Working from the Road, Vol. 1

Sooner or later, I have to talk about working from the road. It's in the description of this blog, so I'm kinda committed.

For those of you ready to nod off, just scroll down to the next heading. Look for the bolder text and larger font size. You'll see it.

For everyone else...

At home, I have a nice office: a motorized desk that raises and lowers, two monstrous monitors plus the 13" laptop, specialty lighting, and a dozen other things that create a comfort zone.

If I could drag and drop all of that into this camper garage, I would.

Instead, what I have—which, by the way, is surprisingly hard to photograph and capture well—is a scaled-down version of home.

The standard toy hauler bench seating and table are my chair and desk.

I left behind the desk lamp that makes my face glow on Zoom meetings, but brought my external camera.

I brought both monstrous monitors, but so far I'm surviving with one.

There will come a day when I set up both.

I also brought my external Apple keyboard (but forgot the charger) and Bluetooth mouse.

My monitors travel face-down in the garage on top of standard-size bed pillows. So far, even with ridiculous highway conditions, they've traveled 1,000 miles without sliding around back there.

Speaking of road conditions.

Working from a parked camper is one thing.

Working from the truck is another.

Road vibration can make it impossible to type and scroll on the laptop. It's literally bouncing up and down on my lap, and there doesn't seem to be a good solution.

It looks really awkward in a meeting, too.

And there are parts of my job that are much harder to do on a small screen.

For internet in the truck, I use a mobile hotspot. This was actually the thing I was most worried about when it came to travel-working.

And I'm horrified to have to say this, but AT&T—best known for awful customer service and charging too much for it—has been the most reliable mobile provider throughout our trip.

I'm pulling five bars of 5G while Jason's Verizon service is almost nonexistent.

This is the only time I'll compliment AT&T.

And then there's working while parked, but without supplied electricity.

This guy was a last-minute purchase that solved a lot of those problems. 

All in all, it's doable.

With some patience and flexibility.

Longer, micro-blocked days and taking advantage of stationary days like today to catch up.

That's where it's at.

Not Work Related

There was a thunderstorm Tuesday night.

It was more than a Blip.

Triple Blip, perhaps.

We discovered that Starlink Mini can survive a thunderstorm and continue providing internet service.

I sat and listened to the storm, and I thought...

Yes.

Clean this camper.

On the mechanical side of things, the brakes are fixed not broken.

Call Jason if you need a better explanation.

And we now have a second 12-volt battery, but the guy who installed the second battery broke the first one.

He later fixed it.

Jason's not thrilled.

Tonight, I babysat a two-year-old.

Long story.

And I avoid putting pics of other people's kids online, so you'll have to take my word for it.

But that was my evening.

And yes, it's related to the battery guy.

So it seemed like today would be a nothing-to-write-about kind of day, but I suppose plenty happened.

What did not happen is laundry.