Our Daily Routine While Living on the Road

As I’ve mentioned before, our schedule hasn’t changed much since we left on our adventure. On the days we aren’t traveling to a new place, which is about once or twice a week, our schedule follows our normal routine. We get up, have breakfast, do a big activity, have lunch, rest time, another activity, dinner, showers, then books and bed. Here are some photos from a day in our life while RVing around the country.

6:00am: Wilson climbs out of his bed and gets into ours.

I’m incredibly lucky that, when Wilson gets up, Mark will read him some stories or go outside while I go in the back and snuggle with Jane for an hour or so. Here’s what Mark does with Wilson during this early morning time.

After that, Wilson will then join us in the back of the RV. I get the kids dressed for the day while Mark puts away our bed.

On days where we have to drive to an activity, like today, I’ll quickly cook egg sandwiches and prep some fruit for everyone. We’ll eat breakfast in the car on the way to our destination. We like to hit the road no later than 7:30- 7:45am.

7:45am: The kids enjoying breakfast in the car on our way to Lewis and Clark Caverns.

8:30am: We arrive at Lewis and Clark Caverns and let the kids explore the exhibits. They run around for a bit before we depart on the first cavern tour of the day. Wilson will have to be worn in the Ergo for an hour and a half of the cave tour, so we want him to get some energy out before the tour starts.

It always pays to be on the first tour of the day. We only had about 10 people in our group. The next tour had close to 30.

11:45am: Our tour of the caverns wraps up. We let the kids run around for a few minutes before hopping back in the car to head an hour back to camp.

12:30pm: I quickly make lunch and the kids eat before rest time.

1:00pm: Wilson goes down for his nap. He will usually sleep for an hour and a half to two hours. We put Jane back there with him most days right after he falls asleep. She’ll rest for about an hour. Occasionally she will actually nap too.

Mark and I will use this time to let one or the other run an errand, go for a walk, or do some outside chores.

3:30pm: After a quick snack, we head to the playground. The mornings tend to be more things the adults want to do, such as hikes, bike rides, tours etc. In the afternoons, we try to let the kids play at a playground, ride their bikes, or swim.

5:30pm: We head back to the Airstream and I cook dinner while Mark grills out and watches the kids play and ride bikes.

7:00pm: We either take the kids to showers at the park or, if the park doesn’t provide showers and the kids are dirty, we improvise…like the YETI BATH. I heat up a big pot of water and then we add some cold mountain water and wash the kids.

7:30pm: Wilson is in bed and usually asleep.

8:00pm: We tuck Jane into bed. If she hasn’t had a nap that day, she’ll fall asleep rather quickly. If she has napped, she’ll lay quietly in the back for up to 2 hours while Wilson sleeps until she too drifts off.

Mark and I usually use this time after the kids go to bed to blog, read, or get numerous chores done. We try to have our bed set up and be asleep by 10:00pm most nights.

So as much of an adventure as this is, we’re very much living our routine within the National and State Parks.