As a former teacher of Pacific Northwest and United States History, I have always been awed - and humbled - by the stories suffered by those hearty folk who left almost everything behind to make the grueling 2,000 mile, six-month journey from St. Joseph, Missouri to Oregon's Willamette Valley. Traveling on foot or, occasionally aboard their comfortless "prairie schooners," they faced privations we cannot imagine...dust storms, impassable mountains, raging rivers, dysentery, cholera, hunger...

I often wonder what they would think of their descendants, cruising the interstates in leather-padded, air-conditioned luxury inside oversized metal dinosaurs, riding comfortably on rubber tires and heavy-duty shocks atop the smooth asphalt...while the kids in the back whine "ARE WE THERE YET...?? I'M HUU-NGRY...!! I GOTTA GO TA THE BATHROOM...!!!"

What would those pioneer children ca. 1845 think? Whatever that might be, modern-day travelers will be extremely happy to have this sweet little device that allows the wee ones to attach their Sony PlayStation Portable to the back of a car seat.

Want to give your kids and other car passengers that airline TV-in-the-back-of-the-seat experience on long journeys? Thanks to Griffin Technology, you'll soon be able to do just that. The company will next month ship RoadDock, a rig for attaching a Sony PlayStation Portable to the back of a car seat.

Scheduled to ship next month, the $29.99 accessory provides a 2in-wide elasticated band to strap the dock to the seat. A docking unit for the PSP is fitted to the strap, allowing the the handheld console to be rotated through 360° and tilted for the best view. Unfortunately, the unit doesn't  include a power connector, so you can't go far without an alternative power solution.