We don't normally include lot docking as we prefer to stay in dispersed sites and run our generator. Given the difficulty in finding places along the coast we thought we would include this one. We stayed here for one night before heading up the coast. You can stay for free for the first night. Then you must spend money inside to earn more nights up to four nights total. When you arrive you'll need to go inside to check in and you'll get a pass for the first night. We aren't big gamblers and obviously have kiddos so we didn't hang around but it was a nice, safe, place to stay for the night. We also left it in the lot while we explored the area in the afternoon and the next morning. We actually don't have any pictures of our own so we'll leave this one from their website and a link to their rules and information. https://www.threeriverscasino.com/rv-parking We had a wonderful time explore the southern and mid Oregon Coast! There is so much to do and see.

This lovely site has an upper parking area that is easy to get to and makes for an easy overnight. You can also go further down the road and park in the woods if you are feeling adventurous. We were able to park near the creek and had a great site all to ourselves. It's very close to the Crater Lake Entrance which we thoroughly enjoyed. AT A GLANCE Location: 42.761717, -122.059272 Length We Stayed: 3 Nights Solitude: Other RVs but not too close Services: Vaulted Toilet, Warming Hut T-Mobile Coverage: None Time of year we stayed: Spring More Info: https://freecampsites.net/#!64702&query=sitedetails

We had so much fun making this video. You might need some imagination with her voice though - haha! Watch as Cinder takes you through a day in the life of a full time RV travel dog.

One winter's day in Bailey Colorado a certain couple of young boys begged and begged their parents for a dog. Their sister was only a few months old and their mom had held out as long as she could on adding any more members to the family. But the boys were persistent and their dad decided to check out the local shelter "just to see." A box of puppies had been found on the side of the road, one day after Christmas and were brought to the rescue shelter where they were being nursed back to health. One look on that tiny black lab puppy and there was no going back. We all fell in love with her soft, fluffy snuggles and her constant "smooches." Mom was a bit overwhelmed with a newborn AND a puppy as the puppy had a knack for finding places to use the bathroom in the house while she was occupied with nursing. Still, the she was the perfect addition to our family and she regularly made everyone smile. We named her Cinder because she was black with a few specks of brindle (that have since grown out). We had lost our previous beloved Labrador, Ellie, to cancer so it only seemed natural to name our new fur baby, Cinder-Ellie. As a puppy, Cinder loved to prance around in the snow, wrestle with the kids and get Starbucks Pupacinos. Even as young pup she guarded Chloe's crib and bedroom just as Ellie used to do for our boys. John was working nights and having Cinder home with us was gave us some comfort that our "alarm" system would alert us if any trouble was lurking in the forest. Especially those pesky bears. To this day, Chloe loves to tell people that both she and Cinder are Colorado Natives.

Bugs and rodents are pretty much my least favorite part about RVing. Fortunately they haven't really been that awful over the last two years of full time RV living. Below are the types of pests we've encountered, what part of the country they were the worst, and what we have done about it. Mice Fortunately we haven't had any of these tiny rodents running around in Wendy. I would be freaking out much more if that were the case. BUT we have had them in our van. Like IN the van while I was driving! Yuck! The first time this happened was in Columbia, MO during our winter stay. We were at an RV park and had a few snows so we were mostly using the truck and my van would sit for a week at a time without getting use. It was then that the opportunistic mice found there way under my hood and went to town on my wiring! Since it is not covered by a warranty it still needs to get fixed, 3 contracts later! It affects my entertainment system and cruise control which is an annoyance but not unsafe. The second time we encountered it was in Phoenix, AZ where field mice love to roam. They chewed some nerf bullets and eventually made a home INSIDE my van unknown to us. Who knows how long I drove around like that! Prevent mice from getting into your car or RV by: Moving it often - don't let your vehicle sit too long Place rope lights under your RV or cars Place Irish Spring soap chunks around the outside of the car & inside Keep it clean Store food in air tight containers Use Peppermint Essential Oil on a cotton ball Flies & Gnats Flies can be a pesky all across the country but it was the worst in Phoenix, AZ . This was likely due to the specific area we stayed at Saddle Mountain. Here are some ways we handle flies: Fly tape - this has been the most effective way Keep food and trash cans covered Spring on your screen door to try to keep the door shut (Thanks kids!) A dust buster -yep, vacuum them up! A bug assault - on John's wish list Bag of water with a penny in it Spray your screens with this natural bug repellent - https://bit.ly/3dtm27U Ants Ants have not been an issue until we reached the Blue Ridge Mountains . Here in North Carolina we are dealing with these tiny pests. There are a few ways you can deal with them: Terro Traps Diatomaceous Earth sprinkled around anything that touches the ground Keep food stored in air tight containers Use peppermint, lemongrass, citrus or tea tree essential oils I don't love bugs as you can tell. Overall we haven't had too many of them. The worst areas for bugs of all kinds have been in the Pacific Northwest and now the Appalachians. Shop our favorite combating pests products here. Watch our video here:

