California to Washington

Day five. The final push

Clearly I suck at posting timely entries on this blog. I'm into over a year and a half of travel nursing and here I am still on day five of my first trip across the country! I think after this entry I'll do a quick update on what I've been doing and then shoot off quick little updates once I get caught up. So finish this damn story already!

I was a little nervous about this last leg of my drive across the states. I kept an eye on the weather and traffic reports before I went to sleep for the night and there was plenty of talk about using chains and snow in the mountains ahead of me. I've never driven in snow, let alone driven with chains! I pictured my car sliding off the side of some windy mountain road.

Lucky for me, the snow had let up and the roads had been plowed all the way through the mountains. I did make a mistake of trying to pass a line of semi trucks, wondering why they were all only using one  of the two lanes available for travel in our direction. I found out quickly I hit ice and at 50 miles per hour. I was scared witless but was saved by the car's traction control and was able to wrestle it back to the lane with proper traction. WHEW! I think my life flashed before my eyes as I began to slide towards the rear wheels of the semi in front of me!

I emerged from the mountains covered with mud and road grime (my car) but relieved that I did so unscathed. The drive through Oregon and into Washington was scenic and relaxing. I was making good time! Or so I thought... Major traffic jam as I approached Olympia. I think it took a good 4 to 5 hours to drive from Olympia and finally into Seattle. It was cold and rainy, Seattle just like I remembered it. I was exhausted and glad that the drive was finally done. It felt great. I was looking forward to more adventures!

Arizona to California

Day four

It's 3 in the morning. Freezing cold. Only about 3 hours of "napping". Waking often to turn the car on long enough to heat the cabin, then sleeping lightly until time again to turn the car back on. My semi-reclined sleeping position in the driver's seat was very uncomfortable! I looked outside around me and saw a few vans and RVs parked nearby. Pillows and blankets propped up against the windows. Fellow travelers in the same predicament as myself. I envied the extra room they must have had to sleep in. After a few choice curse words, I opened the door and made my way to the bathroom and vending machines. 5 minutes later, I was hurrying back to my car with a bottle of Mountain Dew in my hand. I decided to hit the road again. No sense in trying to go back to sleep now that I was wide awake. I felt strangely energized and the miles began to melt away. It wasn't long before my stomach started to growl. I found a truck stop a couple of hours outside of the Arizona-California border. Time to fill up on food and gas.

The sun started to rise behind me as I pulled back on to the road. Full tank of gas and full stomach, I was determined to make it to Northern California!

I decided to avoid Los Angeles' famous rush hour traffic by leaving the interstate. I soon found myself in the middle of nowhere. "Off the beaten path" I guess you could say! I had a great head start in the day's driving so I decided to explore and maybe even get lost a bit. My Garmin diligently offered new routes to get me back onto the freeway. I decided to turn it off, confident that I could rely on it to get me back on the right path should I become horribly lost. Before long, was driving through the Mojave desert on highway 58. A whole lot of nothing. I saw and took a picture of a sign pointing to Kramer Junction that I knew one of my friends would get a kick from. I was enjoying having the road to myself. No big semi trucks around. Actually there was very little traffic to speak of at all! I flipped the GPS back on and plotted a course north. I connected with highway 99 and drove into Fresno where I stopped for an iced soy mocha at Starbucks. I logged onto the web to check the weather ahead. Snow in Northern California and through the passes heading into Oregon. A friend had just driven through these passes a few days ago and told me horror stories of being stuck on the freeway due to snow and how they had to turn back around because the roads had been closed off. I stopped at Walmart and picked up a good set of tire chains just in case. I've never driven in the snow before, let alone installed chains on my car but the instructions looked clear enough. I started to feel a little anxious about that leg of my trip as I imagined trying to install the chains in the middle of a snow storm. I grabbed a quick bite to eat (some bad Chinese food) and hit the road again.

99 proved to be one of the worst highways so far during this journey. Tons of traffic.  Narrow lanes. Crazy drivers. I hit Sacramento at the height of evening rush hour. After a few moments of white knuckle driving, I navigated back onto Interstate 5 and continued Northward. Smooth sailing from here on. The sun had started to set.

I pulled into the town of Redding around 9pm and decided to call it a night. This time there were plenty of hotels to choose from. I was looking forward to a good night's rest. I tuned into the weather channel in my room and watched reports of road closures for the route I had to take. I fell asleep thinking about sliding around on the snow and ice.

Texas to Arizona

Day three

Day number three on the road and I'm feeling very refreshed after a solid night's sleep. It's freezing outside, a good 30 degrees. I check out after taking inventory of all the things I brought into the hotel room the night before. Almost forgot my toiletries on the bathroom counter! After checkout, I head over to the truck stop near the hotel for some breakfast. The coffee was strong enough to make my lips tingle. I have two cups. Texas toast, bacon and two eggs sunny side up should hold me over for most of the day. The meal was enormous! Not sure what kind of chickens were laying these eggs but they were testament to the saying that everything is big in Texas!

