I'd estimate that on an average 200-mile journey on the NYS Thruway, you would see at least one license plate from every state east of the Mississippi, especially during summer weekends, holidays, and other peak travel periods.
I'm sure there are other interstates closer to the center of the nation where license plate spotting is even more interesting.
Florida, especially the Orlando area, is pretty good for out-of-state plate spotting. I think we're usually able to hit 35-45 different states/provinces on our yearly road trip from Huntsville to South Florida. I-75 seems give more variety, I-95 gives you the Eastern Seaboard plates. Hawaii plates are definitely a unicorn way out there, although not so rare in California.
If you're into vanity plates, it looks like North Carolina and Maine seem to have a high ratio of vanity to standard-issue, by my unofficial estimation. Usually the bigger cities seem to have a greater percentage of them.
Texas gives you some Mexican plates (and non-USDM vehicles), but mostly in the big cities or the areas near the border.
Lastly, the rental car areas around any of the very large airports are great opportunities, although you're not quite as likely to find Montana and Utah, in Atlanta or New York...it's not impossible. I've gotten a Mississippi-plated rental in Boston, and likewise, a Massachusetts plate on a rental out of Medgar Evans Airport in Jackson, MS. (Keep in mind that many big off-site airport rental lots do not easily allow visitors.)
I-81 and I-390 both have a lot of Ontario and Quebec plates, not only on regular vehicle traffic, but also on commercial vehicles as well.
Around here, a lot, if not an outright majority, of rental vehicles seem to have Florida plates. Until a few years ago, I thought they were all snowbirds :-D
Due to the large military and government population, the DC area's highways can be a good place for this, to the point where I've even seen Guam, Puerto Rico, and Virgin Islands plates over the past few years (multiple vehicles, in each case, "multiple" here meaning "at least two"). I see more Canadian plates on I-95 on the way south to Florida than I generally do around here, but I see more Hawaii plates here than I do elsewhere.
The ones I almost never see are Newfoundland, PEI, and the Yukon–the only place in the US I've ever seen a Yukon plate was in Juneau, although the first one I ever saw was at the ferry terminal in Port-aux-Basques leaving Newfoundland. (Oddly, the only Northwest Territories plate I can ever remember seeing was at the parking lot at Western Brook Pond, also in Newfoundland.)
Regarding vanity plates, Virginia is an excellent spotting ground for them because the fee is only $10 extra a year (or $10 one time for antique plates). Ms1995hoo and I have vanity plates on three cars; only reason the fourth car doesn't have one is we haven't been able to decide on a good combination.
Quote from: 1995hoo on January 18, 2018, 09:02:20 AM
Regarding vanity plates, Virginia is an excellent spotting ground for them because the fee is only $10 extra a year (or $10 one time for antique plates). Ms1995hoo and I have vanity plates on three cars; only reason the fourth car doesn't have one is we haven't been able to decide on a good combination.
Yeah, I forgot about Virginia. $10 more seems like a good deal, I remember Florida wanted something like $50-100 more. Alabama tacks on a $50 fee.
My area is what you would expect. On I-64 you see the states served by 64 and 70 west of St. Louis, plus Ohio. On 77 you see those states. 79, especially on weekdays is virtually all ON, NY, PA.
For some reason a lot of commercial trucks (pick up sized, not semis) and vans that are clearly local have Oregon plates. Assume it is some sort of tax deal.
Actually, most parking lots near or adjacent to any tourist destination are good places to see various plates at one location.
More specific to the topic at hand: due to CT, NJ and northern DE being pass-through states; one can certainly see an assortment of different license plates along I-78, 80, 84, 91, 95, 287, GSP & the NJ Turnpike.
Further north in MA; one can see an assortment along I-84, 290 & 495 due to these roads serving as a pass-through corridor for traffic not heading to/from the Greater Boston area.
Quote from: webny99 on January 17, 2018, 11:23:37 PM
I'd estimate that on an average 200-mile journey on the NYS Thruway, you would see at least one license plate from every state east of the Mississippi, especially during summer weekends, holidays, and other peak travel periods.
I'm sure there are other interstates closer to the center of the nation where license plate spotting is even more interesting.
...and your estimate would be off.