Years ago I had small business that I ran from our home in the Rocky Mountains just west of Denver. Because we were at high altitude, 8,125 feet to be exact, I needed to alter my favorite baking recipes. I spent a lot of time tweaking recipes and making them my own which evolved into making these cute boxed mixes that I sold in a local bakery (using organic and non gmo ingredients) and delivered to friends in our mountain community. I even started shipping some to friends and family around the country, altering the recipe to fit the altitude. We had three different product lines: High Country - over 6500ft elevation, Mile High - 3500 to 6500 ft elevation, and Flat Land - under 3500 ft elevation. I've tried these chocolate chip cookies at each altitude and they always turn out awesome! Since I do not make and sell mixes anymore I figured I would share these my perfect chocolate cookies with you. Below are three different variations so you can whip up these delights no matter where the road takes you. Kristin's Kitchen Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe Flat Land (under 3500 ft) Mile High (3500 - 6500ft) High Country (above 6500ft) 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 cup sugar 1/4 tsp salt 1/4 tsp salt 1/4 tsp salt 1 tsp baking soda 3/4 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp baking soda 1 3/4 cups flour 2 cups flour 2 1/4 cup flour 1 egg room temp 2 eggs room temp 2 eggs room temp 1 stick butter 1 stick butter 1 stick butter 1/2 tsp vanilla 1/2 tsp vanilla 1/2 tsp vanilla 3/4 cup chocolate chips 3/4 cup chocolate chips 3/4 cup chocolate chips Preheat oven to 375 degrees *SPECIAL RV OVEN NOTE: My propane oven needs to be set 50 degrees higher than a regular oven as it loses heat so I set my RV oven to 425. Cream together butter (do not over soften your butter!) and sugars. Once fully whipped together add egg/s and vanilla. It is important to make sure the egg/s are room temperature. Next add the dry ingredients - flour, salt, baking soda. Some people mix these seperatly and then add slowly. I like to save dishes so I skip that step and just dump it all right on top of the wet mixture and it always turns out fine. You'll need to put in some serious elbow grease if you do not have a mixer (which I don't in our RV!) The dough will be very stiff - that's good! Add in your chocolate chips give or take to your liking. Once all combined roll ping pong size balls and place on parchment lined cookie sheet. You can also use a silicone mat. Bake for 10 minutes and then check on them. You want a nice brown edge but soft, puffy looking top. Cookies will crack as they cool and yield a nice chewy texture. Some extra RV Oven tips: Make sure to use a pizza stone to help evenly distribute heat. Try not to open the oven too much as it loses heat very easily. Lift your oven rack a few inches off the pizza stone to allow air to circulate. Adjust your temperature up roughly 50 degrees from the recipe directions. Watch our v ideo over on our YouTube channel here. Happy baking!

Travel nursing as a family is an amazing lifestyle. It's also...exhausting!! We were really feeling it when we left the Pacific Northwest. Although we had seen and done some amazing things in the PNW, we felt wiped out. Actually, we thought about buying land somewhere so we could just chill for minute. But where do you buy land? Close to family? Some place that inspires you? What if those two things don't exist in the same location? That is the dilemma we found ourselves in. We longed for land near family that would also give us adventure. It seemed that Arkansas might fit that bill. So off we went between contracts 4 and 5 to see if there were land opportunities. Land is incredibly affordable there and the scenery, while not the most amazing we've seen, is still very pretty, even in the winter when the trees have all lost their leaves. But as we drove through we began to feel that this was NOT the place for us. Much of the beautiful areas were also remote. Too remote to find a good job and enjoy amenities we were searching for. And still our hearts longed for Colorado. So the door was closed. We abandoned the idea of looking for land and instead set out to just enjoy our stay in AR at Buffalo National River. When contract 5 hit, we were in a funk. With the land door closed we felt a little lost. But as the contract progressed we started to feel better. Why? Because all the cups that were empty started getting filled. We made several trips to Kansas City to see our friends and family. Soon we spent time with everyone we loved and found rest in the ordinary. Is ordinary bad? We are No Ordinary Path after all. No. Ordinary is not bad at all. We were so wrapped up in following our unordinary path that we forgot to enjoy the rest that comes with just being. And that is what contract 5 taught us. In the slump we finally found a bit of rest and restored the pieces of our hearts that longed for our family and our friends. We worked on school, spent many days just relaxing in the RV watching tv shows and playing xbox games. We went to the library a lot and occasionally the park. All very ordinary things. And over time, we started to long for adventure again. As we wrap up contract 5 we are excited to head back to the Southwest and get back to exploring! And if we ever start to feel burned out again we know we just need to go back home for a bit. <3

