A field journal · the shakeout miles
Free Journey
One guy, one rig, every state — trading the desk for the road and writing down every stop.
The rig's not bought yet — these are the shakeout stops near home. Which rig? That's your first vote, down the page. The real leg starts when it does.
FRESH OFF THE TRAIL
Plate № 00 · the why
“They told you this was freedom. They told you this was the dream.”
I said that into a recorder one morning before work. Wasn’t performing for anybody — it just slipped out the way true things do.
Here’s the plan, said plain: I’m documenting my journey from construction to full-stack automation and brand building — out in the open, where you can watch it happen. Not because construction failed me. Because I want something bigger than a paycheck, and I’d rather build it on wheels than wait for a someday that doesn’t come.
A buddy started razzing me on the job site one morning because I rolled in a little late. In my head I’m going, I do what I want. The reality is I can’t — I’m locked to this paycheck, to this job. That’s the thing I’m trying to change. That’s what the rig is for. That’s what this map is.
Along the way I’ll offer what I know how to build — websites, analytics, AI automation, any of it I can provide for somebody, I will. Because I’m trying to offer the same freedom I’m looking for, to as many people as I can give it to. Just trying to ride one wave — and get there before AI takes over everything and there’s nothing left for us.
Every pin on this map is a mile marker: a real place I sat down in, a real person running it, and sometimes a website I built them for free because their work deserved better than their web presence.
So if you want to see the journey — this is where it starts. This is how it starts. And this is why it starts.
Plate № 01 · the map
Where the wheels have been
Map data didn’t load — refresh to try again.
- Miles logged
- 246
- States stamped
- 2
- Stops pinned
- 10
New pins publish after the 14-day safety delay, every time — that’s the deal. The map usually knows more than it’s allowed to show yet. Bookmark it and swing back.
Plate № 02 · the wall
The Sticker Wall
Fifty slots. Every state the rig actually rolls through gets its sticker slapped up — crooked, like bumper stickers should be. Tap a stamped one for the field card: first stop, latest note, miles on the clock. The ghosts stay ghosts until I earn them.
2 of 50 stamped. The wall fills up the long way — one state line at a time.
Plate № 03 · the rig
Class C it is — which flavor?
I’ve walked enough dealer lots to know it’s a Class C. Past that I’m torn — so here’s the deal: I make the call, but this poll absolutely gets a say in it.
Unnumbered · the glovebox
Pull something from the road
Plate № 04 · who’s driving
The guy behind the wheel
Rob. Florida. I spent years running roofing crews in heat that melts boot soles — early alarms, long days, building somebody else’s schedule. Honest work. But somewhere between the hundredth ladder climb and the thousandth 5 AM, it got real clear the clock was renting my life back to me one week at a time.
These days I build software — and software rides shotgun anywhere. So the plan is stupid simple: sell the anchor, buy the rig, point the nose at every place I’ve only ever seen on other people’s screens, and log all of it here.
It’s not complicated. It’s just scary enough to be worth doing.
Plate № 05 · the game
Straight reviews. And sometimes I build the place a website.
Here’s the other thing that happens at these stops, out loud so nobody has to guess. I build websites for a living — so when a place is great and their website isn’t, sometimes I just build them a better one. Free. Unasked. Nobody pays me for it, and the owner can take it or leave it. That’s half the fun.
Two things stay true no matter what: the review is never for sale — it doesn’t change whether an owner wants the site or tells me to pound sand. And plenty of stops get no build at all, because I’m just there as a customer — or because their site’s already dialed, in which case I’ll say that too.
Plate № 06 · owners
It’s your place on the map?
Every pin here is somewhere I actually sat down. If one of them is yours — say the word on your stop’s page and I’ll come by, or write me: official.techquest.ai@gmail.com. Spotted something I got wrong? Same address. I answer everything.