not good. So it\u2019s a protective thing, but it looks cool.<\/p>\n \u201cAt night it lights up when you shine a light on it because of the reflective paint,\u201d Paul says. So far, their shed boasts license plates from 15 states. \u201cIt\u2019s a great idea. I like the aesthetic. It gives the shed personality,\u201d Julie says. \u201cWhen friends come over, it\u2019s a conversation piece,\u201d Paul says.<\/p>\n So how exciting will it be to have Mesa Verde license plates? Native Americans agree.<\/p>\n \u201cOur forefathers settled in Mesa Verde. Although we are currently living in New Mexico, we still have connections to Mesa Verde in many ways,\u201d says Zia Pueblo elder Peter Pino.<\/p>\n \u201cOur forefathers and us as direct descendants would be honored to have a license plate acknowledging and showcasing Mesa Verde for all the world to see.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cProviding support to care for and improve the park is a priority,\u201d says Mesa Verde Foundation Executive Director Janet McFarland Burlile. \u201cRevenue generated will support the park directly. We currently are gathering signatures with the goal of having a bill in front of the Colorado Legislature during the 2019 session.\u201d<\/p>\n So help out the park. Mesa Verde Foundation board member Elaine Gunnell says, \u201cTo date, over 2,000 of the 3,000 signatures needed have been obtained either by signing our digital petition (https:\/\/bit.ly\/2CKPit3<\/a>) or signing a paper document. Both types of signatures are acceptable for the application process.\u201d<\/p>\n