The DMV

It never is good to go into a rant on your blog. You loose the few readers that you have managed to acquire. So I hope to relay the facts of this morning as they occurred and let you the reader make your own conclusions about my state of mind.

In preparing for our trip to Dayton Ohio the week of May 13, it is necessary to update the license on the 6 X 10 utility trailer. I alluded to the lawn mowers and how I wanted to get them out and mow some. I hid them in the utility trailer for the winter. They are stored in the same lot where the larger RV is parked.

Last fall the Iowa license on the utility trailer expired on my birthday month of November. Yes that is how Iowa cycles licenses for cars, on the owners birthday month. And I know all you Iowans think that every one else does it the same, but they don't!

In Kansas it is on the first letter of your last name. And the I's are in June. Go figure. Except if you have a utility trailer, and they are all in December. Unless they never weigh over 2,000 lbs loaded and then you do not have to register them. Well unless you leave Kansas and then the other states seem to think they should be registered in Kansas, or somewhere anyway.

Sooooo, the Iowa license ran out in November and I went to register the trailer since I pull it all over the place and mostly not in Kansas Toto. Seems that I had to buy a 2007 license for the month of December but at the annual fee. There is no prorate and oh by the way its late since its December so you owe the penalty too. Never mind that it wasn't in the state till now.

So I said what about next year? Can't buy that untill 2008! They will mail you the form. Well they didn't. And we were not in Kansas anyway in January, as we were in Texas. So I am late on it too. So I knew I was in trouble when I went to the DMV in the beginning. Just have to face the music.

So I marched on in the joint, and got a number. I waited about an hour for my number to come up, as I was at least 60 numbers back. I went to the teller assigned to do my renewal. And all went well, until I had to prove that I had a Kansas insured vehicle to pull the trailer with.

The pickup is registered to the lake place in Missouri. We drive it principally in Missouri and it is the only vehicle we register at the lake, well not really, the RV has Mo plates too since we bought it in Mo. And some of the boat trailers are Mo plates, so since the pickup is the vehicle pulling all these trailers it just makes some sense to have Mo plates on it too.

Sorry, you can't have a Kansas trailer unless it has a Kansas insured tow vehicle. No the insurance card on your Mo truck will not do, and you must have a vehicle that is capable of pulling this trailer, other than one from out of state. Wouldn't budge from this and invited me to leave the window. This is where the rant came in!

So I had to go back home and find the insurance papers on my wifes Ford Escape, little SUV. It is registered to pull 3,500 Lbs, and is licensed in Kansas. Then drive back to the DMV and get a new number to wait in line again.

After another hour of sitting and steaming, waiting for the clerks to all get their lunch break, with even more people waiting in the reception area. 75 folks later I made it back to the window.

This time the clerk was a nicer lady, who said they sometimes accept out of state insurance depending on who takes your paperwork. But it is a gray area and some clerks are afraid to do it for fear of their own job security! Wow!

Oh, they also had to look up the SUV to see if it was qualified to pull the trailer. Then at about 4 hours after I initially came to the DMV, I wrote the $23 check and received the little one inch square 09 sticker to put on the plate.

Do you want to move to Johnson County Kansas, and experience these kinds of fun? Never did get the trailer home to mow any of the lawn.

Tonight we are stormy again, which will preclude any mowing tomorrow, and the watering folks will be even further behind. But it will be Friday and the weekend is here right?