In my experience, license plates from Appalachia are few and far between on the Thruway. OH, PA, MD, DE, VA, NJ, New England states, sure. GA and FL are also common. You might see MI, IN, IL, NC and SC. But WV, KY and TN are very rare. AL is practically nonexistent.
Quote from: SP Cook on January 18, 2018, 09:28:28 AM
For some reason a lot of commercial trucks (pick up sized, not semis) and vans that are clearly local have Oregon plates. Assume it is some sort of tax deal.
Like Oregon...Maine, Indiana, and Oklahoma plates seem to have more out-of-state representation by heavy trucks rather than by personal vehicles. (Obviously, bordering states are going to have more of the latter.)
Quote from: Rothman on January 18, 2018, 09:35:28 AMAL is practically nonexistent.
Spotting an Alabama "47-plate" (http://www.al.com/news/huntsville/index.ssf/2017/06/if_madison_county_is_3rd_large.html) in Cape Cod made us do a double-take. Vehicle looked about five years old, too aged to be a rental car.
Likewise, we tend to notice we're usually the only Alabama plate around when tooling around between Palm Beach and Miami.
In Southwestern Ontario and the Golden Horseshoe, two roads stand out for licence plates (IMO):
- The QEW (the main route between Naiagara Falls and Toronto naturally has lots of out-of-province plates)
- The 401 (the portion between the 402 and 403 is a merger between different routes which results in more plates to see. It's part of a shortcut between MI and NY, and it's another way to Toronto)
The most common far-away plates I notice are Florida (likely from snowbirds) and Alberta (since many Ontarians moved out there for work).
Quote from: Rothman on January 18, 2018, 09:35:28 AM
Quote from: webny99 on January 17, 2018, 11:23:37 PM
I'd estimate that on an average 200-mile journey on the NYS Thruway, you would see at least one license plate from every state east of the Mississippi, especially during summer weekends, holidays, and other peak travel periods.
I'm sure there are other interstates closer to the center of the nation where license plate spotting is even more interesting.
...and your estimate would be off.
In my experience, license plates from Appalachia are few and far between on the Thruway. OH, PA, MD, DE, VA, NJ, New England states, sure. GA and FL are also common. You might see MI, IN, IL, NC and SC. But WV, KY and TN are very rare. AL is practically nonexistent.
Because I'm sure you've license plate spotted for 200 straight miles :-D
In general, I agree with your points, including that AL plates are very rare. However, I see KY and TN quite often between Rochester and the PA line (the stretch I travel most frequently). I also find Rhode Island to be by far the most rare among the New England states.
Quote from: 1995hoo on January 18, 2018, 09:02:20 AM
Due to the large military and government population, the DC area's highways can be a good place for this, to the point where I've even seen Guam, Puerto Rico, and Virgin Islands plates over the past few years.
Shoot, I've spotted all three of those in DC, and I've only been to DC once!
Quote from: 1995hoo on January 18, 2018, 09:02:20 AM
The ones I almost never see are Newfoundland, PEI, and the Yukon–the only place in the US I've ever seen a Yukon plate was in Juneau, although the first one I ever saw was at the ferry terminal in Port-aux-Basques leaving Newfoundland. (Oddly, the only Northwest Territories plate I can ever remember seeing was at the parking lot at Western Brook Pond, also in Newfoundland.)
I've never seen a single plate from the Yukon, NWT, or PEI. I think I've only seen two from Newfoundland–one in DC, and one on a car that was always parallel-parked by my place of work in Chicagoland several years ago.
Quote from: webny99 on January 18, 2018, 11:01:56 AM
Because I'm sure you've license plate spotted for 200 straight miles :-D
What's unreasonable about that? 200 miles isn't all that far, and license plate spotting isn't all that hard to do. And I, for one, find it difficult to
stop license plate spotting, even when traffic is thick and I should really be keeping my eyes off the back end of cars in the next lane over.
My favorite highway for license plate spotting is I-35 south of San Antonio. There are plenty of Mexican plates, but there are also plenty of far-away US and Canadian plates on long-haul semi trucks headed to or from Laredo.
