And four hours later...

So, I have been putting off this one last item of my move from a year ago that would completely erase my legal connection to the state of Iowa. I held off registering my car in the state of California just because I did not want to pay the registration fees for bringing my car into a new state. Since I had already had my tags from Iowa, I just did not do it.

With August rolling around, the notice came that my registration tags would shortly be expiring. I was debating about transferring the registration for several weeks, especially when I viewed the costs of registering my car in CA versus IA and of course, IA came out on the shorter end. I figured I would take care of the details once I settled into my apartment and could get online.

According to California law, as soon as I start working in the state of CA, I now become a legal resident of the state and therefore must register my car. I thought maybe I could get away with registering in IA since I am now a student and I was all ready to do that. Then one morning as I was waking up and the fog of sleep began to leave my mind, I realized that I could not, legally, register my car in Iowa. Why? Because I no longer had a residence there. My parents sold the house. So I had to register it here.

I went to the DMV today. I thought I was already to go through the details. I had the registration form filled out. I had my car smog checked. I had my current registration card. And my current driver's license. I get there. I get my number. I had to wait just over an hour. So I get to the window, hand the lady all the forms, and I was missing one item. I had to have a DMV personnel inspect my car before I could register my car. So i went out, got my car in the lane (and the parking lot was a nightmare!) and had the DMV inspect my car. I thought I was done. But no, I had to go back into the station, get another number, and finishing my registration.

Needless to say, I spent over four hours at the DMV to register my car which no longer sports the IA plates and now displays the white plates of California. But at least I will not get pulled over for expired tags and I am becoming more and more a Cali-girl.