Say What?

OK, either I'm confused or we've discovered another rip int he space-time continuum.

OK, either I’m confused or we’ve discovered another rip in the space-time continuum.

 As I was driving to the post office this morning (has anyone noticed that a lot of my epiphanies start this way?) I found myself faced with a multi-layered oxymoron.  The situation is so befuddling in so many ways I’m not sure which end I should start from, so I’ll just let it roll.

I was behind a vehicle with a license tag supporting a wildlife organization.  I fancy myself a bit of an outdoorsman (I count SCUBA diving, snow skiing, hunting, fishing and riding horses among my leisure activities) so I immediately felt a bit of comraderie with the driver of this vehicle.  Then I noticed it was a big, shiny, never-seen-anything-but-the-pavement Hummer.  What’s up with that?  In the interest of disclosure I drive a Ford F-250 (BIG pickup) with a diesel engine that I usually feed a steady diet of Biodiesel as opposed to Petroleum based diesel.  I’ll not belabor the environmental benefits of Biodiesel, I’ll leave that to others.  To be concise, he’s way below me on the Mother Nature karma scale.  So, to summarize, we’ve got someone driving one of the most environmentally un-friendly vehicles available with a license tag supporting a wildlife organization.

Now, the real puzzler.

Here’s the license plate;          

Notice that this is, in fact, a North Carolina license plate.

Now, here’s the range of the Elk in North America;

The relevant point to notice here is that NC is conspicuously absent from the shaded area.

To further illustrate the point, here’s the area commonly known as the “Rocky Mountains”

Now, to complete the picture for those of you who may be geographically challenged with respect to the United States, here’s North Carolina;

Enough said.