Quote from: PHLBOS on January 18, 2018, 09:35:11 AM
Actually, most parking lots near or adjacent to any tourist destination are good places to see various plates at one location.
Agreed. I remember seeing many plates from distant states in the parking lots at Glacier and Arches National Parks.
Quote from: roadguy2 on January 18, 2018, 06:25:56 PM
Quote from: PHLBOS on January 18, 2018, 09:35:11 AM
Actually, most parking lots near or adjacent to any tourist destination are good places to see various plates at one location.
Agreed. I remember seeing many plates from distant states in the parking lots at Glacier and Arches National Parks.
On road trips with my family in the 1960's, the best places for license plate spotting were at Old Faithful in Yellowstone and Niagara Falls State Park.
Probably Interstate 75 in Georgia and Florida is among the best from around here. I-75 in this part of the South consistently has a lot of traffic, that comes from a pretty wide variety of places. Traveling down I-75 in Georgia, it is not uncommon at all to see tons of Michigan, Ohio Kentucky, Tennessee, probably also a lot of Illinois (especially from Chicagoland), Indiana, and the sort, license plates. There are a lot of people headed south on I-75 in these parts, and they come from a lot of different places. Florida especially would, and not just on I-75 alone, be an excellent place for license plate spotting. After having just come back myself from a trip to California, I'd say that state is a great one for license plate spotting as well.
Speaking of said trip to California, my parents rented a car there, and if I recall correctly, it actually had a Florida license plate on it.
Any road in Florida is good, but World Drive inside WDW must be the best as everybody goes to Disney World! :bigass:
Quote from: dfilpus on January 19, 2018, 02:38:39 PM
Quote from: roadguy2 on January 18, 2018, 06:25:56 PM
Quote from: PHLBOS on January 18, 2018, 09:35:11 AM
Actually, most parking lots near or adjacent to any tourist destination are good places to see various plates at one location.
Agreed. I remember seeing many plates from distant states in the parking lots at Glacier and Arches National Parks.
On road trips with my family in the 1960's, the best places for license plate spotting were at Old Faithful in Yellowstone and Niagara Falls State Park.
Yep. I too have found Niagara Falls and excellent spot for plate spotting, both in parking lots and at the border crossings, since many Americans travel to the Canadian side.
Due to the military population in Norfolk, you see a lot of out of state plates. (My parents are guilty) Some of the "oddity's" (such as Alaska, Hawaii, and even Porto Rico, have been spotted at leas once there. If you ask me, the HRBT is the best place to see plates, cause you never get over it in rush hour in under an hour.
I-10 in the gulf coast states during summer time. Everyone is headed towards Alabama or Florida to the beach. Or to Disney
iPhone
Yea, the NYS Thruway always has a plethora of different license plates.
I-95, particularly the NJ Tpke. section also has a lot.
Quote from: adventurernumber1 on January 19, 2018, 07:49:15 PM
Probably Interstate 75 in Georgia and Florida is among the best from around here. I-75 in this part of the South consistently has a lot of traffic, that comes from a pretty wide variety of places. Traveling down I-75 in Georgia, it is not uncommon at all to see tons of Michigan, Ohio Kentucky, Tennessee, probably also a lot of Illinois (especially from Chicagoland), Indiana, and the sort, license plates. There are a lot of people headed south on I-75 in these parts, and they come from a lot of different places.
Heck, just in the Atlanta metro area, I've seen Washington state, Alaska, and Hawaii plates.
I've heard that Glacier National Park is an excellent spot for license plate spotting in the summer. I'd extend that to say all National Parks are good locations for it. My experience at Great Smoky Mountains NP tends to confirm this.
I've once seen a French plate in Nova Scotia - probably came from St. Pierre and Miquelon.
In Michigan you see a lot of Ohio, Indiana, Ontario, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Florida, Wisconsin. Then you'll see Kentucky, Missouri, New York, Georgia, Virginia, Texas. You rarely see any of the other provinces other than Ontario from Canada, the western states are rare as well other than California you'll see those once in awhile too. I can't remember the last time I saw a Wyoming plate or Nevada. On I-75 In Michigan the most common ones are Ohio and Ontario after Michigan. I think Michigan's plates are blah though but they have 4 or 5 different plates.
