The road traveled, so far...

Four days into Home Office Highway ’09 and we’ve seen a great deal of Florida and Georgia.

We’ve traveled about 10% of the trip on country backroads, so we’ve seen more of Real America than we have in the past.

A sampling of snapshots from the trip thus far: Upper left (and me in hat), tubing down the Itchetucknee River in North Central Florida; top center and right, Stella enjoying my harmonica playing, then asleep on her perch: My Foray Mobile Workmate; lower right, Robbie sending a Bunk Note to Zoe on the MSI netbook; lower left, the campsite home office: the netbook, Verizon Gz’One Boulder, and a cup of coffee.

These are the images memories are made from…

Cindy Krischer Goodman, blogger over at the Miami Herald’s WorkLife Balancing Act, cited a study from Take Back Your Time that discovered that some 28% of Americans took no vacation time at all last year. Five in 10 took a week or less. Another study from Steelcase in 2006 says 49% didn’t take what they had coming to them.

No home officer workers here, apparently.

An interesting turn: some 69% of us here in the States support a paid vacation law; a bunch of those want three weeks or more each year. The obvious question: What the heck would we do with that vacation, since many of us aren’t using the vaca time The Man gave you in the first place.

This isn’t about The Haves whining about not using what they’ve got. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says one in four get no paid vacation. Not surprisingly, around half of men and women said they take work on vacation.

No home officer workers here, apparently. Read More »

My comrade Allan over at RVRoaming.com had this image on his blog. He said he’s in the third row. I’m a hybrid: Just move the seventh image to the sixth position with the kids and dogs from the fifth spot, and you’ve got me pegged.

Reminds me of the parable: What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three in the evening? The answer, of course, is Man (crawling as a youth, upright as an adult, and with a cane as a senior). If you’re an RVer, though, somewhere in that lineage of age must be six – as in wheels.

Two weeks in, and we’ve seen and done so much. I’ve logged early morning work sessions in the RV and in the woods, and watched as my family journaled about our adventures. I’ve shared times with new friends (“Hey Col. Sanders, I always imagined you a bit taller”), and discovered how productive you can be with a laptop, an internet connection and clients and family who get it.

One more week. Plenty of places to explore and experiences to be had…

Today was my birthday. It’s the 19th such event enjoyed from a home office.

This time around, my home office was an RV, and my “cake” was ambrosia. I love that stuff — a Southern favorite made of mini marshmallows, mandarin oranges, shredded coconut and sour cream (among other ingredients, depending on the maker).

No candles were lit. No songs were sung (except for my sister-in-law and nephew, who sang it via cell). Just a plastic fork from Panda Express at Carowinds — the Carolinas theme park where we spent the day.

I haven’t had ambrosia in a dozen years — and certainly not as a birthday dish. But more to the point, I never would have enjoyed this delicacy if we hadn’t gotten off Interstate 85 to spend two nights at Paynes Creek Campground. Sure, there were a dozen RV parks we could have chosen along the interstate. But Paynes Creek seemed cool at the time. And it lived up to its billing. And then some… Read More »

For a home officer, the concept of the Mobile Home Office seems the epitome of “Independence.”

A professional who can take off for several weeks without worry of boss, client or customer repurcussions. A husband and dad who has learned to balance home and work — and earn the admiration of family in the process.

A man who can load up an RV, create a home office on the road — and never miss a beat as he tours the nation’s highways and byways; who can meet deadlines by seamlessly weaving them into the travel plans and around the family’s needs and expectations; who can keep clients loyal and unconcerned about deadlines and deliverables; who can create lasting memories for the family — ones they will look back on with smiles and fondness in years to come. Read More »