We haven't had a minivan in our Santa Monica-based test fleet since the 2006 Kia Sedona left nearly a year ago, and I had almost forgetten just how handy they can be.

Last week Detroit Editor Dan Pund drove our new long-term 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan from Michigan to California, and this weekend I used it to drive my daughter and four of her friends to a birthday party, then stopped on the way home to pick up nine 12-foot pieces of crown molding from the lumber yard.

The Caravan moved both the kids and the trim with the same amount of ease.

I love minivans.

Kelly Toepke, News Editor @ 4,122 miles

If this 2,400-mile slog from Detroit to LA has taught me anything, it is the power of willful ignorance and blind faith. When the Dodge Carvavan balked at starting the end of yesterday's drive, I chose to put my fate into the spectral hands of the Dodge Brothers in hopes that the problem would be corrected before today's sunrise. And that's exactly what happened. The Dodge started each and every time I asked it to.

Now it is possible that I'd imagined the problem. I had spent a lot of time on the road and was, by last night, feeling a bit, um, unhinged. But neither I nor any of my imaginary passengers believe this to be the case. We'll mention the incidents to the dealer when we take the van in for its first oil change, something the its computer is already demanding.

We averaged 20.8 mpg for the whole trip, which is a decent figure, although a couple of mpg below what the EPA predicted. With an internal hard drive, a CD player, an auxiliary input for my iPod and satellite radio at my command, I never once had to scan local radio for something decent to listen to. The van's developed a luxuriant goatee of 10 state's worth of bugs. With six cupholders in easy reach, I managed to surround myself an impressive array of digital devices, canned coffee beverages and assorted debris. In this regard, the van is an enormously convenient vessel for long days on the open seas.

Late today, I noticed a crumb on the "+" marking at the base of the autostick shifter. I wiped it off with the tip of my index finger and ended up taking off the top section of the "+" so it now looks like a very small, uppercase "T." That shouldn't happen.

Good luck in California, Caravan. It's been...convenient knowing you. --Daniel Pund, Senior Editor, Detroit

I have met the high-plains drifter. And its name is 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan SXT.

Turns out there's not a whole lot of, um, vertical things in Nebraska or eastern Colorado. This means that wicked crosswinds just come barrel-assing over the dirt and ram the side of the Caravan full force. So many steering corrections are needed to keep the Caravan in its shipping lane that I felt like I was filming a green-screen driving screen for a television program. But it's a box right? And it's probably not worse in this regard than any other van. And it was still nimble enough to dodge the tumbleweeds.

I'd been dreading the trip through the Rockies in this big boat. Oddly, the Caravan proved a pretty faithful companion on the steep, twisty grades. It was more relaxed here than out on the open prairie. Like all Caravans powered by the 4.0-liter V6, our test van comes with a handling package. Yes, this sounds laughable. But the joke's on you. The big ol' Dodge can be eased down the mountain quite smoothly and securely. But she likes to be eased into it with a slow hand.

With high winds, higher speeds and some steep climbs, the Caravan dropped a couple of mpg from yesterday's performance. It returned a consistent 20 mpg all day. With 2533 miles on the odometer, the "Change Oil" warning light came on, which seems awfully early in its life. The oil level is fine though, so we'll wait until the Caravan's arrival in Santa Monica to deal with that. The green segmented letters actually present it like this: CHAngE OIL

At the end of the day's drive, just as we were entering the intensely desolate eastern Utah, the Caravan refused to start after a brief gas and refreshments break. Turn the key and...nothing. Uh oh. Take the key out, put it back in and turn and it started right up. Next time we turn the vehicle off, the same thing happened. Hmmm. After much thought, we have decided for the moment to pretend this didn't happen (twice) and call it a day with full confidence that it will have cured itself after a good night's rest. If you don't hear from me for a while, send help. I'll be in Utah--somewhere. --Daniel Pund, Senior Editor, Detroit @ 3,226 miles

Here's what I learned in my 825.8 miles of driving today: People in Iowa still wave at perfect strangers. 

