If you’re a home office worker, a road warrior, a teleworker, a virtual officer or just a workationing mom or dad who’s hitting the highway but expecting to take a little work in tow, how will you help those trying to reach you to actually reach you. A voicemail I received today helped highlight that question. It also revealed that with email, texts, pins, BBMs, Facebook, tweets, IM, LinkedIn messages, some people still rely on vmail. And as antiquated as we may believe it to be, we still must serve those people’s needs.

In the message, the person left her query. She also commented that my outbound greeting referenced Cinco de Mayo. A greeting a month old, eh? Goes to show how little attention many of us pay to our vmail greetings.

This got me to thinking, though… Assuming people actually listen to greetings, what should we say or request of those trying to reach us? What about for teleworkers, road warriors and even workationing entrepreneurs?

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Summertime’s a great time to hit the open road – without leaving life behind. Technology widely available to the consumer market helps the “anywhere” office – and online personality – come alive without an electrical outlet or Ethernet cable in sight. This is Americana in a way Norman Rockwell never could have imagined.

This summer, the Home Office Highway ‘11 road show will showcase the tech, tools and tips that empower people to work and play from the interstate highway – or the information superhighway. The three-week excursion and social media event will highlight how “location independence” can be found wherever life’s journey ventures.

This year, we’ll travel from Fort Lauderdale to San Francisco. Part sightseeing trip, part college tour, all fun-n-games. The van will have laptops, digital cameras and other technology common to the modern family home.

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As we prep, pack and panic to head out for three weeks on the road in the ZRV, it’s important to remember the essentials.

10. My Office Depot Christopher Lowell Collection Home Office Lean-To and Herman Miller Aeron “Around the Campfire” office chair.

9. The back-line to Tim, your Filipino buddy in the IT help desk overseas. Always there with some advice.

8. Raid, Off, citronella, flyswatters. I know how bad bugs can be in the Florida suburban summer. I can only imagine what they’ll be like in the actual outdoors — especially with the glow of the monitor to attract them like moths to the flame. Read More »

T-Minus four days until Home Office Highway hits the open road, and I still find myself in search of the must-have supplies. I have my latex gloves and Velcro straps. I have Purell (there’s actual germs in the woods!). And I have my harmonica and funky travel hat.

But in frenzied fashion befitting a home office denizen first-timing it in an RV, below is the rest of the stuff I believe I’ll need. Have other ideas? Let me know…

– Cable locks to secure laptops, and a travel pad lock to close my Mobile Workmate. A baseball bat would be nice, too.
– My must-have user IDs and passwords so I can blog, log on, bank and otherwise work and live on the road. Read More »

Departure Countdown: One month until the RV hits the road. The partners (Office Depot and Verizon Wireless) are in place, and the family’s getting excited.

I visited our RV partner, RV Sales of Broward, to check out the recreational vehicle we’ll call home for three weeks. While it’s no John Madden-esque luxury coach, it’ll be perfect for the tour.

It’s a 23-foot Fleetwood Jamboree. It’ll sleep our family of five comfortably, and not chug the petrol like a much bigger coach. Apparently it’ll get somewhere near 10 MPG. Now I’ll know what a once-proud Hummer owner feels like as oil tops $137 a barrel.

Now’s the time to start getting the fine-print details into place:

– Signage. I contacted a local vendor who’ll print and install laminate signage for the sides.

– I ordered a copy of Over the Road Wireless for Dummies (Wiley, 2006), and downloaded a copy of Marcia Yudkin’s Taking Your Business On The Road. Written from her two-month sabbatical across the U.S. and Canada, this is quickly becoming my must-read tome on the work-from-the-road advanture.

Much to do, and time’s running short. Have ideas, links or resources for me to explore? Send them along.