I remember going down I-75 in GA very late at night and most of the plates were Michigan plates.
Also, Cedar Point is a good place for plate spotting during summer weekends. Lots of OH and MI, but also some PA, IN, NY, and ON plates as well.
I remember driving home from the St. Louis area on I-55 and I-39 in Illinois and seeing plates from roughly 40 states and maybe 5 provinces along the way.
When I lived in Knoxville, I used to see plates from every state that I-75 traveled through. Here in Michigan, I see Illinois, Indiana, and believe it or not, quite a few California plates.
US 60 Superstition Freeway Mesa & Apache Junction AZ
Main Street/Apache Trail/Old West Highway (US60X) Mesa & Apache Junction AZ
Both Above October-April Northern State & Canadian Plates Everywhere (Snowbirds)
Scottsdale (2 Stadiums), Tempe, Mesa (2 Stadiums), Phoenix (3 Stadiums), Goodyear, Surprise, Peoria: Mid February to April 1-5 Within 2 miles of a Cactus League Spring Training Stadium
Tucson - like the Phoenix area with all the snowbirds but with more Mexican plates!
When I lived there, I saw plates in Tucson from as far south as Oaxaca. You'd see Sonora/Sinaloa/Jalisco plates on a daily basis. A couple times, I saw a Mexico car parked next to a US car parked next to a Canadian car in a parking lot, which I've never once seen anywhere else.
I live in Upstate NY, and my area has lots of out of state plates. This is because there is a college, and also a military base.
Quote from: ce929wax on January 29, 2018, 09:51:12 PM
When I lived in Knoxville, I used to see plates from every state that I-75 traveled through. Here in Michigan, I see Illinois, Indiana, and believe it or not, quite a few California plates.
Yeah, I-40/75 in Knoxville is great for license plate spotting. You get the snowbirds heading to Florida combined with those from out west either heading south or going to I-81.
I believe Niagara Falls, USA has a huge variety of plates. The last time I went, there were plates from all over the place. California, Wisconsin, Louisiana, New England + NY + NJ plates, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, Ontario, Quebec, it was great!
In California, Yosemite National Park attracts cars from many states, so El Portal Road, Big Oak Flat Road, Tioga Road, Wawona Road.
Out by the coast, I would say the best roads to spot license plates are expressways/freeways with moderate level of traffic. I seen an out-of-state vehicle drive slowly on CA 17 towards Santa Cruz, so it was probably the driver's first time going through that!
In Kentucky, you get a lot of Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Indiana, Ontario, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida plates on I-75. Much of it depends on whether you're north or south of Lexington. I-65 yields those as well, plus a smattering of Illinois and Alabama plates. Elizabethtown is often a dividing line on where you'll see more from a certain state vs. less from that state.
Lots of Missouri and Kansas plates can be seen on I-24.
I'm surprised at how just few Kentucky plates I see on I-79 in West Virginia. I expect that number to increase, as online trip routing services and GPS units start routing DC traffic across Corridor H. A friend of mine recently got routed across that way heading back this way from DC.
In MN, I-90. It's the long-haul route through the state far more favored by thru traffic between east and west than I-94.
DC-295 in the District of Columbia (the only "state" highway in the city) sees a LOT of North-South traffic along the East Coast (from Florida and Alabama in the south to Maine, Quebec and the Maritime provinces). Most of this traffic driven by people using GPS units that have no congestion feedback to inform route choices, since the shortest path is indeed DC-295 and not I-95, but the congestion on DC-295 is bad 7 days a week and it is a route best avoided.
I 10 AL,MS,LA,TX.
On US 98 we get the spring breakers from AL,MS, GA,TN,TX,MO,AR,KY.
In the winter we get the snowbirds from ON,QU,MI,OH,IN.
We also have a huge AF Base (Eglin AFB) I see alot of AK plates but very few of other states.
Pretty much all of the Interstates that cross the Great Plains. Especially I-70 in KS and MO, and I-80 in WY, NE, and IA.
I would say the best in Ohio would have to be the Turnpike, especially the section between I-280 and the I-80/I-90 split, where you see a mix of Cedar Point bound traffic plus all the various coast to coast, east coast to midwest etc. traffic that gets funneled through this area by the Great Lakes.