I was cranking along I-80 somewhere near Des Moines, the Caravan's 4.0-liter V6 mooing lightly. I'd locked in behind a hard-driving lady driving a ruby-red GMC Envoy. We'd swing left around slow-moving Buicks together and tuck back into the right lane together. We both used three blinks of the turn signal each time we made a move. It was like an exceedingly boring version one of those Swedish precision driving team -- only without the need for talent. Anyway, when she took an exit she gave me the wave. Not just the thanks-for-letting-me-merge-in-front-of-you motionless raised hand. No, this was a wave, like one you'd give to a, you know, friend or something.

When I'd pull off the expressway to grab some gas, people walking down the street would wave. This dealt a mighty blow to my adolescent fantasy of looking vaguely menacing. How bad could a guy driving a new minivan be anyway? Next time I drive from Detroit to Santa Monica, I'm going to roll in a primer-gray 1971 Dodge Super Bee with blacked-out windows, and maybe get a scar for my face.

The van likes to go 75 mph, which suits me just fine. For those times when the speed limit happens to be less than 75, I have Inside Line's trusty new Passport 9500i Blue radar/laser detector. This handy device saved my bacon twice in Indiana alone. Plus, its readout is -- get this -- blue.

So all's well. The van's returning a decent 22 mpg. I managed to avoid filling its in-floor storage containers with fireworks and cheap cigarettes in Indiana. I saw the headquarters of two giants in the field of auto aftermarket along the road: Tire Rack and JC Whitney. One of which I've purchased products from. I found a nice little homestead in western Iowa (top picture). It's kind of a handyman special, but it has mature landscaping. Oh, and also I viewed what was advertised as the world's largest truck stop and a restaurant named Ox Yoke. So there's that. Tomorrow I will drive many more miles.

Daniel Pund, Senior Editor, Detroit @ 2,403 miles

You've got to know where the line is before you know if you want to cross it, right?

Thanks to the clever folk at Chrysler LLC, I know exactly where the line is. You see, the company has thoughtfully molded into gray hatchback sill cover a raised line to show you exactly how far your junk can protrude from the cargo area and still manage to close the hatch. And helpfully, the company also molded the words "LOAD TO THIS LINE" into the piece. This way, as you accumulate stuff in the back, you'll know exactly when you cross the line. 

Cram something back there that has a little flex to it -- say like a folded double-kid stroller -- and you can cross the line with impunity. The power-door motor has the mustard to compress the load a bit and cinch the hatch closed. Next time I carry a load of loose decorative ceramic figurines and crystal champagne flutes though, I will keep them well inside the line.

Daniel Pund, Senior Editor, Detroit @ 1,420 miles

Predictably, fuel economy in the big, old family truckster is improving as we accumulate some miles. So far, the van has really only seen city driving -- a regimen in which the EPA reckons our van with the optional 4.0-liter V6 should be getting around 16 mpg. Our early fill ups returned just above 14 mpg. Our most recent tank yielded 15.6 mpg. That's still not a whole lot of miles for each gallon of 89 octane that the company recommends for this motor. But considering the utility and the relatively good performance of this package, we probably don't have a whole lot of room to complain.

Next week, we'll be loading on some major highway miles as the van is making its move to Southern California. We'll keep you updated. --Daniel Pund, Senior Editor, Detroit @ 1,375 miles

To a certain segment of the reading population there are more important elapsed time figures than those accompanying a 1/4-mile acceleration test. One such figure is the elapsed time it takes to transfer music from a CD to the Caravan's MyGIG 20-gig hard drive. When it comes to living with a minivan, I think they might be right.

The first time we transferred music from disc to HDD, it seemed to take forever. So we decided this morning to put a clock to it. Our test disc was Radiohead's newest, In Rainbows. Its 10 songs add up to 42.6 minutes of playing time and take up 431 MB. This took a not-too-painful eight minutes to transfer, which included probably half a minute or so of my fumbling with the system's less-than-intuitive menu system. True, it took only three minutes to import the contents of the disc to my laptop through iTunes. But eight minutes is in keeping with Chrysler's estimate of a 12-minute import time for an hour of music.

