TBT

Throw Back Thursday!!!

I get the question all the time, "what does your license plate mean?"

Because my name is Tilly, people assume it has something to do with me. Well world, the fact is, it has absolutely nothing to do with me or my name.

I'm not sure how far back my story goes, but from my knowledge the first T TOG was about the time that I was 9 and we had this 1979 brown/black Chevy Silverado. A little like the pic below. However, please imagine that there is a spot light poking out of the roof, one like you see on a cop car. Only ours was jerry-rigged in there and not official at all.

My family is not of the mindset to give their kids new, fancy, souped-up cars when they turn 16. The 1979 Chevy was my oldest brother's first car truck. My middle brother probably drove that truck a little at some point, but his main mode of transportation in his high school days (was not T TOG) but this beast...

She's a beaut Clark!

My first car was the second T TOG, a 1986 Ford Bronco. My favorite car in the whole wide world! It was white with a perfect blue wave racing stripe. She was the best.

Here she is at the beach, in all her glory! How we got the jet ski is another story for another day

- but a big thank you to my biggest brother!

That's my uncle, me and my cousin. I'm pretty sure they were visiting
for my biggest brother's high school graduation.

By the time I was driving T Tog the black tire cover had been replaced with a white one with a V and sabers on it, which made me all the cooler!

It was probably the most recognized car in my hometown. Since everyone knew whose car it was, people would honk at me from every direction and I would just wave to them all, never really sure who was in the black Honda Civic or the silver Toyota Corolla. My sophomore year of high school at the back of the yearbook they did a spread on unique license plates and guess who made it in there... T TOG! (Unfortunately my mom was not able to find my sophomore year book so I could include a picture - Kase, where did you hide it?)

When my oldest brother went to college he bought a 1989 Ford Bronco. The license plate was supposed to be TOG II, but they misread his handwriting so instead he got TOG IT.  

I guess I still haven't said what T TOG means though, huh? Well, it stands for tautog.

Popular among fishermen, tautog have a reputation for being a particularly tricky fish to catch. Part of this is because of their tendency to live among rocks and other structures that can cause a fisherman’s line to get snagged. Tautog fishing may also be difficult due to the tendency of fishermen trying to set the hook as soon as they feel a hit, rather than wait for the tautog to swallow the bait.^{(Thank you Wikipedia)}

However, my family doesn't just fish off the side of a boat, we scuba dive with spear guns... so,

because they are often found in wrecks, they are often seen by scuba divers. They are also popular with spear fishermen, as they are remarkably calm in the presence of divers and are relatively easy to spear. ^{(Thank you Wikipedia)}

We cheat and go for the easy kill.

Unfortunately, T TOG was sold, unbeknownst to me, before I could get my grubby little paws on it. RIP T TOG, I will find you one day, or at least rebuild you.

When I actually bought my first car I decided to resurrect T TOG in spirit and will continue that license plate on every car I have from here on out. Here are some pictures of the newest T TOG. I may have been retaliating and therefore gone in the complete opposite direction.

*A special thank you to my dear sweet mom who tore up the house looking for my yearbook and the T TOG pictures. (Before my mom found the pictures I did a little work on the computer to try and make a T TOG for your enjoyment. Since it took my so long I've included for your pleasure. I think I did pretty well.)