[Previous entry: "A Busy Week"] [Main Index] [Next entry: "Philadelphia Phantoms"]

02/19/2004 Archived Entry: "Back from Vacation"

I recently spent a few days of vacation time attending a convention in Las Vegas (related to my previous career in the graphic arts industry). My room was at Bally's, near the center of the strip, and the convention was at the Convention Center, about half an hour drive away in heavy traffic. Motorcoaches shuttled us back and forth, so I had the opportunity to ride in quite a few coaches last week, and met some very nice drivers from Las Vegas companies including Ryan's, Horizon, Triple J, and one or two others I failed to note. One thing I had never seen before was that most of the coaches I was in had a small video camera near the top center of the windshield, with the signal fed to the coach's monitors so passengers throughout the coach had a view out the front window (see photo at right -- the camera is that small speck at the top center of the windshield). If coaches here in the east have a similar setup, I just haven't seen them, I guess. I thought that was a great idea; passengers have a reasonably good view of where they're going and what traffic conditions the driver is fighting. I'd be interested in hearing other drivers' comments, pro or con -- click the "Comments" link below to let us know what you think.