# Thanks, Texas, for letting me help you buy another inch of freeway **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 19, 2003, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-texas-for-letting-me-help-you-buy-another-inch-of-freeway/183005 "2003-06-19T21:06:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![lorinada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5e925/32.png) [@lorinada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorinada)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-texas-for-letting-me-help-you-buy-another-inch-of-freeway/183005/21 "2003-06-20T02:57:04Z")
I know! On another board I frequent, a poster who has just moved from Finland to Belgium keeps complaining about the heat. Then she actually posted the temperature - 88°F! Sheesh! ---
**Author:** ![Blonde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Blonde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blonde)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-texas-for-letting-me-help-you-buy-another-inch-of-freeway/183005/22 "2003-06-20T03:02:52Z")
**lorinada** – 88 degrees?! Ah, spring. In all honesty, this early summer has been unusually cool and we’ve only hit 100 degrees once. But we’re in for middle hell temperatures until mid-October starting about right…NOW. ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-texas-for-letting-me-help-you-buy-another-inch-of-freeway/183005/23 "2003-06-20T04:15:34Z")
$172? Good lawd! Here it’s $33.50 (thanks, Tim Eyman). ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-texas-for-letting-me-help-you-buy-another-inch-of-freeway/183005/24 "2003-06-20T04:28:07Z")
It’s only that much because he was transferring the title from another state. His renewal next year will be considerably less. ---
**Author:** ![Br\_er\_Lapin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Br\_er\_Lapin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Br_er_Lapin)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-texas-for-letting-me-help-you-buy-another-inch-of-freeway/183005/25 "2003-06-20T07:04:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Blonde \* > \*\ ***lorinada** – 88 degrees?! Ah, spring. In all honesty, this early summer has been unusually cool and we’ve only hit 100 degrees once. But we’re in for middle hell temperatures until mid-October starting about right…NOW. \*\* But it’s a _dry_ heat!!! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Slacker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@Slacker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slacker)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-texas-for-letting-me-help-you-buy-another-inch-of-freeway/183005/26 "2003-06-20T13:08:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bre’r Lappin \* > \*\*But it’s a _dry_ heat!!! 😃 \*\* lol I wish. It’s been 100% humidity for as long as I remember. It’s like walking outside and wrapping a 95 degree wet blanket around you. Blegh! And welcome to Texas, **El\_Kabong**. By the way, if you thought Americans in general were jingoistic, wait until you meet us. 😃 And that registration fee does sound high. Perhaps you have some bizarre vehicle that they hadn’t seen before. Like a Honda Civic or something. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-texas-for-letting-me-help-you-buy-another-inch-of-freeway/183005/27 "2003-06-20T13:27:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by El\_Kabong \* > \*\* > The plates cost 172 bucks (plus another 40 for inspection and emissions test). Seemed a bit steep and I tried to explain that I already had purchased my car and didn’t see why I had to buy it again from the state, which of course cut no ice with the nice lady. \*\* You’re not actually paying that much for the plates. You’re paying to register your vehicle with the state. You have to do that every year. After I moved to Arkansas, from Texas, I got to stop registering my vehicle. Of course now my vehicle is assessed yearly and I pay taxes on it. I don’t have to get my car inspected any more though. Marc ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-texas-for-letting-me-help-you-buy-another-inch-of-freeway/183005/28 "2003-06-20T13:34:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by El\_Kabong \* > \*\*Amongst the many premium features found nowhere else, especially in “them yankee states” she said, every licence plate is carefully forged from a single ingot of pure titanium, sprayed with several coats of bug splatter-resistant paint, includes reflective inserts of powdered natural ruby, and are constructed for years of service under the harshest combinations of heat, humidity and strip-mall parking. Best of all, no two sets