Traveling Office

I know there has been quite a bit of time since my announcement about a new job, with no blog posts. As expected, I was getting acclimated to a new company, as well as a different way to work. None of that has been bad, quite the opposite, this job and company has offered more than I could have hoped for when looking for a new job. But change is change and it was still all new and took some time to learn and feel comfortable trying to work mobile. I also had to do some prep to be able to travel and work productively……and fix some problems that had come up. I actually took a trip in May to The Texas Tiny Trailer Rally, but didn’t post about it because everything seemed to go wrong. After four days of thunderstorms and flooding, the weather appeared to get nice, so I put my easy up canopy out to enjoy some time outside. Later that evening a gust of wind came up that picked it up, with the water bags on the legs, and ripped the stakes out of the ground. Unfortunately in the direction of the camper, flipped it over the camper and also ripped down my shower curtain. So the shower curtain mount had to be replaced and that was not a small job.

I had made a couple small improvements before the rally that worked well I haven’t talked about that will add here. First, I reworked the top for the shower. While a clear plastic shower curtain works better than not being able to use the bathroom in the rain, it’s very hot in the sun and creates a sauna effect. I worked out a better solution using the fabric used to make umbrellas and made an easily folded, and stored, cover to attach on top with suction cups. It did work well during the 4 days of rain during the rally.

I also finally fixed the issue with the shelf/cover for the storage at the head of the bed. I have shown before that it was one long piece that folds up. I had just stopped using the shelf part and left it up because it was too hard to take everything off to get into the storage. I finally took the time, in the spring when it was cool, and took the top out and cut it into 3 pieces. I won’t say it was “easy” per say because getting the screws out in that tiny compartment was a challenge, and you have to have the right kind of saw to get a good cut, but it was definitely one of the best improvements for the time spent.

The big issue before I hit the road was office space. I do plan to work outside as much as possible, but a lot of my job requires video calls and I need a calm, quite place for those with no interruptions. While I have a folding TV tray, it has a lip all the way around the edge, that it great for keeping things from sliding off, it was not good for sitting at a computer. I looked at a lot of lap desks and found some amazing ones, but at the end of the day, it had to be easily stored and put out of the way. I finally decided on a simple, aluminum, small folding table. It folds down flat and has a handle but has a lot of surface space for my laptop, tablet, phone and other stuff. I also accidentally learned from being lazy the first time I put it away, that by half folding it, it provides an extra shelf and it great place to hold my throw pillows, that I usually stack on the side table and pray the tower doesn’t topple in the night.

After loosing my easy up canopy to wind I also decided to find a better solution than water bags and stakes for my new one. I got the same brand and size easy up, but opted for the sides walls as well. To secure it I decided to go with kettle bells, with the thought that I would use them to work out on the road too. The workout part hasn’t happened yet, but I’m still planning to. I am happy with how secure the canopy is and has held up in wind so far.

Now that I have everything worked out I am out on the road again and will have many more blog posts of adventures in the coming weeks.