Working from the Road, Vol. 2

It’s been a busy work week.

So much to do. So many interruptions.

Areas of little to no cell coverage when we were traveling. Challenges finding North and getting a solid Starlink signal when we were parked. A campground that really wasn’t big enough for us and took an extra-long time to get set up. Noisy neighbors. Dirt roads.

The list goes on.

It’s 8:45 MT / 10:45 ET, and Claude is still “elucidating,” “wrangling,” and “contemplating” its way through my last task of the day.

Last task.

Praise be.

Today, I stopped trying to tough my way through coding and testing with one monitor.

It’s not efficient.

So I did a little garage reorg. Again.

I’m now using a kitchen stool as my chair, and I shifted everything to face the back of the camper. More space. More screens.

This might be the go-to setup from here on.

Today was also that one day I’ve given myself each week to work while stationary.

So far, that’s been 100% necessary.

A full day with no travel interruptions.

This feels normal.

This feels sane.

These are things I thought about when I was planning this trip. These are questions I asked myself and tried to plan for.

Can I actually work from the truck?

The reality is yes, a little, but not consistently. And I think I suspected that would be the case.

Can I work from any campground or host, even if they’re located in an area with limited cell coverage?

So far, yes. But sometimes the connection is slower, and things take longer.

What happens if we get to a campground or host and setup goes wrong or takes longer than planned?

A solid reason to have days without movement.

Where We’ve Been Since Wednesday

Billings, MT

It wasn’t an intentional destination.

It was more of a:

“I think we’ll need a real campground after two days of boondocking, and this town has a campground, and it’s on our path.”

Billings is not a small town. In fact, it’s the largest city in Montana.

We ventured out for dinner tonight and found a one-of-a-kind steakhouse.

Literally, there’s only one.

Jake’s Downtown Steakhouse

Beautifully landscaped outside area with potted plants everywhere, and the food was excellent.

This was Jason’s filet. And my tacos in the background.

What’s not excellent is our campground.

I chose Billings Village RV Park with no real research, because Good Sam gave it a nod, and that’s supposed to mean something.

I’m not sure where some of the pictures on their website were actually taken.

There’s some liberal use of stock photography happening here, I think.

Because it sure doesn’t look like that hero image with the grassy area, the trees, and the hot air balloons in the background.

Very suspicious.

The actual view is NOT THAT.

And this place is barely what I’d call big-rig friendly.

They have back-in sites only, which we had to squeeze into while attempting to miss oddly placed utility posts and an old sewer connection with a concrete cap smack in the middle of the site.

Sure, they fit some larger rigs in here.

But it is TIGHT.

You think I'm exaggerating? 

I've been watching the guy two sites down try to back into his site for at least 30 minutes.

At one point, he left and circled around to get in a better angle.

He's still working at it.

Anyhow.

They let us check in early for free.

I’ll say that.

But we’re outta here tomorrow, because...

Tomorrow is the BIG DAY!

After two weeks on the road, we’ll arrive tomorrow afternoon in Gardiner, MT, at the north entrance of Yellowstone.

Adventures and hopefully some even better photos await!