Truckers have Casey’s and Love’s truck stops to regroup before they continue on. DNB’s have McDonald’s and Taco Bell. A sausage and egg beakfast burrito and coffee at McDonald’s costs $3.84. That’s the cheapest possible air-conditioned coworking rent for a full-day of work possible, plus it includes a small meal.
McDonald’s and Taco Bell have put their overwhelming resources to transform any modern location to a remote office place. As I write this I am surrounded by fit people who appear very well educated using their Macbook Pros and dressed in expensive outdoor gear with serious looks on their faces apparently getting work done. I count myself among them.
Here, in any one of the thousands of these restaurants that dot the land of America even in the most remote places, I can keep an eye on my power station recharging with my power bricks lined up charging on top of it in the corner. Through the window I can see my bike rig and anyone walking near it. The air is well-conditioned and the white-noise of the kids and people is fine for me. It reminds me of coding from a pub on a busy Friday night, one of my favorite things to do.
McDonald’s and Taco Bell have wifi networks that allow the use of secure shell for things like GitHub checkouts with git. Even if you don’t know what that means, just know that more work can be done without even being in range of my Starlink or hotspots while everything is recharging. Obviously, I could not have a conference call while here, but I’m not here that long. That’s the point.
Like a very slow-moving, 90-minute pitstop I am back on my way. In that time I can do a lot:
Obviously, some of these depend on how safe the location feels.
It’s worth mentioning that drinking coffee or eating something at the beginning of the visit virtually ensures that my bowels and bladder wake up some time before I leave saving me the hassle of dealing with nature’s call on the road.
Then, just around the time the coffee turbo charges me, I’m ready to hit the road to wherever I will be spending the next 24 to 48 hours with the confidence that I can handle anything work or personal throws at during that time.
Working at a fast food place has one major disadvantage: I simply cannot do conference calls at all. Killing the spontenaety of a good huddle could eliminate fast food places entirely. Sometimes working outside can alleviate the problem, but usually not. There is car and wind noise to contend with and no matter where you are at least one side of the conversation can be heard by just about anyone in the room.