Thanks to satellite radio, bMighty's "Tech On The Go" correspondent hasn't been out of the loop during his travels.
Our "Tech On the Go" correspondent Scott Koegler will be filing his column from the road this summer as he crosses the country with his family over the next six weeks. Though there's bound to be some "vacationing" along the way, Scott will continue to operate his small business from the road. Throughout this adventure, he'll share tips, tricks, and insights about how to keep a business running smoothly when you're on the move while maintaining a virtual connection to his office network, server, desktop computer, and video surveillance system.
Scott and his wife, Donna Marie, are traveling in a Ford E-350 van, pulling a travel trailer, accompanied by their dogs Cody and Mac. They left their home in Wilkesboro, N.C., on June 16 bound for the Rocky Mountains. After crossing the Continental Divide, they'll stop off in Las Vegas, peek into the Grand Canyon, and visit family in New Mexico before heading for home along Route 66 (and more modern byways).
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You can follow Scott's progress on
Knoxville, Tenn. -- Today is our last day on the road for this trip. In many ways, the trip has been too short (six weeks). In a few ways, it's been too long. But in the end, it's been just about right. Even though we've been "camping" for several years, this has been our longest single trip. It's also been the longest time I've needed to work on the road. On previous trips that were two weeks or so, I've scheduled my work so that I've had deadlines completed before we left, or after we returned.
Here's a map of the states we've been in, or through, on this trip.
One of the conveniences I missed during the first week of the trip was a consistent radio/news station. We were able to get television via either analog, digital, or cable for about half the trip. But that left big holes in my understanding of news and current events. Keeping up with news is important to my business life. I don't want to become too detached from the world. My solution came in the form of a JVC XM radio player, the XpressRC unit, made by Delphi.
The model I'm using is mounted on the dash of my van. It has the option of sending its signal to my FM radio, but most of the time I connect ear buds and let my wife read in peace. The obvious advantage to satellite radio is its consistency. There have been only a very few moments, traveling through the mountains, when I've lost signal. I've been able to keep up with the major news providers, public radio, and even some music without missing much (I think). Even better, I have the matching Belkin "boom box" that accepts the JVC unit, and lets me listen outside or inside the camper.
At the desk in my office back home, I normally use two monitors attached to my PC. I've found that I can do more with more display area. I decided to bring one of my smaller (17") LCDs with me on this trip, and attempt to simulate my office. Most of the time I opted not to set up the second monitor in the camper because I have been able to segment my work a bit more efficiently. But when I needed to edit some video clips or images, I connected the monitor to my laptop. The resulting environment was pretty much the same as the one at the office. And when not in use, I stored the display under the table, where it was convenient to get to, but out of the way.
This campground, like many that we've stayed in, offers free Wi-Fi. When we arrived yesterday, we were able to use the campground's Internet connection without any problem. However, this morning, we couldn't find the campground's signal. This isn't the first time a campground's Wi-Fi has gone out of service overnight. In fact, we've experienced two other incidents. One of them was on a Sunday, when the camp office was closed and nobody was around to complain to.
Don't Miss: Staying Connected From Everywhere
Today, the camp office doesn't open for another couple hours, at which time we expect to be on the road. This is one of those times when multiple options come in handy. I plugged in my NexAira router, plugged my Sprint U727 modem into it, and in about two minutes, we had our own network connection up and running. And, it seems to be delivering even better service than the campground's connection (when it was working).
Now that e-mail has been taken care of, I'll pack up one more time.
See you on the road!
See more "Tech on the Go" columns by Scott Koegler
