Just back from a second trip to Moosehead Lake, this time for five days with Alex, my friend Carey, and Carey’s 1.5-year-old daughter. We packed ourselves, one bike, and baby gear into the minivan and drove. It was 4.5 hours of driving time, just as Microsoft Map suggested. Check back later for some more detail on the trip overall. This entry is only about driving.
After a year of flying around New England the amount of traffic near Boston and on I-95 was shocking. We were cut off twice, both times by SUV drivers. We witnessed one fender bender: the largest Ford SUV backed into the side of the largest GM SUV (parked). Clash of the Titans.
Revelation: I no longer wonder at people who pay $2000 for the optional rear-seat DVD system in a new minivans. When a 1.5-year-old in the back seat is bored, it becomes everybody’s problem.
Regarding the DVD player, I did something slightly different, better and worse.
It turns out that the Dell Inspiron Laptop will open a full 180 degrees. And it has a 15″ absolutely wonderful UXGA screen.
I had picked one up refurbished from Dell for my use at $1300 about a year ago and for $45.00 I had a local plastics shop make a jig for it. The jig is a sort of U-shaped plastic holder, with holes drilled into it that let me suspend it from the two front seat headrests.
It’s much more watchable than a puny 5-7″ DVD screen. Obviously it has anywhere from 400% to 900% more screen space. It is a bit of a hassle though, the kids aren’t quite old enough to change batteries and keep the thing running, so I carry a small inverter and have it plugged into that. For sound, I either plug it into some small powered speakers. In the future, I may let them use headphones, but I’m a bit worried about the sound level they may crank it up too.
But yeah, nothing like leaving town at a reasonable hour in the evening, then putting on a movie after dinner, and then letting them sleep the last few hours.
We got it easy compared to our parents.
Now one enabler of this — I purchased the fix it no matter what warranty. The jig covers the keyboard, but not the screen. It has a square hole to give access to the touchpad and the media buttons are exposed. So I don’t have to worry about errant feet kicking the hell out of my keyboard, and if something does happen, dude, I’ve got a Dell Warranty!
I haven’t used it yet, but Intervideo, the makers of WinDVD sell a USB remote control. That should make things a bit easier to use — sometimes I need to pause it to talk to them, or restart it if they accidentally pause it while trying to adjust the volume.
We put a $250 portable VCR with a small LCD screen and it has made it much bearable for us whenever we get stuck in traffic. I wanted a DVD player but there are not enough movies on DVD that my 4-yr old actually likes, so the VCR is doing the trick just fine. Plus at $250, I won’t cringe every time he kicks it because he does not like what he is watching (he has know how to operate a VCR since he learned how to crawl, the kicking is sort of his way of saying “I don’t like this crap”). These VCR combos go on sale at least once a month, and now you can find one with DVD for a similar price.
I thought about the laptop but after he poured a coke into my wife’s iBook I decided to wait a little bit until he understands a bit better why you want to be nice to the laptop!
Philip,
Slow down!
Sam
Those one year olds sure know how to command attention. They can be frustrating, which is why babies are so cute.