Work From Anywhere Blog: Week 8; New job prep in the Grand Canyon

Last week we spent my second “in between jobs” week in the Grand Canyon. Since I was starting my job on Monday, I also had to navigate the logistics of getting my device and preparing to begin working.

Reunited in time for a Grand Canyon sunset!

This was the best week so far for our RV road trip adventure. Not only did we spend it in the Grand Canyon, but I was off from work AND my Mom and Aunt came to visit. Neither of them had really traveled since the beginning of the pandemic, so after they got their vaccinations, they decided to fly out to Phoenix and visit us at one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. I hadn’t seen my Aunt in over 14 months and my mom since the beginning of the trip. It was awesome to share this experience with them (neither had ever seen the canyon), but also have someone to keep an eye on the girls, so that Kailah and I could spend some dedicated time together.

Mid-hike back up the Bright Angel trail

The week was highlighted by a 6 mile round trip hike into the canyon and back on the Bright Angel trail. As I’m sure you can imagine, this trek definitely requires some physical fitness. It switchbacks down into the steep bank of the canyon, through rock overhangs, getting warmer as you descend (I read that for every thousand feet of descent, you gain 5 degrees Fahrenheit). The views are spectacular and in the spring, the temps are very reasonable. So despite the climb, it’s easily one of the best hiking experiences I’ve had.

In addition to the Bright Angel hike, we also walked the rim trail (which I would recommend for all fitness levels), drove the south rim and took a day trip down to beautiful Sedona, Arizona. I could write about all of these experiences in detail, but since this is a WFA blog, I’ll try and stay focused.

Enjoying the views!

As for work, it was hard for me to believe I’d be starting that following Monday. In order to be ready, I had my new company send my device (computer and docking station) to my sister in law in Washington. We were meeting them on Sunday, after ~15 hours of driving up to Idaho, at an Air BnB in Boise. These are logistics I never thought I would need to stress about. Fortunately, they received the package and remembered to bring it to me.

I also had never started a new job remotely before, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Normally you show up, someone greets you, you get your badge, get settled into your desk, go to orientation etc.. All I could do was turn on my computer and wait for my first meeting. Fortunately, my new boss sent meetings to my Gmail, so I could at least be prepared for my first few days.

Time alone together for a second GC sunset!

One thing I did want to note for anyone looking to work from the Grand Canyon, is that it’s absolutely possible. During the drive in, we didn’t have any service. But when we arrived at the RV park and campground, I had ~50-100 mbps download speed with Verizon. I could have easily held video calls and managed anything else that I needed to.

Well that’s all for this week. My next post will be all about starting a new remote job on the road and the challenges it brings. Fortunately, we’re renting a house with family (and wifi), so as long as I can hide from the kids, I should have a smooth first week.

Cheers!

Kyle

Office and technical gear links:

HP Monitor

Lepow Monitor

WeBoost Signal Booster

Bose Q35 Headphones

Moonbeam Noise Dampening Curtains

Connection Gear:

30 GB usage Verizon Jetpack MIFI 8800L

30 GB usage 5G MIFI M2100

30 GB usage utilizing my iPhone as a hotspot on the “Get More Unlimited” plan

Current usage trend: 0 GB / work day (No work this week!!!).

Click here for our WFA Gear Page

Work From Anywhere Blog: Week 7; Vacation while traveling and Verizon coverage map failure

Last week was an interesting one because it was my first of two vacation weeks while we’ve been on the road. We also got very lucky with the timing of this first week because we were staying on Lake Powell, in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, and we barely had any cell service - which would have completely prevented me from working. This week I’m chatting through how we handled both.

Family pic on Lake Powell in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area

Gloria enjoying a sunset bottle

First and foremost, it was SO NICE to be off of work for the entire week. Since I’ve been working on an east coast schedule, while on the west coast, this usually meant getting up around 5 AM and working in the dark for a couple of hours. I never thought it would actually be nice to be woken up by a toddler again. It was also so much less stressful because Kailah and I didn’t have to work around my meeting schedule (not to mention that I could help Kailah with the girls). Normally, we would discuss my schedule and which meetings I couldn’t afford to have background noise during. She would then take the girls outside, or put on a movie in the back of the RV. Last week we didn’t have to worry about any of that!

Stroller ride before sunset over Lake Powell

The other half of “vacation” on the road is purely psychological. I put the word vacation in quotes because I don’t really like using the word. Mostly because of the traditional connotation it carries with it being “something we do to go somewhere and spend time away from home” - usually to disconnect from the day-to-day and let loose. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this and science shows it is beneficial for all of us, but for Kailah and I, I don’t think it accurately describes what we are trying to accomplish long term. With technology being what it is, we want to free our time and not be limited by the handful of weeks each year that we are allowed to be somewhere other than home. So, when we take time away from work (notice I didn’t use the V word) we try and plan action packed adventures, in our bucket list locations, so that we can experience as much as possible.

That’s where the psychology of this whole cross country RV adventure comes in. Aren’t we already doing that AND working? Whether its my “day job” during the day, or NOE work at night, Kailah and I are VERY busy on the road. We have so much to do on a daily basis, it was very tempting last week to just back fill my additional time with more “stuff”. It took until Monday afternoon, or Tuesday for us to say “STOP”. It was time to literally not work, not plan, not do anything, but enjoy spending time with each other and the girls in the beautiful Glen Canyon NRA.

