Followed these directions and made the button run at startup

https://iamblue.gitbooks.io/linkit-smart-nodejs/content/en/basic/linux_auto_start.html

Now the button program starts at boot up and a button press with run the uploader script. Woohoo!

This was really all I needed to do to get it "un-tethered" from the computer because I now have the button to initiate the script. Now time to get this running off battery and ready to go truely mobile.