I live in Morris County, NJ so I travel on I-80, I-287, NJ-24 etc fairly frequently and I've actually found I don't see out-of-state plates all that often, especially east of Exit 25 where you become firmly ensconced in suburbia. And when I do see out of state plates they're usually from New York (most common), Pennsylvania, and (somewhat less frequently) Connecticut, i.e. a neighboring state and the other components of the Tri-State. Maryland and Massachusetts plates are also seen every once in a while, most likely from visitors, as well as from Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas, which likely belong to snowbirds, rental cars, and people saving insurance $$$ by registering their cars with relatives' addresses down South.
I also travel I-80/I-380/I-81 to go back and forth from school pretty often and in PA I'm always surprised by just how few Pennsylvania plates are on the road. It always seems to be mostly NY and NJ with an edge to NY, probably because it's the fastest route between Upstate west of Syracuse and Downstate. Of course there's also a smattering of Ontario and Quebec plates as well, and the only Alberta plate I've seen in the wild in the US was on this road (well, other than the one I saw driving through my quaint little subdivision once :wow: ), but it is mostly a NY-NJ duopoly so not incredibly interesting.
Every summer, I play a game with this at my workplace. I can't say where I work, but I will say it is not far from Interstate 80. I write down each state's postal code on a sheet of paper and cross off a state when I see its license on a car parked in the lot. If I could get anyone else interested, I'd make bingo cards of it, but that hasn't happened.
States on I-80 seen: CA, IA, IL, IN, OH, PA, UT, NJ, NV, WY
States not on I-80 seen: AL, AR, AZ, CO, FL, ME, MI, MO, MS, NC, NM, NY, OK, TN, TX, VA, VT, WI
States on I-80 not seen: NE (!)
States not on I-80 not seen: AK, CT, DE, GA, HI, ID, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, MN, MT, ND, NH, OR, RI, SC, SD, WA, WV
28 out of 50, or 56%. Not bad. The lack of any NE plates this year is the biggest surprise.
Back on topic, Interstate 80 is a good bet. I've seen a lot of plates from both states on the route and states that are not.
Interstate 64 through Indiana. It can be a bit of a bore but I always see Ohio, Kentucky, the Virginia's, New York here and there, Missouri, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Arkansas,
Quote from: webny99 on January 22, 2018, 11:37:59 AM
I've heard that Glacier National Park is an excellent spot for license plate spotting in the summer. I'd extend that to say all National Parks are good locations for it. My experience at Great Smoky Mountains NP tends to confirm this.
We used to go up in the Great Smokey Mountains in the summer to escape the FL heat/humidity. Most every car was from FL. Great Smokey Mountains is great in the summer, high temps 70s lows 50s compare to FL 90s-70s.
I-75 south of Atlanta into Florida is amazing for spotting license plates, far and away the best combo of variety and quantity that I think I've ever seen on an Interstate. There are plenty of plates in Atlanta as well.
Anything on the Arizona side of the Colorado river from Yuma to Bullhead City (US95, AZ95) has tons of plates, including a great selection of Canadian plates.
Most National Parks are prime places to spot plates, and downtowns in big cities are generally good.
Quote from: mapman1071 on February 02, 2018, 07:22:47 PM
US 60 Superstition Freeway Mesa & Apache Junction AZ
Main Street/Apache Trail/Old West Highway (US60X) Mesa & Apache Junction AZ
Both Above October-April Northern State & Canadian Plates Everywhere (Snowbirds)
Scottsdale (2 Stadiums), Tempe, Mesa (2 Stadiums), Phoenix (3 Stadiums), Goodyear, Surprise, Peoria: Mid February to April 1-5 Within 2 miles of a Cactus League Spring Training Stadium
Between the snowbirds, the baseball fans in February and March, the proximity to Mexico, and the military bases (Luke AFB in the Phoenix area. Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson, and the Army's Fort Huachuca in Sierra Vista), there are a lot worse places for license plate spotting than central and southern Arizona.
Quote from: webny99 on January 22, 2018, 11:37:59 AM
I've heard that Glacier National Park is an excellent spot for license plate spotting in the summer. I'd extend that to say all National Parks are good locations for it. My experience at Great Smoky Mountains NP tends to confirm this.
