Working Remotely From the Road: How We Stay Connected While Overlanding

One of the reasons my wife and I enjoy overlanding is getting away from our normal routines, exploring places we have never been and spending time outside with our dogs. At the same time, owning SNL-Tech Services means I cannot assume that nothing will happen simply because I am a thousand miles from home. Clients can still need me, and my wife also needs to be able to work while we travel. Longer trips require us to think about Internet connectivity, power, devices, access to information and what happens when the technology we normally depend on is not available.

I originally wrote about our mobile setup while we were preparing for an extended trip through New England. Since then, the way we travel and work from the road has continued to evolve. We have learned more about what we actually use, what is worth carrying and where having another option matters. We are now preparing for our next extended trip, about three weeks of camping and overlanding through New Mexico and Arizona in December, and I am making some significant upgrades before we leave.

The funny part is that the more I look at our setup, the more I realize that I approach overlanding almost exactly the way I approach IT. I like having backup plans, and sometimes I like having backup plans for the backup plans. My wife picks on me about it quite a bit, but when something actually goes wrong, I am usually calm because I have already thought about what we might do next.

Working Remotely from the road: While Traveling Takes More Than a Laptop

It is easy to think of remote work as simply taking a laptop somewhere other than the office. That works when the somewhere else is a house with reliable Internet, plenty of electrical outlets and cellular service. It becomes a different problem when the office might be the passenger seat of the truck, a campsite, a hotel room, a folding table outside or the tailgate of the truck.

My work laptop is the center of my business setup, and I bring my MacBook Air for personal use. I also bring my iPad, which I use extensively for camping, overlanding, maps, notes and trip information. My wife has a portable travel monitor, and I plan to add another one to our kit before the December trip so we can each have a second display when we need more screen space.

I have a backpack dedicated to our devices and a separate small bag for charging cables. I carry a compact power bank capable of charging our laptops that can fit into a backpack, and my wife and I each have a small solar power bank for phones and other smaller devices. We also have an inverter in the truck so she can work and charge her laptop while I am driving.

My workspace itself is pretty flexible. I carry a comfortable chair and a collapsible table that rolls up when I am not using it. Those are not things I bought specifically for overlanding. I take them to client sites and use them all the time. Depending on where we are, I can work from the table, inside the truck or use the tailgate as a standing desk. A mobile office does not need to look like my office at home. It needs to give me a practical place to work and access to the technology I need.

I Do Not Want One Internet Connection to Be the Entire Plan

Connectivity is one of the biggest parts of working remotely from the road, particularly when we are traveling through areas that may have little or no cellular coverage.

We currently use Starlink Roam with our standard Starlink kit. For longer camp stays, I pull the system out and set it up once we arrive. The entire kit travels in its own carrying case, and I keep everything I need for it together, including a surge protector. I also carry an extra Starlink cable and an extra kickstand. I would rather have a spare part taking up a little room in the truck than discover that a relatively small damaged component has made an otherwise perfectly good Internet system unusable.

For our New Mexico and Arizona trip, I am planning to add a Starlink Mini to the truck and continue using Starlink Roam. The Mini will be mounted to the roof rack using the appropriate mounting hardware, and I plan to wire its power through a switch inside the truck so we can easily turn it on when we need it and shut it off when we do not.

One of the biggest reasons I am making that change is so we can have Internet access while we are driving. My wife frequently works from the passenger seat during long driving days, and having Starlink available while the truck is moving gives us another connectivity option in areas where cellular coverage may be limited. Starlink Roam currently supports in motion use up to 100 mph with supported equipment in authorized locations, although I will verify the current service and mounting requirements again before we leave in December.

I am still keeping our standard Starlink. When we reach a location where we are going to camp for several days, I can set up the larger system and leave it at camp instead of making the truck our only Internet connection. The Mini and Standard Starlink are not necessarily replacing one another in our setup. I expect them to serve different purposes.

I am also still considering adding a cellular option similar to the Solis device we used previously. I have not decided yet. Part of this trip will be finding out whether having Starlink available from the truck changes how much value another dedicated cellular device would actually add.

Internet Is Only Useful if We Can Power It

Power is the other half of the mobile office. Having a good Internet connection does not help very much if the laptop, monitor or networking equipment cannot stay powered.

We currently carry a Jackery and a 100 watt solar panel, and I plan to keep both. For the upcoming trip, I am upgrading the larger power system to an Anker SOLIX setup. I am also planning to add two low profile solar panels to the top of the truck before we leave. I have not finalized all of that installation yet, so I am going to save the exact configuration and how well it performs for after we actually use it.

The Jackery is not becoming useless simply because I am adding a larger power system. I still see it being useful for laptops, phones and other smaller equipment. We also have the truck inverter, laptop capable power bank and our smaller solar power banks. Different situations call for different options, and I would rather distribute the jobs than make every device dependent on one source of power.

This is another area where I will be interested to see what we actually use during three weeks on the road. It is easy to design a power setup on paper. I am much more interested in what happens when we are actually camping, working, charging devices and moving from one location to another.