After my hearty breakfast, I was ready to make the drive across the great state of Texas. I made sure I had a full tank of gas and made a mental note not to let my gas go below a quarter tank. Several coworkers advised me of this as gas stations become few and far between the further into Texas I get. I found that it was true, dozens of miles would go by without seeing a gas station, so word to the wise: keep an eye on your gas. My fellow travelling nurse Jen who made the drive a few days in front of me had come dangerously close to running out of gas before finally coming to a station to fill up.

I found that contrary to the stories of boredom that people experienced while driving across Texas, I was actually having a good time. The few hills outside of San Antonio quickly gave way to miles of flat desert-like terrain. Driving was very easy and there were eerily very few cars travelling on the freeway.

It was very tempting to drive at speeds that would undoubtedly land me in a jail cell so I made use of the car's cruise control and resolved to just enjoy the drive. Even then, the posted speed limit a few hours outside of San Antonio is 80 mph (which as everyone knows actually means 90 mph)! The Audi performed flawlessly and was a pleasure to drive as the miles melted away.

I attribute my lack of boredom to the many music CDs I had brought along for the drive and the snacks that my brother and his fiance had so thoughtfully put together for me. I also played silly games like trying to see if I can drink out of a soda can without using my hands or how long I can balance peanuts on the steering wheel. I also think that mindset is also important to enduring these long drives. I made up my mind that I was going to have a good time driving all the way across the country and sure enough, there I was, having the time of my life!




I stopped for a late lunch in El Paso at a Taco Cabana at my brother's insistence. It was rather good, but not as good as the Mexican food I had in San Antonio. I was surprised at how dirty El Paso looked. A piece of road debris struck my windshield while driving on the freeway. Scared the hell out of me! I was glad to see that city in my rear view mirror!

Traffic and road debris made way for dust and sand as I exited Texas and entered New Mexico. Visibility was sometimes limited as I drove through several small dust storms.

New Mexico slowly melted away as I made my way towards Arizona. Flat desert was replaced by hills, rock formations and mountains. I could see the sun inching towards the horizon, giving everything a nice orange glow. At this point I had been driving for almost 8 hours and was starting to get a little tired. The sun in my eyes made it hard to see the road and was making me a little sleepy. Good time for a little break from driving, but no rest stops in sight. I wanted to make it into Phoenix for dinner so settled for a few minutes on the highway's shoulder and a quick leg stretch outside.


The rest of the drive towards Phoenix was relatively uneventful. I was getting more and more tired as the hours passed by. Highway construction through the city made for some white-knuckle driving and served to keep me awake but I was starting to feel the effects of the day's long drive. My eyes started to get tired. By 10:00 pm I decided to start looking for a hotel to sleep in. That's when things started to get interesting. Turns out hotels were all booked for the next few days in preparation for the Superbowl. I pulled up a list of local hotels on the Garmin GPS device and found that all were booked. I kept driving, hoping to get lucky and find a hotel/motel just outside of the city. Bad move. No hotels and I was starting to drift off to sleep. I needed to get off the road. I decided to pull into a truck stop and decided that the car was going to be my hotel room for the night. I was not surprised to find many other cars in the truck stop possibly in the same predicament as myself. This was not going to be fun at all. I made a conscious effort to park near the other cars, not directly under any light, but in an area easily visible by others. I've never slept in a rest stop before so I was making up the rules of safety as I went along. Seemed like a good idea to park in a well visible area. I looked around and inside the cars around me were other travellers, bundled in jackets and blankets. I couldn't help but to chuckle at my situation. The thermometer on my dash read 30 degrees. I leaned my car seat back as far as it would go, which needless to say, was not very far due to all my stuff in the back seat. This surely was going to be a VERY uncomfortable sleep. I was beginning to regret not having made reservations at a hotel ahead of time.

The Adventure Continues

Day Two

Up to an early start for the second day of my journey from Tampa to Seattle. I started the day with a large (and very greasy) breakfast at a Waffle House knock off. There were tons of trucks parked outside so I knew it would be good. Truckers must know where all the good breakfast joints must be. Right? Breakfast was just as good (and greasy) as I had imagined it would be and the strong coffee, I was certain, would keep me wired for the next few days! I was ready to DRIVE, but found myself smack dab in the middle of morning traffic into Baton Rouge. It took over an hour to drive through the city and back into the open road. I made a mental note to stay in hotels a few minutes past the city so as to avoid this type of traffic again. Traffic should be moving the opposite direction and should provide open roads and a less frustrating start to each day.

