Due to budget cuts, the outdoors has been closed

As Ollie and I made our way across the midwest and are now more than half way down the west coast, we've continued to brainstorm new license plate slogans for each state we've gone through. (Hey, I need to keep my mind sharp, especially since the mp3 player bit the dust a couple weeks ago and I'm doing everything in my power to drive the gas stations' Christmas muzak out of my head. It's brutal, I tell you.) Here's what we've come up with since the last round in Ohio....

Indiana: Make the wind stop

Illinois: Home of Chicago's cycling mayor

Wisconsin: We brake for cows
(April's license plate is a close second, though, especially considering Growing Power's headquarters in Milwaukee.)

Iowa: #2 in wind

Minnesota: Our bike paths are great so long as you don't ride on them at night

Washington: The horizontal rain state

Oregon: Best bike touring state ever

California: Due to budget cuts, the outdoors has been closed
(Or should it be "the outdoors *have* been closed"? Shoot. And I used to teach English, too. Embarrassing.)

I really do hope the campsite situation improves soon. This closing of most all state campgrounds in California -- except, of course, for the ones with 50-cent showers and no way to make change to utilize said showers -- is putting a bit of a kink in my plans. Luckily I only have a couple more camping nights over the next week before visits with family and friends around Christmas.

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