‘Working on the Road’ is a new series, combining camper life with working remote while traveling with three dogs and adventuring on the way.
With #vanlife trending and the pandemic pushing more and more people to remote work, the itch of life in the road is becoming a lot easier to scratch for a lot of people. Still, there’s more to it than cowboy songs and cheap coffee. As I write more about our experiences, I think it’s prudent to start with a ‘disclaimer’ list - so you know exactly where we’re coming from and how it could compare to your situation. Everyone’s life and experience will be different, and my story isn’t meant to be a prescription, or even a ‘how-to’ - it’s simply a telling of the good, the bad, and the tips we’ve gathered from our days on the road. Sorry to say this will be the least sexy entry in this series, but here we go.
Queso and the Rig on our shake down trip
DISCLAIMERS, BACKGROUND AND ASSUMPTIONS:
I work part time as a social media marketing manager for a climbing wall company. They’re pretty great at letting me work flexible hours as long as I communicate my schedule ahead of time and make room for meetings during ‘normal’ hours as needed. The rest of my ‘work’ I call the Mo Show - that’s working with sponsors, scheduling speaking gigs, creating content like this, etc. Between the two, I’m probably ass-at-computer 30 hours a week.
My husband Brian has a ‘real job’ as a software engineer for a large satellite company. The do open PTO, so if we need to travel on a weekday or spend some time out of service, it’s pretty chill. That said, it also means he’s pretty much always working and almost never takes a pure vacation.
Because we both have jobs, we are able to spend a bit on the road - this isn’t going to be a dirtbag’s guide to road life on $20 a week. We often pay for camping, eating out, etc.
We still own our house in Colorado and spend most of our time there. However, we are looking to do more time on the road in two week chunks here and there with a few month+ trips thrown in. We got lucky and bought our house before the Front Range real estate went absolutely bonkers, and we have a roommate or two at all times to help offset housing cost and mind the cat and the gardens while we’re away.
We just upgraded to a 25’ camper trailer, meaning we tow it with our pick up truck, drop it at camp, and then have the truck free to use a s a commuter vehicle. See my post on why we went that route over a van here (though it features our old, smaller trailer).
If we travel where it’s hard to bring dogs, we’ll leave them with my in laws or hire a house sitter.
Our first real work on the road trip was in 2018, but things certainly look different with COVID. Currently, how we can be the most COVID safe is front and center when we plan on going on (or staying home) for a trip.
I’ll update this list as needed, but keep these in mind as you read!