How to Keep Your Children Entertained on a Road Trip

The summer: a perfect opportunity to plan a road trip with the family, enjoy the great outdoors and cultivate an ever-lasting bond with your loved ones.  It’s also a time of no school, longer days and the constant attention of your little ones.  Yup, it’s about time to take a road trip!  In today’s blog, we’re here to help.  We’re providing a comprehensive list of how to keep your kids busy during the long road ahead.  We’re providing some cool tools, tips and tricks to keep them occupied on your way around the United States.

1.     Depending on if you have 2,3 or even four little ones, let them all bring one or two items in a backpack or small bag.  Let them fill it with their favorite toys or games to keep occupied.

2.     Your smartphone is your friend.  Download some cool, FREE iphone app games to occupy your kiddies for an allotted time.  Also, make sure to bring your car charger so you’re not killing your battery while they’re playing with Angry Little Birds.

3.     A DVD Player is a parent’s best friend.  Allow your kiddies to watch ONE movie on the trip.  You’ll be able to take this quiet time to regain your “Chi.”

4.     Well-timed treats.  If the kiddies play well for an hour, reward them with a healthy snack!

5.     Your digital camera is great for looking at shots of the trip so far (kids never seem to tire of this) and adding their own strangely-angled photos of the open road.

6.     Books on CD (or on your iPhone) make great entertainment, and you can pick them up at the local library. Try something a step more complex than you would normally read at home, and you might be surprised at how well your kids quiet down and focus.

7.     If those fail, you can also check out this list of travel toys my own kids (age 3 and 5) have enjoyed.

Do you have any to add?

How Radar Detectors Work

Picture this scenario:  You’re cruising down the highway with your family, enjoying the lush greenery surrounding the open road.  A game of eye-spy is heating up as you look around the landscape, trying to find a spot of yellow your daughter has found on the road trip.  Before you know it, you spot a state trooper, his badge reflecting off the afternoon sun, and a radar gun pointed directly at your vehicle.  You panic, looking down at your speedometer; that’s when you realize you’re doing a couple miles over the speed limit.  Your hands clam up and before you know it, POOF! You’re being pulled over. 

So, how exactly do these radar guns work? Well, “Radar” is an abbreviation for Radio Detection and Ranging.  Speed Trak Police Radar can be found in almost every police vehicle.  It’s estimated that 20 million speeding citations are issued annually and that police radars are used in 13 million of these cases. 

Radar Guns send out a signal of radio waves at specific frequencies in a specific direction.  Then, those waves bounce off objects, including vehicles, and return to the radar gun’s receiving station.  When the waves reflect off a moving vehicle, a measurable frequency shift, called Doppler Shift, occurs.

So, police radar guns perceive a vehicle by transmitting a pulse that reaches the target and then comes back to the observer.  What ensues is the Doppler Effect, in which the frequency of the pulse is compared to the frequency of the reflection and speed is calculated using the difference.

And…that’s how it’s done!  Had any crazy radar gun experiences?  Feel free to comment

The Best Twitter Profiles for Car Lovers: 2013 Edition

If you’re a social media fan (like we are) then you’re always looking for the coolest, most innovative individuals to “Like” on Facebook or “follow” on Twitter.  We know that because you visited our blog, that you’re also a car lover.  In today’s blog, we’re listing the most interesting and cool automotive Twitter followers we could find.  So, open up our browser (or smartphone) and get ready to jot these down.  Enjoy!

@ParkAvenueBMW

@BMWUSA - need we say more?

@Jalopnik – a hilarious site that creates an innovative spin on automotive news

@KelleyBlueBook – Great source for automotive commentary, news, and auto expert facts

@edmunds – they empower the automotive consumer with cars, news, pricing, research and more

@BBC_TopGear – awesome group of guys that do the craziest stuff when it comes to cars

@CarandDRIVER – a worldwide leader in providing objective results and expert vehicle reviews.

@cartalk – Just people talking about cars, that just so happen to be REALLY knowledgeable!

@Carmagazinenews – Up-to-the-minute car news and information.  They also have the scoop on new cars!

@DanicaPatrick – Racecar driver of the #7 & #10 goDaddy.com cars, you might have heard of her!

@InsideLine – Edmunds InsideLine is an online car magazine featuring the latest reviews, blogs, photos and HD videos

These are just a FEW of our favorites; do you have any that you would like to add?

Staying AWAKE Behind the Wheel

Hey, Fans! A new year means new beginnings for us.  We’re rearing up for another great year in the Automotive world, and wanted to have some fun with our blog.  Every year, we showcase the coolest car facts (not to be confused with Car Fax) this side of the Northern Hemisphere.  If you have facts that you would like to add, feel free!  We welcome any and all feedback from our readers. 

• Rear view mirrors were first attached to cars in the year 1916.
• The world’s longest skid marks are 950 feet long.
• The Carburetor and the clutch mechanism were invented by women in the year 1923.
• The world’s first license plates were issued by the French police in the year 1893. They were called number plates then.
• The Tata Nano is the cheapest car in the world. ($2500 US)
• The world’s first car accident took place in 1769. The car is still preserved at a museum in Paris.
• The average length of electrical wires in every car is about 3000 feet.
• A driver spends about an average of two weeks of his life waiting for the traffic light to change color.
• Japan produces the most number of cars in the world.
• Airbags take only 40 milliseconds to open in case of an accident.
• The first cars had levers instead of a steering wheel!

We’re looking for more facts to expand our list!!!

In 2012, we're revamping our Facts sheet for the New Year, check out our newest unknown car facts here: