A road trip without tantrums or losing feeling in your arm from handing back treats and toys non-stop is nearly impossible for most moms to imagine, but life on the road sans small fry has been the reality all week for a select group of mommy bloggers.

Four members of the Silicon Valley Mom Groups living across the country from each otherr will be meeting up as they drive coast-to-coast to their final destination, the BlogHer conference in San Francisco. Corporate sponsors have donated the vehicle as well as cutting-edge technology (wireless internet IN THE CAR!) that enables the woman to keep readers of their blog updated on their adventures as well as to organize last minute meet ups with bloggers in the area they are stopping.

In addition to attracting lots of media attention, the women are also using their time in the spotlight to raise money for a worthwhile cause. Flashes of Hope is an organization that travels to hospitals to take lovely, professional portraits of children with cancer and other life threatening illnesses and their families, free of charge.

We're often inundated by stories of the dark side of the internet, but the good that can come from this medium should be noted as well. Safe travels and remember to stop and stretch, ladies!

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You may recognize ParentDish alumni Susan Wagner in this succinct, well-spoken interview for ABC news. Susan always comes off as utterly unflappable, both in her writing and in real life and I watched her video clip with great interest. ABC interviews her on the money in blogging, in working at home, in the opportunities the Internet has opened up for Moms who want to work at home. Susan does a stellar job in explaining the "blog for money" phenomena, which still seems very confusing to the mainstream media.

I, of course, am a firm believer in the power of blogs and the Internet to hone entrepreneurial initiatives, especially in stay-at-home parents. Though paid blogging gigs are still few and far between, there are endless opportunities to land in a coveted job, through mediums that didn't exist even five years ago. You can now google an employer, or email an executive of a company to pitch a job concept you would per perfect for. Via sites like LinkedIn (and some great detective work), you can track down org charts and decision makers, holes in companies that you might be able to fill from home. I've done all of the above, and am so grateful for the opportunities that have come out of (nicely!) chasing people down on the Internet.

I've worked in advertising for several years now, so it's no surprise to me that marketers are looking to target Moms. One PR agency has even coined a custom term for the women it deems so critical to its clients marketing success: "Mom-fluentials."

Moms control a lot of the household spending, and today so many of them are online. What these women say and recommend are often considered much more convincing to other Moms than a nameless TV ad or radio spot. I may be a little biased on this topic because of the work I do, but my feeling is: pitch away to me. I'll ignore what I don't want and ultimately base my buying decisions on need, price and quality. I don't particularly care if a corporation markets to me with the assumption that I want to look sexy while hoofing a vacuum around the house, I'll just think "that's idiotic" and buy the brand next to it.

I've been following the controversy on BlogHer swag with much interest. For those of you who don't know: BlogHer holds a very popular blogging Conference every summer, complete with corporate sponsors looking to get inside the brain (and pocketbook) of bloggers and their readers. But apparently some of them are missing the mark.

I am especially intrigued by this post at Plain Jane Mom, where Plain Jane expresses her disdain for a sponsor at last week's conference who provided branded pot holders as part of their freebie gear. She believes that marketers who ply women with domestic household items (particularly at a somewhat technical conference) are missing the mark to the point of being offensive. She notes that "companies who hear "woman" and think "apron" make my blood boil ."

The comments that follow are supremely interesting, with many of Plain Jane's readers expressing agreeement for the insensitivity of advertisers looking to reach their coveted audience. I'm not so sure. I don't think there's anything sexist about giving a woman a pot holder as a freebie -- I wouldn't really be offended if a company gave out condoms, or barrettes or even Crocs, for the love of Pete. I'd probably just give them away.

How about you, Moms? Are you offended when an advertiser pegs you as a domestic sort because you have kids? I feel like I'm missing something.

I, like many other women (and men) in the blog world, just returned from Chicago and the BlogHer conference. Besides getting to meet a few of my "co-workers" here at Parent Dish (Kristin! Jen! Susan!), I also got to meet a bunch of new bloggers.

I figured once I left the W Hotel in beautiful downtown Chicago that my blogger meetings were up. But, no! In fact, I ran into two bloggers once my plane had landed in Houston: Girl Con Queso and Jenny from The Bloggess!

Like many others, I went home and logged onto my computer to see what others were saying about the conference. What was their favorite part? Least favorite? I have to say that Jenny's "love letter" to Amy Sedaris made me laugh out loud.

You see, Amy Sedaris was quite the superstar at BlogHer. She's a comedian, crafter and all-out funny gal. She's also the sister of the incredibly talented David Sedaris, who writes some of the best books out there.

Click here to read Jenny's "love letter" to Amy. That girl has some major balls to do something like that; I think of myself as somewhat gutsy and I doubt even I could do that.

If you were at BlogHer and met any awesome new bloggers, please feel free to share! I'm still feeling the Blog Love and would love to see more awesome women (and men) that I might have missed.

Blogher 2006 is shaping up to be a huge event and I know last year you wanted to go but couldn't. This year though, you have no choice. I demand you attend.

Right now Blogher is investigating offering childcare at the conference. Jenijen tips us toward a survey which will help the Blogher gals figure out how best to serve people's needs. Go ahead, help them yourself out by answering the questions.