I’ve been a fan of Henry David Thoreau for more than a decade. Didn’t read him in grade school or college. I came across his works and thinking later in life, and found a piece of him in me. Equal parts poet, essayist, biologist, ecologist, transcendentalist, anarchist, abolitionist and a creator of civil disobediance whose writings later were followed by Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, I believe any free spirited thinker can say they feel his work.

So it was when we were driving down I-495 in Central Massachusetts this week and came across a sign for the Walden Pond State Reservation, I knew I just had to stop.

I knew it would be an idyllic place, this campsite and woods that Thoreau spent two years, two months and two days in the 1840s exploring, journaling, and living a solitary life. I’d read some of his works, and while the details were a bit fuzzy, the big picture revealed a place I had to be.

“You’re going to see a lot of ‘earthy’ people,” I forewarned Robbie. “People in Birkenstocks and women in peasant skirts who still follow his writings.”

So Robbie, Nicole and I went. And we parked in a lot with far too many vehicles to be just members of The Thoreau Society. Whatever. We were all on the same plane.

And as I rounded a corner from the parking lot, I saw it… Read More »

During our recent visit to Jacksonville, Fla., Home Office Highway was profiled by First Coast News. Workation, vocation and vacation were key concepts the producers lit upon to highlight how the mobile home office will find its place.

See the report below…

Every other week, I sit and chat with Small Business Advocate Jim Blasingame. This week, I was sitting in the driver’s chair of the Home Office Highway RV while tooling down the Garden State Parkway (hand-free wireless, I promise…). It was a lot of fun.

Give it a click if you’d like to learn how to home office from the road, too, good buddy. And check out my weekly spot on The Rich Roffman Show. Hosted by Miami media entrepreneur and publisher Rich Roffman, we’ve chronicled my trip up the Eastern Seaboard — including my drive through New York’s Hudson Valley. We’ve proven that my work — or that of any information peddler — can be done from anywhere.

This is the Chief Home Officer, I’m 10-10 on the side…

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…

A few days back while we were in Atlanta, I arranged an interview with Ruth King of On The Ribbon.com and the Profitability Channel online television network. Notwithstanding the ingenuity of creating a full-on TV network that runs over the Internet, we had a good chat about the powertools of the mobile home office.

Talk about preparation, Ruth had me prepare a pre-interview doc on the must-knows of our adventure. My list follows: Read More »

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 »

We’re in Paynes Creek Campground, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-built park in Hartwell, Ga. And one thing is clear: Those army engineers know how to build and maintain a campground.

And I reckon that come tomorrow morning, it’ll make a pretty good virtual office, too.

The sites are big, spacious and relatively secluded, and almost all have a view of the rather diminished Lake Hartwell (though we seem to have brought with us to Georgia four days of intermittent rain it hasn’t put a dent in the long-time drought the Peachtree State has suffered).

Since it’s a corps park, that means reservations are handled by the U.S. Park Service’s Reservations.gov tool. If you plan to camp, remember this site.

After five whirlwind days on the road, we’ve decided to settle in for two nights. That will make Friday a “casual Friday” for Home Office Highway. I’m actually looking forward to a morning of work, and an afternoon of exploration in this secluded place. Read More »

When it comes wireless phones and my choice of hearing devices,this home office worker tends toward the dysfunctional. I’m a fan of Bluetooth and the wireless functionality and freedom it delivers.

But I like the clarity and simple effectiveness of wired headsets. Hence my confusion (my wife would argue that it doesn’t end there, but that’s another story).

Headsets are important — and sometimes legal must-haves — accessories for wireless phones. As you’re tooling around town or exploring the Final Frontier in an RV with better things to focus on than answering your wireless phone, they free your hands for note-taking or driving (helping avoid costly traffic tickets in those markets where hands-free cellular phone use is the law - see list below). Read More »

Are you a power broker? You have your laptop and broadband wireless card that provide access to the connected world. You may even have a back-up laptop battery in case your first does during the middle of a major project or especially thoughtful missive.

But what about the power that empowers you? Whether you’re in an RV or a hotel room, the stuff we use — our laptops, portable printers, iPods and cell phones — invariably require more power than some measly little two-plug wall outlet will provide.

So, power up.

I’m using a variety of tools that bring power to peak performance. My Targus Travel Power Outlets with Surge Protection ($19.99) turns one outlet into four, and includes a reset button should a power surge knock it out. What’s really cool is spacing between outlets and the butt-end outlet ensure my oversized power bricks won’t block one another from finding a home.  Plus, it’s small (5.5 inches with an 8-inch cable) and light enough (5.6 oz) to fit in your laptop back. Also pretty cool, its plug fits into one of its outlets — making for a tidy, secure device. It even has its own Velcro cable tie (and we all know how I feel about Velcro). Read More »

Where does my stuff go? That one statement has expressed the bane and misery of this occasional road warrior’s travels from the first time I loaded a laptop bag and headed out of the home office and hit the road.

Sure, laptop bags have a place for the namesake product. But what about the rest of the stuff that invariably comes along? Even the power cable and transformer have to find a make-shift home, tucked in some side pocket or stuffed in a Zip-Lock baggie to avoid entanglement.

Then there’s the portable mouse, the USB adapters, and all the other accessories. Where do these orphans go — neatly  — so that they’re accessible and don’t end us as a tangled mess on the bottom of the bag? Read More »