When we started RVing we quickly realized there are a TON of things you need to buy before you hit the road. The sales folks at the dealer will likely try to sell you a lot of them but before you buy the store, we're going to tell you what we haven't needed in 19 months on the road. Disclaimer: We know we all RV different so the following items are what OUR FAMILY has not needed. You CAN get by without them. We also would love to have some of these items on our list as it would make life much easier - it simply isn't essential. So if you are try to not break the bank, consider leaving these things behind. 1. WiFi Booster - Yes it can be handy for RV parks but unless you have a direct line of sight to the signal it likely won't make a huge difference. And if you boondock a lot like us, there may not be any wifi signal to pick up anyway. We DO have a cell phone signal from TMobile that they sent us for free. 2. Toys - You don't need a ton of toys even if you're traveling with kids. They learn to love what they have and we swap out a lot. Also, they love to play outside! 3. Big Cooler - These take up a ton of space. We have a Yeti bag and a backpack cooler that we use for day outings. Other than that, we always have our refrigerator with us! Check out this backpack cooler - https://amzn.to/2YNjP1I 4. RV Furniture - You don't have to keep what comes in your RV! You can replace anything and sometimes that helps make space or lose weight. 5. Camping Gear - We went camping once outside of our RV. We ended up leaving our tent and other gear behind. Our house comes with us! 6. RV Toilet Paper - What a gimmick! As long as your TP is "septic safe" you can use it. Just make sure you manage your tanks properly and you are set. 7. Coffee Pot - These are great to set the night before to have coffee ready in the morning but they come with a counter top space price tag. We use a french press and it is wonderful and stores easy. Check out this awesome french press - https://amzn.to/2PDLRs8 8. Fancy Water Filtration System - We know a lot of people have fancy water filters like a Berkey and we're sure they work great but for us, we simply use an RV carbon filter. No one has gotten sick from water contamination in 19 months. Lucky or money wise? You decide. 9. Heated Hose - You can use heat tape and insulation to save money instead of buying an expensive hose. If you are going to be in cold weather for an extended period of time you may need one but we are getting out of the cold asap! 10. Fancy Levelers - Some people have some expensive leveling gadgets. We use a basic water bubble level and yellow leveling bricks. It gets the job done. 11. Firepit - Can you believe we took one with us? We thought we would want it for all the fires we were going to have when there wasn't a pit available. Turns out we don't have many fires as full timers. And if there isn't a ring, we don't need one. We dropped it off pretty quickly. 12. TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitoring System) - While very convenient you can simply use a manual tire pressure gauge to check on your tires. 13. Dog Bed or Kennel - Cinder doesn't have either. She sleeps on our couch and has her own blanket. She rides in the car when traveling and stays inside the RV when we run errands and things. 14. Solar Package - While we would LOVE to have one, if you are boondocking you can get by with good batteries and a generator. 15. Toaster - Single purpose items like this take up too much space. We use our griddle to toast bread or our oven. Bonus: Hundreds of blankets! Or sheets... We had a ton of extras and seem to keep getting rid of them. They take up a lot of space and cause extra laundry! Did we miss anything? What would YOU add?

Life on the road is exhilarating and full of learning opportunities. But what do we do when suddenly we aren't doing a lot of sight seeing? This semester we have been staying put while we visit family and that has required some motivation to work out of workbooks for much of our learning. Enter our points system. I will preface this by saying I have NEVER been good at sticking to a rewards system but somehow things just clicked and this has been working GREAT for us. For part of our curriculum we use Easy Peasy All In One Homeschool which is a completely free online Christian based resource. You can check it out here - https://allinonehomeschool.com/ This year they've done some upgrading and implemented student profiles and with that, the ability to generate points earned from completing school work each day. It is FANTASTIC and largely updates their points FOR ME which is a huge plus. You can check our video for more details on exactly how it works. The short answer is they earn a parent-set amount of points for each subject and the parent also has full control over adding and subtracting points as well. The kids helped choose the rewards they wanted to work for and they've come up with some great stuff. Here is our chart if you are looking for some ideas. The kiddos have had a great time cashing in. So far they've gotten candy, took a day off school, chose their favorite cereal, gone on an ice cream date and saved a ton of points to go see the premiere of Frozen 2. What are your favorite ways of motivating your kids? We'd love to hear! Home schooling is an always evolving process and things that work now might not always so we love hearing about things that are working for your family. Leave us a comment here or pop over to our YouTube Channel and let us know there. More Homeschool (Roadschool) Resources:

