Blogging on Down the Highway
December 29th, 2007 by admin
I’m writing this as I’m travelling on the 405 Freeway North in Long Beach, with my wife, Cori, currently piloting us back to NorCal.
For good or bad, the current technology that I am using is some sort of statement on what is possible with gadgets these days. Gadgets currently being used are:
- Toyota Prius: rented from Avis, for about $600/week. I’m really happy with the Prius. The main reason I rented it was to show my wife that it’s a lot more than just a car that look like an egg. We have been able to average about 40 MPG (It cost us $40 in gas to drive the 500 miles to Palm Desert from Clayton) , and the ride is nice and comfortable.The Prius also holds 5 people very comfortably, an, with the seats folded down, can hold almost an SUV load of stuff.
- AutoNet mobile wireless router: also rented from Avis for $10 a day. This is what is allowing me to be online in the car whilst my wife drives. It works pretty well, once you get a conection going. We seem to have some trouble connecting each time, and I’m not sure why, but I discovered that if you reboot the laptop, the local wireless network shows right up.I can see where one of these things could come in extremely handy for a road warrior, since it comes with adapters for a cigarette lighter and a wall outlet, so you could conceivably bring it into your hotel room when you are done driving.
- MacBook Pro, 15″: Do I really need to sayanything about how great this thing is? I didn’t think so.
- Laptop Desk by Laptopdesk.net: You can’t really use the Mac without something to keep the family jewels from getting fried, and the LaptopDesk is the way to go. I didn’t really like it when I first saw it, because I thought it was too heavy, but it has really grown on me. It spans your lap, so you don’t have to keep your knees together, keeps you cool, and it turns into a ergonomic riser stand when you are sitting at a desk. All this for only $30.
- 375-Watt power inverter by Tripp-Lite: Gotta have something to keep the Mac powered up. This one seems to work well enough.
- Heavy-duty 3-way splitter for my cigarette lighter: Need this to power the inverter and the AutoNet router. Got it in a truck stop. I love truck stops. They are like Radio Shacks on steroids. with food. and CB radios. and convenently located for people who love food and CB radios.
- One little hitch, and this has to do with my lack of experience with the Prius, I think, is that I couldn’t figure out how to power the modem up with the car parked and locked up. This would be really cool when parked really close to your roadside in-n-out burger and wanting to get your internet fix.
OK….that’s it…..one thing about writing while you are driving is that is can make you queasy…..so I’ll end by saying that during the time I wrote thi, we haev driven from Long Beach to Van Nuys, and averaged 38.7 MPG with excellent wireless service.