I Do Not Assume Everything I Need Will Always Be in the Cloud

Most of the time, Internet access gives me what I need to work. I still do not like designing my mobile office around the assumption that I will always have a connection.

I carry an external hard drive with an offline copy of client information I may need while traveling. Because that information is leaving my normal environment, the drive is encrypted with BitLocker To Go, requires authentication before the information can be accessed and stays in its own protective carrying case when I am not using it.

I also carry a separate waterproof encrypted flash drive containing important personal information for my wife and me. If we are somewhere remote and need important information, I do not want our only option to depend on whether we can reach a cloud service at that particular moment.

There is a business lesson in that too. Offline access does not have to mean carrying sensitive information around on an unprotected USB drive. If business information needs to leave the normal office environment on removable storage, how that information is protected if the device is lost or stolen needs to be part of the conversation.

I Check Access Before We Leave

Having backups does not help much if I discover they do not work when I finally need them. Before we leave for an extended trip, I try to verify the things we are going to depend on while I am still home and have time to fix them.

I recently moved us over to 1Password, and one of the things I check before we leave is that the password manager is working properly on our phones and that we can access what we expect to need. If I am somewhere with limited cellular connectivity and suddenly need a password, I do not want that to be the moment I discover I am signed out, something did not synchronize properly or I cannot get to the information I need.

I take the same approach with the rest of the equipment. I want to know the encrypted drives can be accessed, the power banks are charged, cables are where I expect them to be and the equipment we are carrying actually works.

Having a backup is not the same as being prepared. I want to know the backup works before I need it.

My Wife and I Divide Up the Trip Planning

The technology is only one part of preparing for a three week trip. My wife and I tend to divide the planning based on what each of us handles.

She typically plans the driving portion. She looks at the route, where we will stop for gas, which areas we plan to drive through, hotels or motels along the route and dog friendly places where we can stay. Traveling with dogs adds another layer to planning because not every place we could stop is necessarily a place where all of us can stay.

For this trip, I am also going to experiment with introducing Notion into some of our planning ahead of time. I do not know yet whether it will become something we continue using, and I am not going to recommend it as the perfect overlanding planning system before we have actually tried it this way. I want to see whether having some of our shared trip information organized there makes it easier for both of us to find what we need while we are traveling. Anything we expect to need without Internet access will also need to be prepared and tested ahead of time.

I tend to take over when we get to the off road and camping part. I plan the areas we want to explore, where we expect to camp and the off road portions of the route. I also plan the food because I am the cook in our relationship.

I Still Carry Paper Maps

I use the iPad extensively for navigation and download offline maps for the areas where we expect to camp and explore, but I still buy detailed state map atlas books.

That is not theoretical redundancy. We have actually relied on paper maps while camping and exploring in West Virginia and while scouting areas in Pennsylvania. There are places where cellular service simply is not there when you want it, and I do not want our ability to navigate completely tied to one device or one connection.

Sometimes I go even further. Before heading into an area where I know service may be questionable, I will make notes on my iPad with directions from one location to another, almost like making my own old school MapQuest directions. I write down the turns and information I think we may need, and those notes live in the Notes app. If it is late at night and we do not have service, we still have an idea of what we are supposed to be doing.

So we may have online navigation, downloaded offline maps, written directions on the iPad and a detailed paper atlas in the truck.

Yes, my wife picks on me for this.

Apparently I Bring Incident Response Planning on Vacation Too

My wife picks on me quite a bit about the way I prepare. I like backup plans, and sometimes I like backup plans for the backup plans. The funny part is that when something actually happens, I am usually pretty calm. I am not trying to invent the response for the first time while the problem is happening because I have probably already thought through some version of what I would do if the first option did not work.

Our last camping trip gave her another example.

Rain moved in, so we packed up and decided to start driving home around 1:00 in the morning. We had noticed that the brakes on the truck felt a little jerky. Around 3:00 a.m., still about four hours from home, we stopped at a gas station to fill up and the oil light came on.

The truck gets thirsty, so I popped the hood to top off the oil. I always carry oil and a funnel. While I was under the hood, I happened to look at the brake fluid reservoir and noticed the level was below the empty line.

I showed my wife. She got a little worried and started to ask me, “Did you happen to pack...”

Before she could finish saying brake fluid, I had already walked back to the truck and pulled a bottle out of the bin.

Of course I packed brake fluid.

Fortunately for us and the truck, the fluid appears to have simply been low. I have continued checking the level since the trip and it has remained where it should be. I also do not treat topping off brake fluid as a repair for an unknown braking problem. If the level were continuing to drop or there were other signs of a braking problem, that would need to be properly investigated.

That experience is also one reason the truck is going to our mechanic in November before we leave for New Mexico and Arizona. I want another set of experienced eyes looking over it before a long trip, including the brake lines, pads and rotors. Right before we leave, I will also have a fresh oil change done, make sure the fluids are where they should be, inspect the tires and pressures, check the spare tire pressure and verify that the air pump and hose we carry are working.

I have a pre trip truck checklist for this because I would much rather discover a problem at home than somewhere remote.

