A Trip to the DMV for New Plates

Ryan is the constant worrier in this relationship. It's not that I never worry, it's just that I'm picky about the things I choose to worry about. Not Ryan. Nope he can even invent things to worry about. It's one of his many hidden talents.

So Ryan made an appointment for us to visit the DMV. The goals were to get license plates for the Jeep and to get California driver's licenses. For the license plates part your vehicle has to pass a minor inspection, but before even showing up at the DMV your vehicle has to have passes a smog check. We passed the smog check yesterday (that was a whole other bag of nerves for Ryan).

As we sat waiting for the smog check Ryan was so nerved up I had to ask, "What's the worst that could happen?"

His answer was, "It fails."

To which I said, "If it fails we get it fixed, no amount of worrying is going to change the situation from happening and the vehicle is pretty new so I think it's going to be fine and it probably will be and then you'll have done all this worrying for nothing."

"You're probably right," he said.

"I'm always right about you not having to worry," I said.

And the Jeep passed the smog check and Ryan's demeanor had so changed he'd actually become sweet and fun again. However, by the time we woke up this morning his old cranky, worry pants were back on.

The good thing is he made an appointment. This saved us so much time. If you have to go to the DMV make an appointment. It still took us a long while, but I am certain our visit was cut by more than half just by making an appointment.

Everyone was nice, but firm. I'd say they were just a smidge friendlier than their DMV friends in Maine.  Ryan was visibly shaking as he handed the paperwork to one of the tellers. He seemed cool on the outside, but his shakiness made me realize just how nervous he was.

Our new plates. Well, one of them

But as it turned out everything was all right. We paid some money and got our plates. No driver's licenses though - the system was down statewide and there was nothing they could do about it. They didn't know when it would be back up and running - the end of the day, a week, a month, no one was sure. This wasn't a big deal. It'll just be an adventure for another time.

We put the plates on right in the DMV parking lot, probably cause you're supposed to, that and they confiscated our Maine State Registration paper.

Thank God for the tire iron because the penny, and the back end of some tweezers just weren't doing the trick!

California plates at last! See how happy he is? And he was for the rest of the day too.

Ryan was so please with getting our new plates he likened it to have a magic hat or feather because it was the key to blending in he said. "Now we won't look like pesky tourists." (Pesky was my word not his, but I just know that's what he was thinking). For the record no one out on the road has treated us poorly even when we were still rocking our Maine plates. In fact the only folks that have ever treated us like tourists are the guys who hang out on Hollywood Boulevard and want us to take a Hollywood Sightseeing Tour.

So it's official - our vehicle lives in California :)