Lake Powell Resorts and Marinas - Driftwood Lounge (Click on the photo for a direct link to the “Travel Like its 2019” shirts!)

To tie all of this back to WFA…last week we dodged a huge bullet in the form of cell reception. I had originally planned to work from Lake Powell for the entire week, with my previous employer. As fate would have it, I switched jobs and took these two weeks off in between. Not only was the Wi-Fi extremely slow, the cell reception was almost nonexistent. Both of them were around 1.5 mbps download speed, which would not have worked for any video calls and probably wouldn’t have provided enough bandwidth to hold reliable audio calls. Say nothing about managing data and reporting processes virtually (this is the first time that the Verizon coverage map and Outly cross reference has failed us). It would have either been a train wreck of a week, or we would have had to leave our best RV site yet (pictured below). The WFA gods were with us…

Our RV site at Lake Powell Resorts and Marinas

Cheers from the Grand Canyon. I’ve got some special guest visitors with us this week. Can’t wait to share in next week’s post.

Kyle

Office and technical gear links:

HP Monitor

Lepow Monitor

WeBoost Signal Booster

Bose Q35 Headphones

Moonbeam Noise Dampening Curtains

Connection Gear:

30 GB usage Verizon Jetpack MIFI 8800L

30 GB usage 5G MIFI M2100

30 GB usage utilizing my iPhone as a hotspot on the “Get More Unlimited” plan

Current usage trend: 0 GB / work day (We didn’t have reliable enough service).

Click here for our WFA Gear Page

Work from Anywhere (WFA) Blog: Week 2 from Tucson, AZ!

Perfect patio and fire pit setup at our site

Week 2 is in the books! I must say, work went pretty smoothly this week, with the exception of a couple issues I’ll talk through in a bit. Last weekend we made the 13 hour journey, over the course of two days, from Canyon Lake, Texas to sunny Tucson, Arizona. It’s been a beautiful 70 degrees during the day and it is certainly nice to stop working and walk out into the sunshine. Tucson is currently 2 hours behind the east coast (soon to be 3 because they don’t exercise daylight savings time), so I’m starting work around 6-6:30 AM and hanging it up around 2:30-3 PM. I love this schedule because it leaves so much of the day for me to enjoy the weather and hang out with my ladies.

Our Thor Freedom Traveler A32 in Tucson

Every afternoon, I try and take a walk around the RV resort to get a little cardio in and one thing I noticed is that I’m not the only one working. I’ve seen a handful of RVers clearly on business phone calls and even one guy with an entire desk setup outside. While I’m not that adventurous yet and prefer my large screen setup in the cockpit, I thought it was pretty cool. It further confirms for me the effect that technology is having on the way we do business, especially after that change has been amplified by COVID.

The “cockpit office”

Overall, I’ve continually found myself obsessing over GB usage via cell. Yet again, the park Wifi is terrible, so I’ve relied entirely on Verizon’s service for connectivity. While this doesn’t surprise me, given the RV crowd isn’t usually concerned with accessing the internet, I think this will change in coming years. One downfall I’ve found this week is that my usage is much higher than in Texas. I’m averaging like 5 GB per day, compared to the 2.5 GB per day from the week before (Don’t forget I only have 60 GB a month from my hotspots and 5 GB trend puts me at 100 GB of total usage - or in other words…40 GB over my allotment). My total meeting time has been pretty consistent, so I’m actively trying to troubleshoot what is causing it. My gut tells me its a combination of the number of people on video calls (more people = more incoming data) and increased screen sharing this week. To combat this I’ve started turning off incoming video when it makes sense (really large meetings) and toying around with a low usage setting in the Microsoft Teams app - more on that next week.

One bright light in the usage saga is that I misunderstood how Verizon’s plan works. I thought my phone got a total data usage of 15 GB a month (including anything I use when not on WIFI). In reality, I get 50 GB of data usage from my phone (internet, gps, social etc) and 30 GB of usage when using my phone as an internet source for my computer. So, if worst comes to worse and I can’t tame the 5 GB usage per day, I should be able to sneak by.

Tucson, AZ

And to end on an even brighter note, my work days have been pretty low stress. Which is the obvious goal here. Kailah and I plan every day for when I can’t be interrupted because I’m presenting, or facilitating, or need focused time to work on a deliverable. She’s the ultimate partner and completely understands what I need (it probably helps that she worked remotely for a company until August, 2020).

Our next stop is Twentynine Palms California, so we can explore Joshua Tree National Park. The nerves are creeping back up bit, as the location is more remote and I’m already thinking about connectivity. It will also be an additional hour behind the east coast, so I’ll be starting even earlier. But only time will tell.

Kyle

Connection Gear:

30 GB usage Verizon Jetpack MIFI 8800L

30 GB usage 5G MIFI M2100

30 GB usage utilizing my iPhone as a hotspot on the “Get More Unlimited” plan

Current usage trend: 5 GB / work day

Click here for our WFA Gear Page