Dec 10, 2011
RAY: This puzzler is from my road trip series and it was submitted by Sam Gerrace. Sam writes:
"Last summer with gasoline prices at an all-time high, my wife and I determined it was the perfect time for a family cross-country road trip. With three kids in tow, we knew that games and diversions would be essential in heading off any homicidal tendencies that might bubble up.
"For about 500 miles, we passed a lot of time trying to find a license plate from every state. We first made a list of all the states and the co-pilot would cross off one each time we saw a matching plate. But, after a while, we tired of that.
"We then moved on to quizzing each other on state names. My wife asked which states began with the letters V. My kids came up Vermont and Virginia. I asked which state has the most letters in it. One kid said North Carolina. It has 13 letters in it. Another kid piped up and said, "Oh, so does South Carolina!"
"My wife studied the list for a bit while I was driving and asked the following question: Which states have only four letters in their names?
"Kid no. 1, the oldest, said Iowa. Kid no. 2 said Utah. Then it happened. Kid no. 3, the five-year-old, sitting all the way in the back, named a state that took all of us by surprise. First we said she wasn't right. But then we realized she was right."
The question is, what state did she name?
"Last summer with gasoline prices at an all-time high, my wife and I determined it was the perfect time for a family cross-country road trip. With three kids in tow, we knew that games and diversions would be essential in heading off any homicidal tendencies that might bubble up.
"For about 500 miles, we passed a lot of time trying to find a license plate from every state. We first made a list of all the states and the co-pilot would cross off one each time we saw a matching plate. But, after a while, we tired of that.
"We then moved on to quizzing each other on state names. My wife asked which states began with the letters V. My kids came up Vermont and Virginia. I asked which state has the most letters in it. One kid said North Carolina. It has 13 letters in it. Another kid piped up and said, "Oh, so does South Carolina!"
"My wife studied the list for a bit while I was driving and asked the following question: Which states have only four letters in their names?
"Kid no. 1, the oldest, said Iowa. Kid no. 2 said Utah. Then it happened. Kid no. 3, the five-year-old, sitting all the way in the back, named a state that took all of us by surprise. First we said she wasn't right. But then we realized she was right."
The question is, what state did she name?
Answer:
RAY: The question was what state did she name? Well, she named any one of the following states, Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, or Tennessee. We said wait a minute, but all of them have four letters in their names, like Mississippi, right? It has M, I, S and P.
TOM: Over and over.
RAY: Over and over. They just use them over and over again.
TOM: Ah ha!
RAY: So the little one was right! Anyway, do we have a winner?
TOM: Yes we do. Our winner this week is Brett Miller from Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Congratulations Brett!
TOM: Over and over.
RAY: Over and over. They just use them over and over again.
TOM: Ah ha!
RAY: So the little one was right! Anyway, do we have a winner?
TOM: Yes we do. Our winner this week is Brett Miller from Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Congratulations Brett!
