Write-Ins
 April
29, 2009: “I
found you on the web after watching the news program. We are in Burnsville,
NC. 28714. Maybe someday we'll do a road trip out west!” - Doreena,
Burnsville, North Carolina
April
10, 2009: “I've
never had the pleasure of visiting Pinedale in person but... I found
your website and visit there at least twice a week.I correspond occasionally
with some really sweet people there. Love it. My connection in Pinedale
will e-mail me when she thinks there is something that I need to see
right away. I'm from a small town in northeast TN. called Elizabethton.” – Beverly
S., Elizabethton, Tennessee
April
4, 2009: “I'm
coming to Pinedale in May and I'm from Michigan!!!”
Melissa, Troy,
Michigan
 February
14, 2009: “We
were in Pinedale on January 30 - February 1, visiting our son and his
family.” – Dave & Susan D. Dickinson, North Dakota
January
1, 2009: “I lived in Rock Springs
for a while and came to Pinedale a few times... loved it. I keep Pinedale
and Bondurant on my webcam list now. My wife and I returned to The Woodlands,
TX (50 miles N of Houston) and decided to play your license plate game
here. The first 4 months we found all but one state, W Virginia. Do they
have cars? We started Feb 1, 08 and now is Jan 09 and still havent found
WV. The game is fun. I miss the country in WY... Thanks” - Michael
M., The Woodlands, Texas
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Editor's
Note: We began our "50 State License Plate Survey" in
2002, with this being the 7th year of the survey. It started as
a fun way to show how many people come visit, or pass through,
our
little
town each summer. Doing it has become a tradition for many families,
including ours. This particular survey was also being done as therapy
for Dawn's Mom, Louise, as part of her outings and recovery from
a stroke she had just before 9/11. She was the official tally taker
of
the plates as we saw them in our drives around town. It helped
her relearn letters and numbers. She passed away in March, 2007,
and
now part of our reason for doing this survey is in memory of all
the good
times we had doing this with her.
We
continue the tradition each year as a fun way to connect to all the
wonderful people who visit Pinedale each year. Originally, we restricted
ourselves to just looking in Faler's General Store parking lot (the
building with the big fish on top). Pretty much everyone goes to Faler's
while they are here, and it usually doesn't take too long to get all
50 states, but we kept getting skunked by Hawaii, Delaware, New Hampshire
and Rhode Island. Faler's sold at the turn of this year to a company
called Ridley's Family Markets. A sign of changes in Pinedale over
the years. Thanks to the folks at Falers and Outfitter Liquors for
your calls and e-mails to let us know when you saw one of our missing
plates in your parking lot!!
Over
the years, we had to expand our search beyond the grocery store parking
lot. Some
of the harder states kept showing up at the laundrymat by the Post
Office, or parked in front of the Cowboy Bar or Bottoms Up Brew Pub,
but we missed seeing them at Faler's. Because we really hate to lose
knowing those plates were in town, we expanded our search area to include
anywhere in town and other areas, like nearby trailheads, up by the
big lake, and the bars and laundrymat!
In
the past, we've started our survey on
Memorial Day weekend at the end of May. Last year we bumped it up to
start on February 1st. This year, we're starting on January 5th to
give ourselves more chance to find Hawaii, Delaware and Rhode Island.
For
any viewers who want to make sure we count you and your vehicle, you
can stage a photo as "proof" you were here. Take a picture of your
vehicle and plate with one of our recognizable buildings in the background
(put in something with a date on it that shows it was from this year,
like the latest local newspaper.)
This
is not at all a scientific study, but is just for fun, so watch our
map and see how quickly we find all the states this summer!
Thank
you to everyone who has joined in our survey and sent us your notes
and stories!
Dawn
Ballou, Editor, Pinedale Online!
For
pictures of the license plates for all 50 states, try these sites: c2.com, PlateShack.com
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