May 19, 2004: A rural signing error near Lime Springs, at the west end of former IA 157. There’s no US 157, and even US 57 toils in obscurity. It was over 10 months after the Second Great Decommissioning, and no replacement county road signs had been put up. It was also the first day I saw $2 gas in Iowa, at the gas station at the corner here.
An essay on athletes, toughness, and determination by former ISU basketball player Lindsey Wilson. Just as interesting is the credit line: Wilson is a certified hypnotist.
The Buffalo Bill Cody home is not necessarily one of Iowa’s best-known historic sites, but it is a notable connection to the history of the West. William Frederick “Buffalo Bill” Cody only lived here for three years, though, and his family had left Iowa entirely by the time he was 7.
The name of Isaac Cody, Buffalo Bill’s father, is misspelled on this 15-year-old marker. The Scott County Conservation Department has it as “Isaac,” as does this grave marker directory.
June 27, 2009: DE 1 and US 13 cross for the last time in northern Delaware. There are four different states represented on these two signs: Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York.
Delaware was my 47th state visited — but as fate would have it the Capitol Legislative Hall was closed. That day was also the last that a gift shop near their old capitol would be open before being claimed by budget cuts.
Georgia and Pennsylvania are the only states in which I don’t have at least a fraction of a mile traveled on I-95.
August 6, 2005: I-74 near Peoria between two interstate junctions in a row, I-474 and I-155. The semi is from a company in Winfield, Iowa. An interstate intersecting two other interstates consecutively is pretty rare. In the Midwest, I-55 has a partial interchange between I-44 and I-64/70, while the Kansas City alphabet loop has intervening ramps all over the place.
From KWWL. (I’ve attempted to embed the video. Otherwise click the link.)
Since the opening of the New Hampton bypass, this was one of two four-way stops, and the only stopping points on US 63, between MN 16 in Spring Valley and the Airline Highway stoplight on the north side of Waterloo. (The other is IA 9.) This is a great development for US 63 travelers — although the morass of stoplights through all of Waterloo remain.
May 25, 2003: The now-defunct gas station on V18 at I-80 south of Brooklyn. It was in business just long enough to get rebranded to BP — that’s why I took the picture, Standards were rare anyway — but closed soon after. And to think I worried when gas was climbing toward $2… The early 2000s pictures that happen to capture gas prices are downright depressing now. (That’s another photo essay, perhaps.)
Odds appear good this won’t be repeated.
As previously discussed here and elsewhere, “new” license plates started to be issued this week. The key to the “new” part here is that this also applies to people who have kept the same plates since the late 1990s. This only covers three-quarters of the first cycle, though. Because the original issuance started Jan. 2, 1997, January through March (or April, if renewed early) registrants will hold on to theirs one more year. Based on experience, through the end of the calendar year it will be plates approximately through the mid-E’s.
Next year will be the big switch. Not only will the 1998-2003 replacement cover about half the alphabet (through the M’s at least), but all of the stamped plates like the one above will be part of it. The stock will go a little faster than the first time around, because U and V did not get kept in as options after the original sets went out to the counties.
The Gazette article also answers another question: Drivers may keep the old ones. (It would take a great deal of space, though, to collect one of each three-letter sequence.)
What is more concerning, perhaps, is the plan to have a “10-year replacement cycle.” Theoretically, that means this could go on for another 15 years — probably a little less given an increased number of vehicles — until we get to ZZZ999, and then reverse again and continue indefinitely. Are we going to be stuck with the same design for a quarter of a century? If so, that’s kind of a shame. It’s not the biggest thing in the world, but I think a redesign every once in a while, if not at least once in a decade, is a good thing.
One final thought: We don’t appear to have reached 999ZZZ yet. It’s possible a driver with an A/B/C/E plate could renew this year and bookend the series.
UPDATE: Here’s the verbatim press release (vs. the mixed news story/press release from the Gazette). It includes this:
This design remains within the recommended standards for license plate function and legibility, and the Iowa DOT plans to retain and use this design well into the future.
So yes, we will be stuck with this design for a quarter-century.
My eighth-grade algebra and ninth-grade geometry teacher will be the first principal at Ankeny’s new high school.
In other news, I’m feeling old again.
August 5, 2010: I left this picture big so you can see the “Oklahoma” inside the oddly shaped interstate shields. This is on I-40 approaching the east end of the multiplex. US 270 is hidden here.