I Use AI for the Truck Records, but the Mechanic Still Looks at the Truck

I keep a workbook with the truck's maintenance history so I have a record of what has already been done and what I may want to pay attention to before a long trip. I use Claude Cowork as part of how I work with information and automation in my own business, and I have also been using Claude with the vehicle maintenance workbook to help me work with that information.

That does not mean I ask AI whether my brakes are safe and then head across the country.

The workbook and AI help me organize and work with the information I already have. An experienced mechanic can physically inspect the brake lines, rotors, pads and the rest of the truck. Those are different jobs, and I want both the maintenance history and the physical inspection before we leave.

What Does This Have to Do With a Small Business With Field Crews?

You may be reading this thinking that you have absolutely no intention of spending three weeks camping and overlanding through New Mexico and Arizona, so what does any of this have to do with your business?

Potentially quite a bit if your employees work outside a traditional office.

Construction crews, estimators, technicians, agricultural employees, salespeople and other field workers depend on technology in environments the business does not completely control. They may be using laptops, tablets and phones from job sites, vehicles, customer locations or rural properties. The specific equipment will be different from what I carry overlanding, but many of the planning questions are the same.

What I think about on the road	What a business should consider for field employees
How will we get Internet?	How will employees connect from job sites or remote locations?
What happens if the primary connection is unavailable?	Is there another way to perform critical work?
Can we keep laptops and devices powered?	Can field equipment make it through the workday?
Can I access important information offline?	What happens when a cloud application cannot be reached?
Is offline data encrypted?	How is company information protected on mobile devices?
Can we access passwords with limited connectivity?	Can employees securely reach the credentials they legitimately need?
What happens if a device is lost or stolen?	Can company devices and business access be managed or revoked?
Have I tested my backup equipment?	Has anyone tested the mobile workflow before employees depend on it?

I am not suggesting that every field crew needs Starlink, solar panels, paper atlases and an encrypted external hard drive. I am suggesting that somebody should have thought through how employees are expected to work before an employee is sitting at a job site unable to access the system the business depends on.

For a business, that conversation can expand into how laptops, tablets and phones are managed, whether business data is encrypted, what employees can access from personal devices, how a lost or stolen device is handled, what happens when Internet connectivity disappears and whether the technology actually fits the environment where employees are expected to use it.

The Connection to Incident Response Was Not Intentional, but It Makes Sense

Somewhere along the way, I realized that much of this is simply incident response and business continuity thinking showing up in my personal life.

When I work with a small business on an Incident Response Plan, I want the business to answer important questions before something goes wrong.

• Who needs to be contacted?

• Where is the information we need?

• What systems do we depend on? What happens if normal communications or technology are unavailable?

• Has anyone actually tested the backup?

Apparently, I ask myself similar questions before driving into the woods.

I do not carry paper maps because I expect my iPad to fail. I carry them because it can. I do not carry an extra Starlink cable because I expect to damage the primary cable. I carry it because losing one relatively small component should not necessarily make the entire system useless. I do not keep multiple ways to power a laptop because I expect every power source to fail. I want options when something does not go according to plan.

Being prepared does not mean expecting everything to go wrong. For me, it means that when something does happen, I can stay calm, look at the options I already have and decide what to do next.

My wife can keep picking on me about it.

She probably will.

The Next Test Is New Mexico and Arizona

In December, we are putting the next version of this setup through a much longer real world test. We are planning about three weeks of camping and overlanding through New Mexico and Arizona, and several parts of our mobile office will be different from the setup we have used before.

The Starlink Mini on the truck will be new. The larger Anker SOLIX power setup will be new. The planned roof-mounted solar will be new. Using Notion as part of our shared trip planning will be new. I am also adding another portable monitor so we can each have a second screen when we need one.

I have ideas about how I expect all of this to work, but I would rather tell you what actually happens than write a recommendation based on what I think will happen.

After the trip, I want to look at what we really used.

Did the Starlink Mini change how often we deployed the standard Starlink?

Did we wish we had kept a dedicated cellular hotspot in the mix?

How did the power setup perform?

Did Notion actually help us plan and share information?

Which backup equipment earned its space in the truck, and which things did we carry for three weeks without touching?

Those answers will probably shape the next version of our mobile office because this setup has never really been finished. It changes as we travel, work and learn what actually matters.

For now, I will keep packing backup plans for my backup plans.

And apparently brake fluid.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Starlink Support: In Motion Use

Current Starlink guidance on supported hardware, service plans and requirements for in motion use.https://www.starlink.com/support

Starlink Roam

Information about Starlink Roam plans for travel, camping and connectivity on the road, including current plan options and supported use.Learn more about Starlink Roam

Starlink Specifications

Current hardware and power specifications for Starlink equipment, including Starlink Mini and Standard.https://www.starlink.com/specifications

Microsoft Learn: BitLocker and BitLocker To Go

Microsoft documentation covering BitLocker protection for Windows devices and removable storage.https://learn.microsoft.com/windows/security/operating-system-security/data-protection/bitlocker/

1Password Support

Current documentation for using and synchronizing 1Password across devices.https://support.1password.com/

Notion: Using Pages Offline

Current Notion guidance for preparing pages for offline access on supported devices.https://www.notion.com/help/use-pages-offline