There is a website called “Lifehacker“, and they have a series called “How I Work”. Peridocally, they will interview someone from a company, and the title will be something like “I’m Mike Rowe, and this is How I Work.”
So, I’m Scott Milewski, And This Is How I Work.
So, how do you work from the road? Well, getting decent Internet is a huge issue. Most campgrounds out there do offer wifi, but you can never depend on what you are getting. We stayed in VT a few years ago, and while I could connect to the Internet and do a Google search, I couldn’t get to anything else.
The few campgrounds we’ve stayed at on this trip have had decent wifi; decent enough for the kids and my wife to connect to. However, I needed something more reliable. My list of equipment:
- Asus RT-N66U Router
- IOGEAR Universal Ethernet to Wi-Fi Adapter
- Unlimitedville Hotspot
- Circle with Disney Internet filter
The layout is simple: Internet on the Unlimitedville Hotspot (which does provide an unlimited monthly plan on their LTE network), which connects wirelessly to the IOGEAR Wi-Fi Adapter. The IOGEAR then has a physical Ethernet connection into the WAN port on the Asus router. All our home devices already connect to our home network (and still do). The only thing that has changed is the Internet connection coming into the Asus router.
In addition, the Circle provides Internet filtering. This product is by far the best one I’ve found for ease of setup, use and flexibility in assigning profiles including time limits, bedtime hours, flat out denial of web sites. It also gives you the ability to pause the Internet connection of an individual device, all the devices belonging to one person, or the entire house if need be. If you have kids, you NEED this device. Heck, adults need this device just to protect ourselves from “accidental” sites that we don’t need to see.
A note about Unlimitedville: they resell bulk plans from the major providers for a flat monthly fee. So far, they have been great for me; good coverage, great speeds. The color corresponds to the plan. If you go look up all the major players (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint), you can pretty much figure out which color goes with which plan. I have the “Pink” plan.
As a backup, I have a minimal Verizon hotspot. Just in case. And I can tether to my phone if need be. But I haven’t had to do that yet.
Sadly, I still need to organize everything. It’s all in a mass on top of one of the cabinets. Even a basket might be helpful.
My actual workspace is flexible. Good weather? Picnic table outside. Bad weather? Dinette inside. Needing to be away from everyone with the door closed? My standing desk (a.k.a my bureau). Offsite work day? The nearest Panera (or name another preppie coffee house location).
Is it easy? Not always. Do I have it all figured out? Not yet. Is it stressful? Not so much. There are perks; when you have to work at 5a, and you get to watch the sunrise from the picnic table outside your camper. Or if you want to take a 15 min break and walk around the camp roads. Or a bike ride on your lunchbreak. Or someone tells you the black water tank needs to be dumped…..oh, wait. Not so much a perk.
Milewski Road Trip 