Travel Nurse Aim Goes to Boys Camp

Eons ago (before husband, kids, career, etc.) I found a summer job teaching horseback riding at a boys camp in North Carolina. The pay wasn't great but the view from the top of the mountain was breathtaking and I couldn't pass up the chance to spend hours every day riding around the mountainside on horesback. I even helped birth a colt while I was there. Even though I was only 19 years old I often wondered "how cool would it be to one day bring my kids to this camp."

Several weeks ago we went on vacation to North Carolina and I visited the camp. Not much had changed. The lodges and stables were still as I'd remembered them and the lake still had the same diving boards and docks. Even though the camp wasn't open I decided to knock on the office door. To my surprise, the lady who answered the door was the same person who ran the camp 17 years ago.

While catching up on each other's lives, I told her I had become a nurse. She said they were looking for a nurse to fill one of the weeks of boys camp. I told her I would love to send my boys to the camp but didn't want to afford the $1,000.00 per week tuition for each of them. We decided to trade my nursing skills for tuition and now, as the title to this post indicates, I am going back to boys camp. Only this time I will be armed with Ritalin and Hypodermic needles. Look out boys! Nurse Ratched's coming to camp.

Just kidding. This should be a lot of fun and I don't need an agency for this type of travel nursing.

A Week in the Smokies

After months of begging, my kids finally prevailed upon us to take them on vacation to the Smoky Mountains for Spring Break. I'll skip the drive to Gatlinburg, Tennessee but suffice it to say the kids drove us crazy most of the way until we found the right DVD. The right DVD happened to be Underdog. I still haven't seen the movie though I've heard it half a dozen times. The funniest line in the movie from what I could hear is when Underdog tells his teenage master "I'm not taking advice from someone who keeps peeing in my white porcelain drinking bowl." Now that is wisdom at its finest.

When we arrived in Gatlinburg we checked into a log cabin complete with hot tub and stream running through the back of the property. The kids spent the first three days playing in the creek and hiking up the side of the mountain. Despite some rather chilly weather the first two days the kids continued to insist on playing in the creek. Blue lips and chattering teeth never hurt anyone. It usually ends up costing less when we take a trip like this because instead of paying for a week's worth of expensive theme parks all the kids want to do is hike. Healthier too. Instead of cotton candy and junk food, trail mix.

The second night we were there we went to the Dixie Stampede. We loved it! The kids especially loved eating all that chicken, potatoes and ham with their bare hands. The pre-show featured the funniest four part "redneck" band I've ever seen with a banjo, bass, guitar and fiddle player. The guitar player was a cute little redheaded girl who was introduced as the youngest person ever to win on Star Search. My girls danced in the aisle during their show as we sat and ate peanuts and popcorn.

After the pre-show we went into a huge comfortable indoor stadium. We had front row seats and watched as the horses and riders came rumbling into the performance area. The performance area is decorated like a southern plantation and the audience is divided into North v. South. They have contests between the riders to decide the winner. It was amazing to see how fast the riders would go in such a small area.

At one point a girl dressed as a falcon was lowered down from the roof on a rope. The lights were turned off and her costume glowed in the dark. A guy on a horse would ride up to her, grab her by the wing and race her around as she hung from the ceiling. He would then let her go and she would fly through the air like a giant bird. Pretty cool.

There is a lot more to this vacation than I've written here but my youngest daughter is calling for my attention.

Travel Nursing Agency Suggestions?

I have received a lot of e-mails lately asking for my opinion on finding the right travel nursing agency, but none more compelling than the one about a mother who wants to try travel nursing for the health of her child. The following is her e-mail with the name redacted:

"Hi Amy,

I am interested in traveling nursing. My 5 year old daughter has Cystic Fibrosis. We live in Illinois and she is sick all winter. I am considering traveling nursing so I can see how she does in other climates. I would be traveling with my husband and 2 daughters. How is traveling with families? How does the insurance work regarding coverage for your family? Do you have any advice for me? I am overwhelmed with how many agencies to choose from. Do you use the same agency every time? Have you found an agency that works better than others with families? I would appreciate any advice for me.

[Name Redacted]"

If you have any advice for this mother/nurse you can leave it as a comment to this post or e-mail me and I will pass it along to her. Please, no agency e-mails. And, YES, I can tell when I am being spammed by an agency.