are alike! > \*\* Wow, license plates are so complicated, they should cost like a thousand dollars each or something! “Carefully forged”. While I’ve never been a temporary guest of any state, somehow I doubt that statement… -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Carnal\_knowledge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@Carnal\_knowledge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnal_knowledge)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-texas-for-letting-me-help-you-buy-another-inch-of-freeway/183005/29 "2003-06-20T15:26:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Slacker \* > \*\*And that registration fee does sound high. Perhaps you have some bizarre vehicle that they hadn’t seen before. Like a Honda Civic or something. :eek: \*\* What the HELL does that mean? I just bought my little Civic and I was born and raised a Texan. Stop laughing! Dammit. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f07891/32.png) [@Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Plastic_Ninja)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-texas-for-letting-me-help-you-buy-another-inch-of-freeway/183005/30 "2003-06-20T16:11:18Z")
Sometimes, the air in Texas gets to me. I don’t know what it is; I think its vector is a combination of cedar pollen and the smell of fresh, homemade barbecue sauce mixed with just a hint of gunpowder in the air. I feel myself transforming. Suddenly I’m wearing tatty jeans, a pair of black ropers, a shirt with metal corners on the collars, and a black hat. I have a shotgun broken over one arm and I’m standing in front of my Big Ol’ Truck (ten foot tall, ten foot wide, big ol’ truck). I start saying “Hidy, y’all” and chewing tobacco. I get this goofy grin when I hear about the A&M/UT game. I whoop. Loud. Then the wind direction changes and I become an Austinite again. Shirt changes to Hawaiian print 100% cotton, my jeans are suddenly a little cleaner and less ripped, my ropers turn into Chaco sandals, and the car turns into a Hybrid… 😃 On the subject, though, I hate those new license plates. They look…well, they look like fakes. They’re all flat and plasticky looking. Don’t those boys in Huntsville got nothin’ better to do? ---
**Author:** ![Slacker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@Slacker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slacker)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-texas-for-letting-me-help-you-buy-another-inch-of-freeway/183005/31 "2003-06-20T16:19:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Carnal knowledge \* > \*\*What the HELL does that mean? I just bought my little Civic and I was born and raised a Texan. > > Stop laughing! > > Dammit. > > 😉 \*\* lol 👼 I just bought the world’s smallest SUV and my wife drives a little Saturn, so we’re in the same boat. 😃 I felt like I was breaking some unwritten when I didn’t buy a white Ford Expedition. They’re freakin’ everywhere here. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-texas-for-letting-me-help-you-buy-another-inch-of-freeway/183005/32 "2003-06-20T18:10:36Z")
In Louisiana you have to pay sales tax on your car when you register. I bought my car in Georgia. I paid sales tax on it IN GEORGIA. But when I got HERE I had to pay MORE sales tax on the blue book value of it, which mysteriously changes when you have to leave and come back later with some document that you forgot, and hope that the next clerk likes you enough to drop the amount (which fortunately happened to me.) Took me FOUR trips to register my car, and $180. On a six-year-old Saturn. One of my parents’ cars cost about $600 to register. A few years before that, the DMV in Georgia tried to tell my mom’s husband that his Guam license was international, and he’d have to take a full driving test to get a valid US license. Hint; it SAID “United States of Amerca” ON IT. WE OWN GUAM. Idiots. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-texas-for-letting-me-help-you-buy-another-inch-of-freeway/183005/33 "2003-06-20T18:33:36Z")
> [@](#): > > And that registration fee does sound high. Perhaps you have some bizarre vehicle that they hadn’t seen before. Like a Honda Civic or something. _cough_ Subaru Impreza _cough_ Yup, that pretty much explains it. Around here, if it ain’t a Tahoe or an Expedition, it ain’t shit. > [@](#): > > Natives, should we tell the OP how hot it gets here? No worries. I spent the previous week at a meeting in Abu Dhabi. 107-111 every day I was there; Houston-level humidity too. This place feels like Maine in September by comparison. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-texas-for-letting-me-help-you-buy-another-inch-of-freeway/183005.md?page=1)