Ukiah DMV, Dec. 5th, 2023

Going to the Ukiah, CA DMV, Dec. 5th, 2023

Today was the big day. My appointment at the Ukiah Department of Motor Vehicles was at 3 PM. I was going there to renew my driver’s license.

In the past week, I’d spent 90 minutes on the computer making my appointment online, filling out the application, taking the driver’s course and written test, and paying the $41 fee. Seniors get a $4 discount. Younger folks pay $45.

I’d been nervous about the hour’s drive up north on Highway 101 to Ukiah from Healdsburg in my old 1987 Jeep Grand Wagoneer. But it was a beautiful day, about 68F with clear skies.

The road was a four-lane divided highway for 90% of the journey. Traffic was light to moderate. The scenery is great. Vineyards are in the valleys and the hills are covered in oak and fir trees.

At the DMV in Ukiah, the parking lot was almost full. When I walked in the door there were 7 people in line ahead of me and about 25 people sitting in uncomfortable blue plastic chairs in the lobby. I feared that I was in for a long wait.

I’d arrived at the DMV an hour before my appointment but the kindly 60s man at registration found my appointment and application online fast enough. He had white hair and beard, black-rimmed glasses, and was wearing a blue and yellow Hawaiian shirt. He was about 240 pounds.

I was given a ticket with the number F-20. When my number was called I would report to window 9.

I sat down on a blue plastic chair just vacated by a skinny man in his forties. He had a homemade wooden walking stick 6’ tall. He was wearing blue jeans and a torn white t-shirt. He had long brown hair and brown eyes. He looked like he’d been up all night making moonshine up in the hills.

“G-22 Window 6!” Came over the loudspeaker. “G-23 Window 7”. It sounded like a Bingo Parlor.

After about 10 minutes my number was called to Window 6. There I took the eye test and gave my right thumbprint. The woman there was Hispanic and in her forties. She was also very nice. She told me to then go to Window 9 for my photo.

One man was ahead of me in the photo line. He had a black ponytail, was Hispanic, 5’ 8” tall and in good shape. He took off his hat and glasses and then groomed his hair and stood up straight posing perhaps for a dating app as well as his driver’s license photo.

My turn came and the woman there was an Anglo with gray hair. She was about sixty and had a great smile. Another friendly face. She noticed my name so I told her my Tim McGraw story from Las Vegas. She laughed at that.

I was in and out of the DMV in half an hour. I’d spent 2 hours previously online doing the preliminary work and the drive to and from Ukiah was 2 hours so 4.5 hours in all and $41 to renew my driver’s license.

The DMV office in Ukiah gets an A from me.

TJM