Mattes's Musings by KC2GIK

90% of the time we go down to Murrells Inlet, we travel by car. That means taking first the Cape May-Lewes Ferry across the Delaware Bay. As we were approaching Lewes, I quickly noticed old blue "Welcome to Lewes, Delaware" was replaced by this new white sign with the ferry logo on the  upper right hand corner. I knew this was my only chance until December to shoot it.. My dad likes to be one of the first cars on and off the ferry, so this was an added bonus!! It's one of the advantages of being in the shotgun seat!!!!!

  I was hesitant to leave Cape May for three months because I'd miss my friends but there was a definite upside.  License plate collector and ALPCA member Jeff Francis hosts a license plate meet in January at his huge warehouse in St. Petersburg Florida. The warehouse is filled with license plates, all kinds of memorabilia  from highway signs to even a few antique cars. He also has a few phone booths, although I checked and no dial tone.  It takes days just to see everything then you get to the license plates!! I actually found one or two plates in the vast sea of tin. One of the many highlights was travelling with my buddy  Rick Kretschmer.  who I first roomed with at the 2007 ALPCA Convention in Huntsville and have done numerous trips out to Hersey  before I moved from Woodcliff Lake down to Cape May. One of the first thoughts when my dad bought the house down here was Rick had to drive through SC to get to Florida so I had my chance!! It just so hap...

Greetings Family and Friends, Here's hoping everyone had a great holiday. I can't believe another year is closed as  a new one opens. Definitely been a roller coaster around here. Between travel and writing I have certainly  kept busy. Actually I'm trying something new, writing this entry on my blog and then copying it into an email!  However as tradition, I will start with the family Chris, Natalie and the kids are all doing fine. I can't believe both Zander and Quinn are in high school. Quinn's freshman year is going well, she's likes most of her classes. She joined a travelling soccer team that has taken her to places like Florida this past spring and California the first week of December. She's taking a break for the winter, but joined the girl's basketball team. I actually should say teams because the freshman and JV teams don't have enough players so she and a few of her teammates are bouncing around between the two teams.. Dad and I actually g...

It has been a dream of mine ever since I visited my uncle out in California, not TRAVEL Route 66 entirely, but to see different parts of it. The annual ALPCA Convention rolled into Tulsa Oklahoma the second week in July. I was especially thrilled beca u se the club was supposed to visit Tulsa in 2022 however it was cancelled due to  the Coronavirus.    So three years later I finally got the opprinuity thanks to my brothe4r Pete and his -wife Sue. The planning started back in January! Since they had so much travelling to Lansing last year I thought they would like Tulsa!!! We  booked the host hotel way in advance this time, so we were right in the middle of all the action, although once again we had to  change planes, so I decided to  ditch the scooter once and for all! The walker worked perfect and since we had to change planes both on the way out and the way home, it was easier to hop in a wheelchair provided at the airports!!  We didn't argue too muc...

 This came in the mail in early Feburary of last year, it's my new membership card signifying I paid my 2024 dues to the Automobile License Plate  Association. It's especially special because it means I have been withALPCA for 30-years, I joined in 1994 when I was 16. Well I didn't "join" I received it as a Christmas gifit from my parents, but my license plate collecting story starts a full year earlier. I decided to end my 30th year in ALPCA by writing a little about how I started and then highlighting some of  entries I have written  When I was around 14 I started to pay attention to the different licenses platess on cars. First it was antique cars that in NJ had the letters"QQ" either at the beginning or the end of the license plate. Then I looked at police cars and firetrucks had "MG" and some had "CG". I later found out later in New Jersey "MG" stood for "Municipal Government", "CG" stood for "C...

Trying to start to   writing regularly on the blog  again. I have been working on other stuff like adding links and uploading more poetry, but no real enteries so I decide to put up this license pla ete meet report. Really interesting story  on how  I go t to the meet itself. Dad was planning on helping Pete work on his house. He said he wasn't going to drive back to New Jersey  all weekend. Luckily my friend John Willard lived near Pete's house and I got him to pick me up. Below is  the meet report I submitted to the ALPCA Magazine On a crisp October day 50 ALPCA members and 16 guests assembled at the Pennington Fire Company in Pennington, NJ for the 15th Annual Garden State Region Meet. People arrived before the 8 AM and were greeted with coffee bagels and doughnuts. Trading was very active as members showed off their latest finds from the car show and flea market out in Hershey, PA just a few days prior. This was the first year we gave awards out fo...

Over nine hours, 634 miles and  twenty five counties between Pete and Sue's house in Chadds Ford, PA and Lansing, MI! I got to the hotel. We did an overnight in Detroit on the way out and saw a Tigers game Delaware  CO, PA Chester CO,PA  Bucks CO,PA Dauphin CO,PA Bradford CO,PA  Fulton CO,PA Somerset Co.,PA Fayette CO,,PA Westmoreland CO PA Lawrence CO PA Mahoney CO, OH at 14:56  Manhong CO OH Portage CO OH  Trumbull CO OH Summit CO OH Cuyanuga CO OH Loraine CO OH Erie CO OH Sadusky CO OH Wood CO OH Lucas CO OH Wayne CO MI around 4PM 6/25/24 Oakland CO MI Livingston CO MI Igham CO,MI

 I have been keeping track of the counties I have travelled with a free  website mob-rule.com  for a few years now. I have updated it whenever I take a trip. nI got a lot of the counties when we drove home from Florida the year that  COVID hit, but picked up a bfew. I am disappointed that I couldn't p ick up the remaining few counties I need to cleann up Southern Florida but there's always next year!!  Been try ing t o use Google Docs to  type the list then transcribe them onto mob-rule! This has started a new traditon! Here' s the list from North to  South Sussex, DE Ann Ardel,MD Prince George Co,MD Worchester,MD Caroline,MD Dorchester,MD Prince William,VA Spotsylvania,VA Caroline,VA Hanover,VA Herico,VA S. Hampton, VA Prince George VA Greensville ,VA N. Hampton,NC Halifax , NC Wilson,NC Nash,  NC Johnston,NC Cumberland NC Claredon,SC Orangeburg,SC Sumter, SC  Berkley,  SC  Dillon. SC Effihan, GA Claridon.GA Liberty,GA Bryan,GA Mac...

My dad and I are in Florida for the month of March because the wnters in Cape May are horrible. I also can't stand dad complaining about the wind up there 24/7. So a few years ago my mom started looking at places to rent or even eventuall buy. We were down here during the very beginning of COVID so while we flew down, we drove back. Later it was  determined we would drive down, something my father always wanted to do. So this year my father was determined so with a lot of planning (not really) he mapped out a three  day road  trip fro, Cape May down to West Palm Beach. We took the ferry .over to Delaware and proceeded down to an overnight in North Carolina and another somewhere in Georgia. I managed to pick up seven new counties in Georgia and North Carolina. No bad if you ask me By now you're wondering what this has to do with my Grandma. Well when my grandparent got older they bought a house in Naples, Florida.   They beccame snow birds, just like most people ...