Great right? Well, except that MyGIG is supposed to automatically use Gracenote database to identify artist, album and track names. It didn't work. A brief scan of the forums turned up numerous similar complaints. Close as I can figure, the database must be updated frequently to include newer releases. Chrysler says we should visit our dealer for an update. Ug. --Daniel Pund, Senior Editor, Detroit @ 1,310 miles

Our long-term Grand Caravan has a whopping $12,665 in optional equipment. So when I couldn't find the buttons for the memory mirrors and seat, I assumed that, like virtually everything that's come into my possession, I had just misplaced them.

So for a week, I'd go to hop into the van crank my knees on the lower dash, compress my thighs on the lower portion of the steering wheel and curse the size differential of my wife who, it can be revealed, is petite, and your author, a descendent of overgrown Black Forest-dwelling oafs. Reluctantly, I checked the owner's manual. And there it was on page 157, an illustration of the Driver Memory Seat Switch (with a handy black arrow pinpointing its location on the door panel just aft of the door handle).

How did I not see tha...er, wait. There's no buttons on my door panel. It's just an uninterrupted expanse of cheapish plastic. I consulted the options sheets. Nope, no mention of memory seats in any of the Premium Interior Groups or the omnibus Customer Preferred Packages.

This is because, although the vehicle is available with a power-folding third row seat, second-row seats that swivel 180 degrees, a hard drive as large as that of my antiquated iPod and various other doo-dads that I haven't figured out yet, the Dodge Caravan is not available with memory seats. Confirmation of this comes from a public relations professional in Auburn Hills, MI. He noted that it is available on the Chrysler Town & Country and will be offered on the VW version of the van, both of which are built in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. All Caravans are built in St. Louis and our PR man reckons that the option's unavailability is to reduce build complexity in that plant. Hmmm. He was sure to clearly state that the option was not available for "'08." Oh, so it'll be added for '09? "I can't say that," came the response. Um, okay.

Seen above are the memory buttons from the much less-expensive Kia Sedona minivan that I callously called ugly a post or two ago. Sorry Kia.

Daniel Pund, Senior Editor, Detroit @ 1,248 miles

How ugly is the new Dodge Grand Caravan? Turns out, it's not really that ugly at all. We have photographic proof!

We might prefer the slightly more biomorphic curves of the Honda Odyssey. But a Toyota Sienna ain't exactly a beauty. And the Nissan Quest? Yipes! Likewise, the Kia Sedona looks less like the picturesque Arizona area for which it's named than an overweight catfish.

The Dodge has grown on me. It's honest. Whereas the Kia seems to get uglier every time I look at it (see below).

Soon, I'll have to park that bottom-feeder in my garage to avoid upsetting my neighbors and frightening my children. --Daniel Pund, Senior Editor, Detroit @ 1,180 miles

Of the adult pleasures disallowed to young children, such as coffee-drinking and unrestricted use of the more colorful words of Anglo-Saxon origin, you can now add Swivel 'n Go.

Maybe it should go without saying, but if your children are young enough to need a child seat or infant carrier, you may not use Chrysler Corp's newest gee-whiz seats. Oh, you can Swivel them 'n not Go. Or you could Go 'n not Swivel. But not both at the same time. Your carefully engineered, regulated and tested rear-facing infant seat becomes a forward-facing seat with one spin. This renders the feature all-but useless for young families.

Sure, you could move the child seat(s) to the third row and put older kids and adults in the backward-facing second row, but then you'd just have to move the child seat(s) to the second row when it's just you and the kids otherwise your toddler won't be able to kick the back of your seat. And let's stop being ridiculous: The last thing parents want to do is unlatch and reinstall car seats  over and over again because it remains a giant pain in the butt.

Understand, Chrysler never claimed nor implied that you could use Swivel 'n Go with child seats. We mention all of this in the spirit of public service for which Inside Line has become so famous. --Daniel Pund, Senior Editor, Detroit @ 1047 miles