My first thought when seeing this thread was to write something about all the high-profile national parks in general. They're foremost tourist attractions that require an automobile to reach. This is contrasted with the top tourist attractions in urban areas, which can be reached through transit methods besides automobiles. You'll maybe see some varied license places in urban areas to which people are flying and renting cars, but that isn't going to give you as great a diversity as Yellowstone, Yosemite, or Glacier NP.
Saw a lot of Texas plates on the Thruway this weekend between Albany and Syracuse.
Quote from: Rothman on January 21, 2020, 12:11:49 PM
Saw a lot of Texas plates on the Thruway this weekend between Albany and Syracuse.
When my family goes on road trips, we do a competitive license plate spotting game. I give different point values to different states (or provinces or whatever) based on how far away they are and what the populations are. Texas is such a populous state that, in Kansas, spotting one is worth fewer points than even spotting Oklahoma. Texas plates are everywhere.
Not a road per se but Ithaca, NY in general is great for spotting since students in the area come from all over the place. In addition to the most common NY/NJ plates you also regularly see CT, FL, IL, MA, MD, OH, PA and tons of others scattered around. I've also seen plates from as far away as Alaska and Nuevo Leon (one of only two Mexican plates I've ever seen here in the Northeast!) and I even saw a Hawaii plate in the Wegman's parking lot the other day :-o :-o :-o
Quote from: kphoger on January 21, 2020, 12:17:12 PM
Quote from: Rothman on January 21, 2020, 12:11:49 PM
Saw a lot of Texas plates on the Thruway this weekend between Albany and Syracuse.
When my family goes on road trips, we do a competitive license plate spotting game. I give different point values to different states (or provinces or whatever) based on how far away they are and what the populations are.
I'd be curious to see your points rubric, if you have some spare time.
WA 3 near Bremerton is a good place to catch out of state plates due to the numerous military bases in the area.
Just about any Interstate, particularly I-95.
Quote from: CtrlAltDel on January 25, 2020, 05:27:30 PM
Quote from: kphoger on January 21, 2020, 12:17:12 PM
Quote from: Rothman on January 21, 2020, 12:11:49 PM
Saw a lot of Texas plates on the Thruway this weekend between Albany and Syracuse.
When my family goes on road trips, we do a competitive license plate spotting game. I give different point values to different states (or provinces or whatever) based on how far away they are and what the populations are.
I'd be curious to see your points rubric, if you have some spare time.
I change them based on where we're going.
Quote from: CtrlAltDel on January 25, 2020, 05:27:30 PM
I'd be curious to see your points rubric, if you have some spare time.
As an example, here's how I did it for a trip to Minnesota:
KS, NE, IA, MN – off the list, because we drove through these states.
Each state/province/whatever had two point values possible: one value if claimed south of Council Bluffs, a different value if claimed north of Council Bluffs.
1. Population – I calculated the distance to the county seat of the most populous county in that state. Any state with a population under 10 million had a base score of 4 points. Anything between 10 million and 20 million had a base score of 3 points. Florida and Texas got a base score of 2 points, California got a base score of 1 point.
2. Distance – This was calculated twice, once from our home city and once from our destination. For the data point, I used the county seat of the most populous county in that state. For states or territories that require shipping a vehicle by sea, I used the port most commonly used. Values ranged from 16 points (Alaska from Kansas) down to 1 point (Oklahoma from Kansas, the Dakotas from Minnesota). Alaska was actually a special case: I manually adjusted the number downward because it's unreasonably common to spot one in these parts, considering. Even adjusting this value down, Alaska still ended up being over-pointed. I'm always amazed at how common Alaska plates are around here, considering the population and distance.
3. Shipping – This was an added point value for states and territories that require shipping vehicle by sea, based on shipping cost:
* Nunavut, American Samoa: 30 added points
* Northern Mariana Islands: 28 added points
* US Virgin Islands: 27 added points
* Guam: 24 added points
* Puerto Rico: 20 added points
* Hawaii: 10 added points
* Newfoundland & Labrador: 1 added point
4. Customs – This was an added point value for the hassles of customs in bringing a vehicle into the mainland USA:
* Mexico: 10 added points
* US overseas territories: 6 added points
* Canada: 4 added points
* Alaska, Hawaii: 2 added points
I then took the sum of those four numbers and subtracted 4.
