Day one

Day one in the books.

• Load last items - check
• Load Tux and Presley - check 
• Cockpit set for the long haul - check 
• Aggie tickets and RV parking pass - check 

The adventure starts with a slight detour to the east. Heading to watch my Aggies BTHO Alabama. One of the things I had to come to grips with to make this adventure possible was that I wouldn't be able to finish out this season of Aggie football in person. Logistics just won't allow making the games in College Station but I was able to finagle one more in-person game. Now if my Aggies can reward that loyalty with a win I would be much obliged.

Our rig is 13'3" tall , 41'3" long and 18,000 lbs. This requires constant attention for the 1,900 miles and 30ish hours of drive time. Situational awareness is key and I rely on several technologies to provide me with all the information I need to make hauling the rig as easy possible.

First, the tow vehicle. A 2019 Ram 3500 Laramie Longhorn 4x4 Dually.  This gives me a massive towing capability and a surefooted platform. We selected the premium infotainment package. There are many "cool" capabilities with this package which are probably worth their own blog post but the most relevant capability for our journey is the massive 12" touch screen.  This screen can display a full-screen map which provides an exceptional birdseye view of the route ahead. In addition, the Uconnect system allows me to pull up a weather radar that provides a view of severe weather that would need to be avoided. Finally, the towing technology package gives me 5 cameras that are invaluable for maneuvering around tight spaces.  I've certainly towed distance without all this capability but solo towing is MUCH easier with the help of the best in class RAM 3500.

Next is the Furrion Vision rear camera. Absolutely a must-have for any serious highway traveling. Merging and changing lanes when there are 42 feet of a vehicle behind you can be daunting. Being able to see behind the RV makes a HUGE difference.

An iPad Pro 12.9 running CoPilot GPS. A dedicated turn by turn navigation software that selects routes with my height, weight and length restrictions in mind.  Never having to worry about having to backtrack because of a low overpass is worth the price of admission. Detailed pre-turn descriptions and traffic overlay are nice bonuses as well.

Keeping tabs on the tire temp and pressures is crucial to avoid blowouts. I'm sure you've seen RV's on the side of the road with tire blowouts. This happens because many drivers are unaware of the speed limits of their tires (trailers tires can have limits much lower than the tow vehicle tires) and drive with underinflated or overheated tires. I never drive above the limits of my tires. I also rely on the TST RV tire monitoring system that provides me realtime pressure and temperature readings for the trailer tires.

My final system in the truck cockpit is an Escort iXc. Because, well just because.

All this technology accomplishes one thing for me. It reduces the mental load on me during the drive by providing relevant realtime information that I can use to make the right safe decision.

Moving out west

One of these years I'll grow up and get a nice safe job at a big company. This year isn't it!

I recently accepted a role at lob.com. They are a San Frnacisco headquarted startup that is building APIs to better connect the online world with the offline world.

Joining a startup involves some amount of risk. I've never shied away from that and it seems that age has done nothing to change my risk tolerance. This has resulted in a mix bag resume. 2 IPOs in that resume but also a couple of really short stays. (can we say 6 month stint at InsideSales.com). I recently had the chance to speak with a recruiter that was worried about those short stints. It wasn't the first, nor do I think it will be the last, time that I've had to explain those "blips" in my resume. I simply don't know how to be a part of a Tivoli or Macheen without having a VFA or InsideSales.com in your journey. I feel that I've learned as much if not more from the "failures" than from the success. I'm looking forward to putting all that experience to work at Lob.com.

This one is a little different. We are having to stretch outside our Texas confort zone to make this happen. We are heading out to the Bay Area for a 6 month temporary posting at HQ of my latest adventure. I'm am so blessed to have the support of my family and friends as I take the plunge into the maelstorm of a hyper growth startup.

I look forward to sharing our California adveture with everyone!

California here we come!

Bodega bay - short drive from our new home.