Remote work generally means working somewhere other than an office building, often out of your home. We do remote work out of our home, too. But our home takes us to remote places because “home” is where we park it. That’s why I like to say we put the “remote” into remote work.
When Jessi and I started RVing with our Class B Roadtrek in 2015, we still had full-time, nonremote jobs. My long-time career in media relations was at a crossroads. And I was so burned out that I couldn’t imagine reporting to another office day after day. So, I started doing freelance work from home.
Soon after, Jessi started looking for a remote job, as well. That’s because we kept finding reasons to stay out longer every time we went RVing. Now, we spend every January through September on the road. We tend to spend October weekends rediscovering our home state of Michigan. November and December are dedicated to visiting our families, celebrating holidays and birthdays. We also handle major maintenance, upgrade, or repair projects on our RV and tow vehicle.
After Jessi got her full-time remote job, we worked out of our Michigan sticks-and-bricks for a while. It occurred to us rather quickly that we had traded in the shackles of an office desk chair for the shackles of a home-based desk chair. I think that’s why we ended up heading out in the RV as much as possible. And why we found ourselves wanting to push our adventures a little further each time.
We finally dedicated ourselves to becoming park hosts. It lets us escape Michigan’s winter weather by settling in Florida or Texas from January through April. (Those longer stints in one place are one of the reasons we traded our 21-foot van for a 30-foot Airstream.)
And now we’re on the road about nine months out of each year. Jessi still spends nearly every weekday sitting at a desk. But at the end of the day, she can open the door and step out into some magical places. I spend a lot more time outside than I ever have, either working on the maintenance team as a park host or taking care of sites as a campground host.
It can be very easy to fall into a homebody routine, even if your home is a 30-foot trailer. But our travel lifestyle means we won’t be in one place for years. So, we know we need to get out and explore an area before our time is up.
That kind of motivation gets us hiking and camping away from the Airstream most weekends. We might also visit an area to get to know the local people, cuisine, and tourist spots.
The larger concept of “your time is up” also drives us to make the most of every day. We have lost too many family members, friends, and coworkers who died young or were maybe a bit older and close to finally having the adventures they planned for retirement.
Life is too short to plan for “someday.” I recently told someone that it’s important to “make every day someday.” I don’t know if I heard that somewhere or made it up on the fly. But it seems bumper-sticker-worthy to me, so I will keep using it!
Taking full advantage of remote work also means getting out of your comfort zone to seize opportunities as they arise.
We have set up our tow vehicle, a 1-ton Chevrolet Express van, with a bed platform, powered cooler, and more so it can be our weekend adventure mobile. While camphosting in Utah last summer, we took the van to Goblin Valley State Park. We camped by ourselves on remote BLM land. It was well off the beaten path, a little risky from a traction standpoint, and really hot without air conditioning. But it also meant we spent a night staring in awe as the Milky Way stretched from horizon to horizon with no light pollution to mask it.
The freedom of remote work and the power of our Starlink satellite internet system also meant we got to watch a historic space launch by SpaceX in person. They were testing their new heavy rocket by launching it from the Texas coast. So we jumped in the van and drove for more than 6 hours. We slept in the van parked on the street outside a local park, waiting for the gates to open at 3 a.m. By 3:30 a.m., we were set up on the beach. Then we stood in amazement, watching the largest rocket we’ve ever seen in person launch a few hours later.
Afterward, when hundreds of people sat in cars waiting in line to return home or get to their jobs, we set up shop. I put Starlink on the van’s roof. Jessi was able to make video conference calls while sitting in a beach parking lot. I also took advantage of the system to get some freelance and Trekers work done. Meanwhile, vehicles crept through the parking lot for hours.
When we leave our current park-hosting gig near Stonewall, Texas, we are heading deep into one of the most remote parts of the Lone Star State at Big Bend National Park. (By the way, one of the reasons we’re at this current assignment is that we knew we would be in the path of totality for the solar eclipse. Another bucket-list item checked off!)
While in Big Bend, we will be at an established campground but in a rustic campsite for 5 days. We have prepared for this trip by ensuring we have a battery and solar setup on our Airstream that can sustain itself that long. (Plus, we have a portable generator for backup if the sun decides to abandon us.) We also have portable power banks that we can recharge with solar panels. That will help continuously power Starlink, our computers, phones, and more.
It’s going to be a big change from the full hookups we’ve had at the state park we’re in, with all the water, electricity, and sewer capacity we could ever need. But it will be good to get away from things a bit again. We regularly need to rekindle our love for adventuring. And that means not only with our van and hiking boots but also with our shiny home on wheels.
We could opt not to go so remote, staying connected and hooked up to “the grid.” It would still be remote work that beats sitting on a couch in our house. But that seems like it would emphasize the work part of remote work. And, when given the chance, we’ll always opt to make “remote” the whole point of this lifestyle.
Keep on trekin’ and we’ll see you out there — maybe WAY out there!
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