License Plate Geography

Driving around the Rio Grande Valley in Texas or walking through area parking lots at Wal-Mart, Target, or Kohls this time of year can be a real lesson in geography. Just pay attention to the license plates on vehicles, which I call "License Plate Geography". We're in the State of Texas, but in many places around here, Texas license plates are in the minority!


On weekends, the parking lots are filled with vehicles from Mexico. Last Sunday afternoon, I ran over to the Target store and had to park in the back of the lot. As I walked to the store, I was looking at license plates on cars and trucks in the lot and was surprised that 2/3 of the vehicles were from Mexico, only about 1/3 were local Texas vehicles and out-of-state license plates were not to be seen. I guess Winter Texans don't shop on Sunday.



Mexicans apparently come here on weekends to shop. Most of the Mexican plates were from the Mexican states of Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon, which are just across the border from Texas.

I also saw license plates from other states in Mexico and had to look up where those states were in Mexico. Now that's "License Plate Geography".



During the week, license plates of Winter Texas are predominant. So I decided to engage in a little "License Plate Geography" by taking pictures of the variety of license plates here in the Rio Grande Valley to see what geographic areas Winter Texans come from.

You would expect people to be here from the states directly North of Texas; Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota . . .


South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa . . .


Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas . . .




. . . and, of course, the Great State of Kansas! That's my license plate, but we're not the only Winter Texans from Kansas.







I also saw many plates from states in the East-Central area like Michigan, Illinois, Indiana . . .


Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Every time I look at this picture of the Kentucky license plate which was held on with wire I have to chuckle; the rusty old truck it was on looked like it must have belonged to some "Redneck" from Kentucky.


I would expect East Coast people to go straight South to Florida to avoid the winter weather up North. It's surprising to me that I also saw license plates from East Coast states here in The Valley . . . like New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, New York . . .


. . . and the Garden State of New Jersey.








Some Winter Texans come here from the Deep South . . . other Gulf Coast states like Mississippi and even from the Sunshine State of Florida.


I would expect people who live on the West Coast to go straight South to Arizona for the Winter, but some Winter Texans are here from Western states like Washington, Montana, Colorado . . .


. . . and even from the beautiful State of Utah.








Winter Texans are here not only from states in the United States, but many come from Canadian Provinces, literally from Coast to Coast; from British Columbia in the West, to Alberta, Saskatchewan . . .


Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec in the East.


Winter Texans obviously come from all over the North American continent and playing a little "License Plate Geography" here in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas can be fun, interesting and educational. I'm going to continue to keep my eyes open and my camera ready! Who knows where the next Winter Texan may hail from.