One of the things I love about Tara being a travel nurse and the fact that we relocate every 13 weeks is the randomness of it. The fact that she’s not yet licensed in every state is about the only thing that could keep us from ending up almost literally anywhere in the country. So, how does it all work? A lot of people have asked, so here’s a basic rundown.
Tara finds jobs through recruiters. I’m not sure how many recruiters there are in the medical field, but there seems to be no shortage. While these recruiters could be based anywhere, the one who found her jobs in Redding and Denton happens to be based in my hometown of Irving, Texas. About three weeks before the contract ends -- and assuming she doesn’t want to extend at her current job; and, no big surprise, they always want her to extend -- Tara starts contacting these recruiters and checking out their Facebook pages to see what’s out there. For her it’s all about the job that she feels will give her the best experience and challenge her the most. Pay also factors into it. (Texas seems to pay the least; California, and maybe Alaska, the most.) As she’s looking for jobs, Tara will randomly call out cities to get my thoughts. I’m a geography nerd, so for me it’s interesting to think about different places we might be living next. But Tara’s the one with the job, so ultimately it’s up to her. The only place I nixed almost immediately was a job south of Boston. The closest Ah-V Pahk, as they call it in Massachusetts, was half an hour away, and driving that twice a day to take her to and from work was not something I was interested in.
With her last contract, Tara intentionally looked for jobs in the DFW area so we could be close to family for the holidays. Even though Tara’s family lives in Georgia, being in Texas allowed us to drive to Augusta to be with them at Christmas. With her latest job, we were trying to get to Augusta, but it didn’t work out. Other possibilities were the Bay Area, Woodland, California, Panama City, Florida, and Rancho Mirage, California, just to name a few. The big winner this time, though, was Champaign, in the east-central part of Illinois, where Tara will be working in Interventional Radiology.
The biggest thing going on in the Champaign-Urbana area is the University of Illinois. (Yesterday, Tara learned how to pronounce “Illini.”) It’s cold here right now, and flat. And windy. The corn hasn’t started growing yet, but I’m sure it will before we leave. The RV park where we’ve docked our motorhome only has a few guests this time of year. Due to temperatures that are generally below freezing at night, the water is turned off throughout the park, and we’re limited to what we have in our freshwater tank, as well as jugs of water we’ve bought. This means going to the RV park’s bath house for showers. It’s really not as bad as it seems. The guy that runs the park is hoping the weather will warm up enough to turn the water back on within a couple weeks. And Tara has already made a friend in the bath house. We’re supposed to get together and play cards with them at some point. It’s all just part of our big adventure.