"That full time travel thing sounds so cool. Too bad we don't have a career that would allow me to do something like that." This was an actual response I said out loud to a friend who went full time in their RV with their two kiddos a few years back. I thought it sounded so neat and yet so far out of reach. Fast forward about two years when John randomly says "what if I became a travel nurse?" My mind was blown. A travel nurse? With a family? Can that even be done? YES!! Since sharing our journey lots of people have mentioned other types of healthcare related travel jobs. In fact, we visited Atlas Medstaff in September we asked about other positions they staff and were stunned to learn just how many jobs are out there. It isn't just nursing jobs. Here is a list of all the different types of jobs they staff at Atlas, the agency that John is currently working with. If you would like to get in touch with Natasha Sage, John's recruiter from Atlas, let us know in the comments or by email to noordinarypath@gmail.com and we will put you in touch with her. Atlas is such a fantastic group of people to work with. We know you will love it. Maybe you have/had a career in healthcare but for whatever reason you are looking to get away from clinical care. There are still options for you. The healthcare industry is the second largest industry for remote, work from home, jobs. We went to ratracerebellion.com (a site recommended by many full time RVers) to check out what is currently available. Here's what we found: Recruiter Positions placing other Medical professionals Medical Transcription or Coding Customer Service type jobs with Insurance Companies or Doctors offices Health Insurance Claims Specialists Medical Billing Regulatory Writing Manager Virtual Training Nurse Telehealth Nurse Call Center Resource Nurse Wellness Coach/Nurse Coach There are all sorts of opportunities out there when we just step out of that comfort zone a little and do some digging. We hope this helps you on your own path. Don't forget to check out our video. Happy job hunting!

For years I told myself I would never home school. I didn't believe that I would be any good at it. It wasn't so much that I feared that I didn't know enough. I was sure there were curriculum and support groups for that. It was that I wouldn't have the patience to be a good teacher. I worried my kids would not like me anymore - as a mom OR as a teacher. When we decided to do the whole full time travel thing I was so excited for the opportunity that I would do anything to make it happen. Including becoming a home school mom. The strangest thing happened. Over the last 18 months, I have not only gotten over my fears but have come to love homeschooling. Now of course, there are some days when I don't and my patience wears thin but I absolutely love being my kids teacher. Seeing the lights click when they learn something new, observe their hunger for knowledge and come up with things they want to pursue is more rewarding than I ever though possible. Still, it isn't easy. There are always the nagging thoughts in my head that tell me my kids aren't learning enough, we aren't on track, I'm screwing up their childhood, or I'm not enough to be both their mom and their teacher. But I know those are lies. You might find yourself having similar thoughts. So, here are 5 ways I try to save my sanity AND my kids sanity while on the road. 1. GET OUT OFTEN The more you can get out of the house, or in my case the RV, the better. I have found that for us we need to break up the day a little. If they were in public school this would be done by going to different classes, specials, lunch or recess. At home, we need to do something other than sit at a table, or in front of a screen, all day. We run errands together, go for a walk, find a park if the weather is nice, explore free things to do in the city we are visiting, or maybe join a local gym with kids classes. We also enjoy going to the library to just hang out or to do our school work in some other place besides home. 2. DITCH THE BOOKS SOMETIMES We are borderline unschoolers which means we use a loose curriculum for math and language arts but we sort of wing it for all other subjects. That's a very abbreviated definition of course but you get the idea. We do have certain things we need to do each of the 186 school days in our school year. Every once in a while we ditch the plan (and the books) though and focus on a real life example of what they are learning about. You could even do this an addition to your curriculum if you wanted. How does this alleviate stress? Kids understand better when they can see how what they are learning about applies to the real world. Bringing them in on things you deal with on a regular basis might encourage their interest in learning and make them feel like an important part of the family. Everyone's lives get a little easier when we feel loved and supported instead of feeling frustrated, bored or even stupid because we don't understand something. There's a great example in our latest road school video. 3. LET KIDS LEAD - DON'T TRY TO FORCE FEED THEM Of course there are things they must learn. Part of my job is to help my kiddos learn things like reading, writing and basic math skills and while they might not always want to there are ways I can help make it more fun. As for the other things, it is my opinion that making them follow a curriculum that is uninteresting or frustrating is counter intuitive. I would much rather them want to learn something. In this information age, the question is not, "How much can I get my kid to memorize?" Why do they need that when they can get answers at their fingertips? The question we should be asking is "How can I help my kid ask the right questions and find the answers?" We nurture any questions our kids ask and help them find answers in books, documentaries, websites, or asking people knowledgeable in the subject. The same way we as adults learn about things in our world that is ever changing. 4. BE FLEXIBLE WITH YOUR SCHEDULING I know this might be a personality thing. I really hate schedules. Actually, I just like the flexibility of going where I want, when I want, so schedules have always been tough for me. But in this instance, I think it's good to remember that you are in control of your road schooling experience. If you need a day off, take it. If you hate mornings like me, don't start until 10am. If you have plans for a day in the middle of the week, you can move your school day to the weekend. You can choose any days of the week you want. We try to do school each Monday through Friday. But over the last few months this has gotten out of whack and we are just rolling with it. We had seven weeks between John's contracts and as a result traveled a lot during that time. We don't attempt to do school on move days as it never ends well. We basically didn't do school for several weeks and are now playing a little bit of catch up. Even still, it looks like we'll land at Christmas break with the rest of the academic world. Going with the flow helps keep me sane. 5. TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF This can look like a lot of different things and may go without saying. It is sooo important to make sure your cup is filled so you can fill those kiddos cups. For me that means grocery shopping or laundry on my own and sometimes a full day away to do whatever I want. Do you have any ideas on keeping your sanity? I'd love to hear them! Leave me a comment here or pop over to our YouTube channel and join the conversation. More Road School Videos

