Being Anywhere
Or “Travel, remote work, and the productive hump on my back”
So here I am in Texas.
It’s just for around 48 hours, officially. We landed in Austin yesterday, and Kara’s folks came to pick us up (God bless ‘em… traffic was not great). And then we did what our ancient traditions demand of us—we ate Tex Mex for dinner.
Today, lunch will be provided by the great and powerful Whataburger.
My Texas powers are slowly re-emerging.
A funny thing though…
When we got here, as we drove back to our house and picked up my Bronco, as Kara and I drove deeper into the Texas Hill Country to where we slept for the night, we noticed something.
We weren’t really missing the place.
The state, absolutely. The people. The food. It’s been months since I’ve set foot in an HEB.
But the area? It wasn’t feeling like “home” for us.
We had the realization that this was the case for a long while now. Austin never did click into feeling quite like “home.” There was always something slightly off about where we lived. And it seems like we’ve been talking about “the next place” since almost the day we moved into the house here.
I’m not sure what that says about us, beyond the fact that we are clearly very nomadic. Does it make us ungrateful? Selfish or self-centered in some way? Foolish?
I love Texas. So does Kara. This place will always be home. Ish.
But she and I have done an awful lot of traveling. An awful lot of moving from place to place, spending a couple of years here or there, sometimes living in spare or spartan conditions while we were in transition. There’s a lot of discomfort in a life like that. But also a lot to admire and enjoy.
Something I’m seeing in myself—that “work from anywhere” thing is solid with me. I’ve got my entire raft of work down to a backpack. My mobile office. Everything I need in one cool, canvas hump.
So… do I need an office anymore?
It’s handy. Having a door to close is useful. Having a familiar set of surroundings, all my stuff close at hand. I love it. But do I need it?
Of course not. If I’ve proven anything over the years, it’s that I don’t need a dedicated space. It’s just a nice-to-have not a must-have.
That’s a good thing to realize about myself, I think.
Kara and I do need a home, though. We can only stay mobile for so long before it wears us down. Temporary living starts to get heavy, after a while.
So eventually we’ll find a spot for ourselves, and we’ll fill it with everything we own, and we’ll start a new life in that place.
But I think what we’re learning (what I’m learning, anyway… Kara has her own life lessons) is: Simple is the way.
I like simple. I like compact. I like portability.
When I have an office space again, this is going to impact how I use it. Because I have found that I genuinely like having a great deal of mobility in how I work.
I like being anywhere.
FIND YOUR NEW FAVORITE NOVEL
I’ve built my own store for direct sales, and if you’re looking for your next favorite book, this is the place!
Eventually I’ll sell more than ebooks here, but for now you can pick up one of my novels and read it on your eReader or app of choice. I’ve made it pretty easy.
PLUS, if you use discount code LAUNCHDAY, you’ll get 20% off of your entire cart, all the way through June 1st.
Go to my Knovelton Bookshop at https://knoveltonbooks.com
A NOTE AT THE END
I’ve always been a nerd about remote work. I’ve traveled a lot in my career, and sometimes I have to move pretty light. A quick conference somewhere across the country, with maybe only a two-day layover, and I’m back and running again. Things like that.
So I’ve learned how to use things like my iPhone and a Bluetooth keyboard as my only tools. Or I may use an iPad, from time to time. Or my laptop, of course.
I basically always have everything I need to do all the work I do, wherever I am and whenever I need to.
When I was a kid, I dreamt of the kind of technology that we carry in our pockets today. I couldn’t wait for the future. And now that it’s here, I admit I’m still gobsmacked over it.
I have a piece of Remote Desktop software that lets me use a computer that’s set up on a dresser in our bedroom, 1,500 miles away, and work as if I’m sitting right in front of it.
How cool is that?
I can even do it from my phone.
I tell ya… there are wonders of technology all around us, and no one even thinks about it anymore. It’s crazy.
We live in an age of mundane marvels.
Just purchased my first book (The Lovelock Protocol) on your new shop Knovelton books with the 20% off code! Yay!! Book funnel is great. I love that a lot of you authors use this avenue. Thank you and look forward to other items you may add to the shop.
I've lived a wandering life since birth. My father was enlisted in the Air Force. I was born in Belleville, IL. At around 6 months we moved to Waco, TX for 6 years, during which my father earned a degree in Accounting from Baylor University on the Bootstrap program. Then we moved to Hickam Air Force Base (AFB), Hawaii. 5 years there, during which Hawaii became a state.. Then to my mother's home town of Timpson, TX in the Piney Woods. A year there, then to Patrick AFB, FL for two years. We arrived during the Cuban missile crisis and every green are that didn't have a building on it was covered with tents full of soldiers ready to invade Cuba or to fight off a Cuban invasion. This was also during the Mercury space program. There were two manned launches while I was there. Each preceded by a fire drill at school to get us outside to watch the launch. Then back to Timpson for another year. Dad was getting a house ready for us in Lawton, Oklahoma where he had a Civil Service Job on Fort Sill. We moved there and stayed 'til I graduated from high school in 1968. It was the height of the Vietnam war and the draft. Everyone seemed to be getting drafted as soon as they graduated. I "avoided" the draft by getting appointed to attend the Air Force Academy. I graduated in 1972 as a member of just the 14th class to graduate. 10 days after graduation I married a fellow Air Force brat. The 10 day delay was to let her Dad come home on leave from the Vietnam war. His second tour. Now I started my own career. First to Reese AFB, TX (Lubbock) for pilot training, where my wife had been born while her father was learning to fly. Then short TDYs to Homestead AFB near Miami, FL for Water Survival, Carswell AFB in Ft Worth, TX for weapons training, and 3 months at Castle AFB, CA for specialty training in the B-52. Then to my first operational base, Robins AFB, GA for 5 years, Grand Forks AFB, ND for 5 years, Andersen AFB, Guam for two and Barksdale AFB, LA for 6. I then retired, stayed in Bossier City, LA for 4 more, then to Johnson County, AR for 16, Texarkana, TX for 2 and finally to Wylie, TX, near Dallas where I live, now. And I do feel at home here.