We're Definitely Not In Oregon Anymore

As I’ve mentioned on here before, one of the things I like about Tara being a travel nurse is figuring out where we’re going next. A couple of weeks before her 13-week contract is up, she starts talking to recruiters and seeing what’s out there. She basically takes the following into account: jobs that she’ll enjoy and are beneficial to her career; location; and how lucrative it is.

Since we live in a motorhome, though, another factor is whether or not there’s a RV park nearby and if they have spaces available. Tara will mention possible cities where jobs are available. I’ll give her my thoughts and check out the RV parks. What excites me is the thought of going someplace new, which is why I was looking forward to our last stop: Champaign.

I’m not sure what I was thinking. Okay, Champaign really wasn’t that bad. We actually lived at the Tincup RV Park in the quaint bedroom township of Mahomet. (In certain parts of the country, you run into a lot of townships. I’m still not sure what distinguishes a “township” from other places.) It was only about a 13-minute drive to Tara’s job at a local vein and vascular clinic. Here are some interesting things -- and there aren’t many -- about the Champaign-Urbana area. As far as I can tell, they share a downtown area; and the border between the two towns runs through the University of Illinois campus.

I think you’ll agree the coolest thing, though, is ‘80s (soft) rockers REO Speedwagon have a street named after them...sort of. Main Street is also called Honorary REO Speedwagon Blvd. If you mailed a package to 123 REO Speedwagon Blvd., I don’t know if it would get there or not, but it would certainly get the attention of any postal carriers who handled it. (And Kevin Cronin and his band do have higher billing than Honorary Roger Ebert Blvd., which is a couple blocks away.) Side note: one of the lighter moments of the current season of Netflix’s “Ozark” involves REO Speedwagon. The only other things you’ll find in eastern Illinois are wind and cornfields. And it doesn’t just get a little breezy; it gets really, REALLY windy. It makes for some really good times when you’re in a motorhome. And it’s not just a few acres of cornfields: it’s cornfields as far as the eye can see. I really wish we could’ve seen it when the fields weren’t bare.

So, that was Champaign. When it came time to start thinking about our next stop, it was all but certain we were headed to Medford, Oregon. Tara had found a good, well paying job there. I like southern Oregon and was looking forward to it, except for the five-day drive. The day she was to sign the contract, due to reasons I won’t get into, it fell through. It was back to the drawing board. A few days later, I picked her up from work. We stopped to put air in a tire. Because it was only one tire and the air was free, I was out of the car for less than a minute. When I got back in the car, she was on the phone saying, “Let me check on the RV parks and I’ll get back to you.” And just like that, we were headed to Liquid, New Jersey. (At least I thought that’s what she said.)

We can now say our journey has officially taken us across the country.  Jackson Township -- see, there’s another township -- was only a two-day drive. It’s not as close to the Jersey Shore as I’d hoped, but it’s still only about 30 minutes away. It’s an entirely suburban area, which is an oxymoron, because there’s no big city in the immediate vicinity. For my radio friends, the Monmouth-Ocean County area is large enough to be market #55. (For my non-radio friends: NY #1, LA #2, DFW #5, Eugene #146.) We’re hoping things will get back to normal while we’re here so we can take day trips to New York and Philadelphia, as we’re about 45 minutes from each of them.

We’re residing at the Tim Tam RV Park. By government order, it was officially closed when we called to reserve a spot. But because they are able to grant availability to essential personnel, we had no trouble securing a space. By the way, when you’re a travel nurse working with COVID patients, you hear a lot of “Thank you for your service”-type comments. It’s really cool.

And yes, Tara is working with COVID patients at a hospital in Lakewood (not Liquid). She sees patients die almost every day. Here in New Jersey, you have to wear a mask anytime you’re out in public, and that seems to have flattened the curve, as her hospital isn’t as busy as it was. She takes extensive precautions to make sure she doesn’t bring it home to me. We’re not certain, but we wonder more and more if we had the virus back in February. Tara was diagnosed with the flu, even though her flu test came back negative. I was also diagnosed, but it was via Teladoc. We’re not taking any chances, though, especially since pets are supposedly susceptible. What a tragedy it would be if the ferret contracted it.

A worse tragedy: if I contract a New Jersey accent while we’re here.