I'm kind of surprised by the number of
states that I saw. I'm also a little worried by some of them.
As I've done every year for almost 20
years now I've completed my annual week of counting how many
different state license plates I see in Marquette. I usually do it
during the week leading up to Art on the Rocks; since the festival
didn't occur this year, I still did it during the same week, just to
have a baseline with which to compare the numbers.
I had no idea what to expect, so no
matter what total I came up with wouldn't surprise me in the least.
In 2016, the record year, I recorded 48 different states (and 3
Canadian provinces). The worst year, 2008, at the beginning of the
Great Recession, the number was 18. And while this year's total was
much closer to 2008 than 2016, it was not the worst ever.
During the week just ended, I wound up
seeing license plates from 23 different states (and, obviously, no
Canadian provinces). The vast majority of those out-of-state plates
were from nearby states—Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and
Minnesota. In fact, I would say that 85 percent of the plates I saw
were from Michigan, ten percent from those four states, and then 5
percent from the rest. In fact, for the rest I only saw one plate
each, except for four states—Texas, Florida, California, and
Arizona.
Those, by the way, are also the four
states in the country with the worst outbreaks of Covid-19. That's
why I'm a little worried.
I mean, I'm sure the people from those
states who came to visit are clean & healthy. But when the only
states, aside from local ones, that you see multiple vehicles from
are from states where the virus is raging about, you kinda have to
wonder. Is it just a coincidence? Did they already have plans to
come here before the silliness that is 2020 started? Are they
running away to someplace comparatively clean?
I've never had to think about things
like that before when counting license plates for a week. But now I
do.
I'll be curious to see what the total
number is like next year at this time. Assuming, of course, people
can actually travel next year at this time. With the way things are
going in this country I'm not holding out an extreme amount of hope
for that, But if we can move about, will the number of states I see
be back to what's been “normal”? Will they stay down? Will the
lower number I saw this year end up being the new “normal”?
Who knew this silly hobby of mine could
bring up so many questions!
8-)
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