The short answer? Kind of. Recently we put out a # realtalktuesday on our YouTube channel about what our kids are feeling about our RV lifestyle right now. I think it's safe to say the older kids are ready for some friends and some space. Ethan, our 8 year old, says he's ready to go back to school. But I think there is more to it than what's on the surface. Every conversation about public school ends up being about people. It isn't the academics or sports or schedule or extracurricular activities that he misses. It's people. He's a lot like me in that regard. He misses the recesses where he gets to play with buddies and the lunch table where other kids his age talk about their day and the struggle of being 8. If he was getting all of that out of home school he would be 100% on board. He loves that his school days are short and that he has some control over what he learns about. He likes not having a strict schedule and being able to start and finish when he pleases. (Although he's maybe not so keen on motivating himself to get it done sometimes!) My older 10 year old, Aaron, pretty much never expresses a desire to go back to school. At most, he sometimes misses riding the school bus as that was his favorite part of the day. I suspect because that was the most independence he had. I mean, leave the house and walk to the bus stop, board the bus by himself, sit with kids from the neighborhood and then get off the bus and head to class. When asked if he misses public school, he will answer quickly with a “no.” He does not want to go back. Our youngest, Chloe who is 5, started Kindergarten this year. She has never been to public school but she did attend preschool twice a week for one school year. She loved it. What's not to love? Crafts, friends, songs, snacks. We aren't sure how she will feel in a few years but for now, she is getting all of that at home. Except for the friend front. She gets confused sometimes about her grade and sometimes asks me when she will get to go to school like her cousin. She knows she's in Kindergarten but it looks much different than any Kindergarten she has witnessed so sometimes she acts like she isn't in school at all. Probably because it doesn't really feel like it and I'm ok with that. So where does that leave us? Probably continuing our home school adventure for a while! If we were stationary we would look for co-ops to help with the friend situation and to help them socialize. Please don't misunderstand though – our kids DO socialize. They are some of the most social kids I know. They will talk to anyone and play with kids of all ages. We take them to church and enroll them in programs when we can on the road. But they don't often get to stay in touch with the friends they make. We are looking into ways to help this. If you are jumping into home school or road school, be encouraged. Change is often hard but the benefits far outweigh the struggles. Our kids have learned so much more than public school could teach them. They are learning all kinds of real life lessons, critical thinking and problem solving, history, geography, and science – all hands on. And of course, they are learning their ABCs and 123s, multiplication tables, equivalent fractions, reading, writing, nouns and pronouns. When the boys were in public school they would come home with homework or reading assignments. Guess how often we had time to actually sit down and do it with them? Or WANT to sit down and do it with them? Not many. Now I can see them learning new things. Sometimes I can see the wheels turning and that ah ha moment happening. I know exactly what my kids know and don't. What they are filling their heads with. And what isn't important for them to know yet or at all. Is our schooling perfect? Nope. Not even close. I have days I wish they would just go back to school so I can have a break. I get frustrated and so do they. Sometimes we give up and try again the next day. Some days we have to squeeze multiple days into one just to sort of keep on track. All in all, I'm so glad we started. That we gave this a try. I have a feeling public school might be a thing of the past for our family. And that is extremely freeing.