Writing (and Rolling) Down the Road

I can just hear you asking what is meant by “writing and rolling.” Well, it’s the world’s best way to earn income from writing while traveling. And it becomes easier to do every day. With a satellite-ready portable computer with an air card, an online connection that works almost anywhere, and a portable inverter, anyone can continue to write and submit their work, or research the Internet while rolling down the road. In other words, you can work just like you would if sitting at your desk or dining table at home.

When I started doing this, it was not impossible to write while traveling—but forget about submitting an article via the Web. There was no such thing as the Internet for average users then. We had a cell phone, but forget about being able to contact anyone, or them contact us. We could receive and send calls in our home area, but if our cell phone provider didn’t have an “agreement” with those in other states, we were forced to stand in line at the pay phone to keep in touch with business contacts. Ditto for anyone else we had to speak with. All of America was supposed to be connected by satellite by the end of 1992, like Canada already was. It has never happened!

We started out with a cell phone, a computer and everything we thought would be necessary to operate our business on the road. We picked up the phone in Nevada (our residence then), but as soon as we drove into California, we could no longer receive our messages or calls. Arizona was even worse since we had to use our long-distance phone card to make a call on our cell phone. Arizona definitely didn’t have an agreement with Nevada!

Thank goodness for mergers. Cell phone providers got larger, then started sharing towers. Finally we could stay in touch with those important in our lives and to our livelihood.

With our new satellite equipped laptop, we were finally able to merge Internet with cell phone usage. Then by purchasing a portable converter, I was able to work while we’re traveling down the road.

Wow! It just keeps getting better!

In case you are interested, the costs involved in setting up a working system like ours follow:

Laptop computer with satellite capabilities: between $500 and $1000.

Cell phone: Watch ads for providers in your area. Verizon often runs specials that include the cost of the phone and some accessories for under $100. You’ll have to sign a one- to two-year agreement for service (meaning that if you decide to cancel before the agreement ends, you’ll pay a hefty fee). We’ve had our service since 2002 and couldn’t be happier with it.

Cell phone service: Service for 450 minutes (peak time) with no roaming and no long distance charges runs about $40. Calls after 9:00 p.m. in your time zone, and on weekends are free.

Internet service: Unlimited Internet access runs about $60 per month. Most ISP’s that provide email service will charge from nothing to $30 per month. Yahoo is free for now, and Juno charges a small yearly fee. We’ve been able to connect everywhere we’ve been so far.

Portable Inverter that plugs into your vehicle’s cigarette lighter: $60

All prices of the above products depend on where you buy them, and are subject to change. Watch for sales. Check prices at www.Fryselectronics.com if there’s no store nearby since they seem to consistently have the best prices on electronic equipment.