License to Ride

Remember the freedom, as a kid, of getting on your bike and just riding?  Or, the license day events, which to me signified the beginning of summer?  Meeting the police down at the local elementary school and paying your 50 cents and picking up your license for the season?  For me, something was lost when they changed from license plates to stickers around 1971.  From this vantage point, I can see the economies of using one versus the other, but as a kid, having a real metal license plate like the one on the family car was a cheap thrill.