Example point valuesOklahoma - 1 south, 4 north
Texas - 1 south, 4 north
Missouri - 2 south, 3 north
South Dakota - 2 south, 1 north
Missouri - 2 south, 3 north
Tennessee - 3 south, 4 north
North Dakota - 4 south, 1 north
California - 4 south, 6 north
Massachusetts - 8 south, 7 north
Maine - 9 south, 8 north
Manitoba - 9 south, 6 north
Ontario - 9 south, 8 north
British Columbia - 14 south, 13 north
Chihuahua - 14 south, 17 north
Nova Scotia - 15, 15
Nuevo León - 15 south, 18 north
Northwest Territories - 16 south, 14 north
Jalisco - 17 south, 20 north
Alaska - 18 south, 13 north
Hawaii - 19, 19
Oaxaca - 19 south, 22 north
Newfoundland & Labrador - 20, 20
Yucatán - 21 south, 24 north
Puerto Rico - 33 south, 34 north
Guam - 37, 37
Nunavut - 42 south, 40 north
Any country other than the US, Canada, or México - 45, 45
I also had extra boxes to mark off for spotting a license plate from an Indian nation and for spotting a US government plate.
Oh, but there's a catch when it comes to overseas plates. Getting Hawaii plates (for example) on a car in the lower 48 doesn't actually require the vehicle to be shipped. The plates can just be mailed.
I'm not sure of the ins and outs of how it's done legally. What I do know, from a firsthand source, is that an entire fleet of cars with Hawaii plates was spotted at Glacier National Park, and none of the cars actually came from Hawaii. It was long enough ago that I don't remember all the details. I may have to inquire further unless anyone else on here can explain/confirm offhand.
Quote from: webny99 on January 27, 2020, 11:35:34 PM
Oh, but there's a catch when it comes to overseas plates. Getting Hawaii plates (for example) on a car in the lower 48 doesn't actually require the vehicle to be shipped. The plates can just be mailed.
I'm not sure of the ins and outs of how it's done legally. What I do know, from a firsthand source, is that an entire fleet of cars with Hawaii plates was spotted at Glacier National Park, and none of the cars actually came from Hawaii. It was long enough ago that I don't remember all the details. I may have to inquire further unless anyone else on here can explain/confirm offhand.
That could probably be done if the vehicles were part of an LLC registered in Hawaii. Other than that... a lot of states offer plate renewals by mail, not just Hawaii.
I -70/75 in Dayton get to see little bit of everything seen almost every state except Wyoming
Quote from: webny99 on January 27, 2020, 11:35:34 PM
Oh, but there's a catch when it comes to overseas plates. Getting Hawaii plates (for example) on a car in the lower 48 doesn't actually require the vehicle to be shipped. The plates can just be mailed.
This would be quite a challenge, considering Hawaii requires a safety inspection to renew license plates. The only exemption for this I am aware of is for active duty military.
Quote from: DevalDragon on March 09, 2020, 04:19:53 AM
Quote from: webny99 on January 27, 2020, 11:35:34 PM
Oh, but there's a catch when it comes to overseas plates. Getting Hawaii plates (for example) on a car in the lower 48 doesn't actually require the vehicle to be shipped. The plates can just be mailed.
This would be quite a challenge, considering Hawaii requires a safety inspection to renew license plates. The only exemption for this I am aware of is for active duty military.
OK, so I guess the question is, does the safety inspection have to be performed in Hawaii?
The NJ Turnpike is a gimme here. Simon and Garfunkel only said they were counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike who'd all gone to look for America, but counting the different license plates was just a given. :awesomeface:
Oh, also all around DC as far north as Baltimore. LOTS of people visiting from out of state.
On road trips I've been on, one of the most consistent roads to spot license plates on has been I-30 between Texarkana and Little Rock, particularly around Hope.
Houston is an absolute horrible place to spot license plates, on the other hand. Rarely do I ever see an out-of-state plate here.