Things you do not see until they are everywhere…
Today I had a mildly disconcerting experience while picking up laundry at the laundromat in town this afternoon. As I have mentioned before, there has been a major proliferation of those creepy specialty license plates around here in the last couple of months. Yes, this is the one with an image of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge upon it. Of course, not everyone finds them to be unsettling, otherwise they would not shell out the extra twenty bucks for the set. Anyway, as I was coming out of the laundromat, I noticed that an old truck parked next to me also had the offending plate. For some reason I almost tripped over the concrete parking spot barrier when I saw it. And then, when I was backing out, I saw something bizarre. On the back of another car there was a bumper sticker with the words “Baltimore strong” on it. That in and of itself would have drawn almost no notice from me, except for the distinctive image of the Key Bridge below the text. An image of the fallen metal monster of the Baltimore harbor on a car in my own neighborhood, far from that location. What a strange sight that was. Then, a few moments later when I arrived on the other side of town, I saw another of those creepy license plates. This one was on a car belonging to a woman for whom I will be house sitting later this month.
It is most odd how things like this seem to appear everywhere, all at once. Things you do not see or notice, until you do notice them. It’s like that old 80’s pop song “Always something there to remind me”. And how odd it was when I found out about West Virginia adding an image of their bridge to state Ids. I remember thinking it would be really gnarly if Maryland was to put an image of the Bay Bridge on a state issued license. And then suddenly, they did just that! Well, it is on a license plate design that is optional, not on the driver’s license itself. Still, close enough! Now, considering how slowly most any bureaucracy moves, I imagine that new plate was in the works for sometime. It just happened that it was revealed not long after the collapse of the Key Bridge. Speaking of that, I cannot help but wonder if an image of that fallen crossing might one day appear on some commemorative license plate. That would be totally sick and then some.
A couple of months ago I bought and registered a new car, and I was given the option of buying one of those new plates. I chose not to, as twenty dollars is money I can better spend other places. I paid enough towards taxes and tags, not including the cost of the car itself. The extra cost to get those plates is supposed to go towards conservation of the Chesapeake Bay. That begs another question. For many years now the state has offered these fund raising plates for sale, and on all previous iterations were depictions of various native wildlife associated with the bay. So then why include something man-made? When the apparent purpose of said plate is celebrating and ostensibly raising money for the protection of a natural area? There is also a blue crab depicted on this new plate, which is symbolic of the state, so I get that. The depiction of the Bay Bridge, not so much, at least I don’t think so. Either way, I cannot help but wonder if I might see a large number of vehicles with that image of the metal monster filling the parking lot for the walk across its span this fall. And what is making me curious is the reasons others might have to partake in this walk (and run, for those so inclined). There are those who participate in runs and walks for fundraising, fitness, competition and other reasons. The town in which I live has a few of these, both civic and privately sponsored, each year. Generally a portion of main street is closed for these activities. Interestingly, from one end of our main street to the other is similar in length to the Bay Bridge. However, walking (or running) this distance in town would be a lot more physically demanding as there are some pretty good hills around here. I just wonder if any walkers and runners will be there in November for the bridge itself, as I will be. My husband can’t grasp why I’d want to walk (or even drive across) the Bay Bridge, but I’ve wanted to do so for a long time. Many years ago I found out that people could walk across it one day each year, and I wanted to do it. Just for the chance to see and experience that which is familiar but in a very different way. Not unlike just driving thru a town verses parking, getting out and walking some of its streets. The Bay Bridge walk has been held on and off since the early 90’s (or maybe earlier than that). I am just hoping that the weather will hold out for that day.