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Home Archives Archives before June 13, 2001 RSS Feed Adaptive Path (my company!) About peterme Coordinates Most of the Time Oakland, CA Interests Current American history around the time of the Revolution, figuring out how to marry top-down task-based information architecture processes with bottom-up document-based ones, finding a good dentist in San Francisco Oakland Perennial Designing the user experience (interaction design, information architecture, user research, etc.), cognitive science, ice cream, films and film theory, girls, commuter bicycling, coffee, travel, theoretical physics for laypeople, single malt scotch, fresh salmon nigiri, hanging out, comics formalism, applied complexity theory, Krispy Kreme donuts. surf Click to see where I wander. Wish list Show me you love me by buying me things. Spyonme Track updates of this page with Spyonit. Clickee here. Essays [Editor's note: peterme.com began as a site of self-published essays, a la Stating The Obvious. This evolved (or devolved) towards link lists and shorter thoughtpieces. These essays are getting a tad old, but have some good ideas.] Reader Favorites Interface Design Recommended Reading List Whose "My" Is It Anyway? Frames: Information Vs. Application Subjects Interface Design Web Development Movie Reviews Travel		Care about a Caravan. Posted on 07/03/2002. On the trip from Oakland to Chicago to Los Angeles that dad and I took, we motored America's highways in the comfort of this Dodge Caravan. The initial plan was to take dad's Isuzu Trooper, but a fender bender necessitated car rental. Dad had actually requested a Dodge Stratus, but at the rental counter, his wit and charm got him upgraded to the Caravan. When he told me of the car we were going to be living in for three weeks, my first thought was, "A minivan? Really?" I'd never seen myself as a soccer mom. But, after three weeks in this vehicle, I couldn't imagine a better machine for such travels. It had real power, was very comfortable, decked out with some useful bells and whistles, plenty of room for all of our stuff (we would have been drowning in our luggage if we had stuck with the Stratus), and carted 6 of us around Chicago with ease. It also did a remarkable job of making mincemeat out of our nation's flying insects. 2 comments so far. Add a comment. Previous entry: "Have a nice weekend." Next entry: "Thoughts on Design with a Capital D." Comments: COMMENT #1 In '92' my grown son, his room mate, my then 16 yr. old daughter, husband, and me, rented a new 7 passenger Chevy Lumina mini van for a vacation trip to Cleveland.. We all had suitcases, along with food, a cooler, pillows, and whatever... We weren't crampted at all.. The following year we rented a Pontiac Transsport, my fav for looks with the body molding.. That year we all (except daughter) tripped into the Mall of America, in Minnesota, over to Mil.Wisconsin, back north east to Niagra Falls,( enroute we stopped at a rest area that had the connecting walkway across the interstate, I got a bit turned about and thought I'd been left behind when I went to the wrong side and didn't see the van.. after a few moments of terror, I was found by my husband and the boys, and it was a great laugh!!!) then back to Cleveland... One of my favorite vehicle purchases was a '92' Chevy Lumina mini van... The long pointed nose was what first drew me to it. It reminded me of a space ship, and a collie...Yes, I said a collie... My husband never liked it. The dash was to deep, and because of the way it was designed, it took a bit of getting used to not being able to see the front end from a drivers prospective for judging distance.. None the less, I liked it.. I told my husband, as a man, he was just envious of the long nose.. We took trips to Cleveland Ohio, Vegas, and California.. I packed suitcases, a large cooler, food, water, and plenty of extras which included our own pillows and even a 3 way powered tv/vcr... IT sat a bit higher then a car, it was great to drive, and had a good ride... It might have seemed a little odd that we'd buy such a vehicle after all the kids were grown and living elsewhere, but it made good sense.. For oursleves, grandkids.. shopping, and hauling larger items that wouldn't have fit in a car.. It had five seats that could be removed without much trouble... I like the new caravans, but I am too cheap to fork over the BIG bucks to buy one with all the emenities I want... Posted by meturn @ 07/04/2002 05:32 AM PST [link to this comment] COMMENT #2 The last time I moved, I rented a Caravan. After a couple days with the vehicle, my girlfriend pulled me aside and confessed that she really liked driving it. She made me promise not to tell any of our friends. Oops! The secret is out. Why car manufacturers can't make a cool Minivan is beyond me. I think the VW Microbus concept has potential. Posted by Brad Lauster @ 07/10/2002 07:34 AM PST [link to this comment] Add A New Comment: Name E-Mail (optional) Homepage (optional) Comments Now with a bigger box for text entry! Whee! All contents of peterme.com are © 1998 - 2002 Peter Merholz.