The Eye Test
Last year my Alaska driver’s license expired while I was living in Boston. After a week living on the edge, knowing I would rue this day but seeing little lawful alternative, I trudged into the Registry of Motor Vehicles, where an hour’s wait, a quick eye test and $30 bought me a Massachusetts license. Fast forward a year and I’m back in Alaska, buying a Subaru from Bellingham to replace the rusted-out one I sold on the way out. I need my Alaska driver’s license to avoid Washington sales tax, and to regain my bonafides. I google: I need a passport, social security number, proof of residence, knowledge test, and eye test. I make an appointment, which is mercifully simpler than in covid-times-Massachusetts where Rosie and I crawled over hot coals and transited the seventh circle of hell this summer to get her permit and license. We won’t talk about what happened at my first appointment. (Why does a person need to know what coverage minimums you need when your insurance company takes c