I couldn't help but notice how many state troopers were on the road in Louisiana and they were ALL busy writing tickets to speeders. I was careful to stick to the speed limit to avoid a costly ticket. I highly recommend using cruise control if you've got it.

The drive from Baton Rouge to San Antonio was relatively uninteresting. There were a few small cities along the way that slowed progress down due to traffic and construction. Driving through Houston was a little scary. I was amazed at the labyrinth of overpasses and seemingly swooping elevated freeways. I almost missed my exits a few times and the drivers were a little unforgiving. It didn't help that I was driving through lunch hour traffic. It was easy going all the way to San Antonio once I cleared the city.

I decided to walk around a bit and grab some dinner in San Antonio. I wanted to see the river walk area and perhaps even the Alamo. I was too late to see the Alamo but did find a good Mexican restaurant.

After dinner, I decided to drive for another hour outside of San Antonio before calling it a night. I found a cheap, but clean Super 8 Motel in Segovia. There was a neat little all night restaurant for truckers there that I planned to have breakfast in the following morning. Another day closer to my destination. I slept like a rock! Next Stop: Phoenix, Arizona!

Go Northwest young man! The drive from Tampa to Seattle

Day One:

10 am, Monday, January 28th, 2008, I begin my 3,500 mile trek from Tampa to Seattle. Armed with a full tank of gas, a trusty new GPS navigation device and high spirits, I took that proverbial first step forward! I had a general plan as to how far I would drive and where I would stop each day. I was detiremined to make this an enjoyable experience despite all the head shaking and looks of disbelief from family, friends and coworkers when I told them I had planned on driving to Seattle on my own. A few people even threw in some nightmare stories while others offered up some really useful advice. My little brother and his fiancee even made a special "roadtrip survival package" for me consisting of a can of my favorite nuts, jerky, gum (for after the jerky) and some chocolate. All of which were instrumental to making my trip that much more fun. I also had a nice road atlas that a friend was kind enough to give to me as a going away gift. This too came in very handy in planning out my stops each day.

So aside from all the things obvious things I packed into my car to take with me on my trip such as clothing, shoes, my computer, here's a list of items I was glad to have with me:

• Portable GPS device (Garmin Nuvi).


• Mini Atlas of the United States.


• Cell phone, complete with car charger, holder and hands free device.


• Cooler/mini fridge for the car (thanks mom!)


• Water, Soda, Red Bull (for when you need to stay awake).


• Snacks (also important for keeping awake!)


• Cash - atleast 100 bucks for emergencies (You never know!).


• Music CDs (I took my whole collection plus a special roadtrip mix my brother made for me).


• Extra warm jacket.

The plan for the day was simple: drive as far as I could until I got tired. Ideally I wanted to stop in New Orleans that night for some dinner and sightseeing. The traffic gods must have given me their blessings that day because I was able to do just that. Burbon Street was great! It was a week before mardi gras and already the streets were full of tourists. I walked around for an hour after my seafood sampler dinner consisting of fried crawfish shrimp, scallops and calamari. Much too much to have eaten all of it and quite honestly, it really wasn't that good. I regretted not walking a little further and eating at a hole in the wall just down the street. I bet they had GREAT food there!

On a side note, I believe I was scammed not 10 minutes after driving into New Orleans. I pulled into a garage where an "attendant" asked for the parking fee of 5 dollars. I handed him the money and in return he gave me a small slip paper that looked suspiciously like it had been photocopied. Warning bells started to go off in my head as I walked away from the garage. I decided to listen to that inner voice and turned back around to find another place to park. Something just didn't seem right. A few minutes and a new parking garage later I saw the same "attendant" walking the street. Turns out this was just some random guy waiting in the garage and taking people's money for payment. I lost 5 bucks but listening to my gut instinct probably saved me from a more expensive parking ticket or worse, getting towed in a strange city - with all my belongings in the car! I have to admit, what a great little scam! Good for a few bucks anyway. Lesson learned!

Once I had my fill of Bourbon Street, I headed back out on the road to find a place to sleep for the night and ended up calling it a day outside of Baton Rouge. My little Garmin Nuvi came in handy with finding nearby hotels - complete with telephone numbers. It wasn't long before I was tucked in comfortably in bed after a nice long hot shower. Next stop - San Antonio, Texas!

Travel nursing. Taking the plunge!

After weeks, maybe even months of contemplating a new career as a travelling RN, I finally decided to take the plunge. Everything started to happen very quickly once I committed myself to this new venture. There were forms to be signed and sent, phone calls to be made and a myriad of other little things to be done before I was finally ready for my first travel assignment to Seattle.

For those of you who are thinking about a travelling RN job, it's true that it IS very easy to get these jobs. However, you do need to allow yourself plenty of time to get all the necessary paperwork submitted and processed. It took me at least two months to get everything sorted out and finalized.

First and foremost, decide on which city you want to start with. I chose Seattle because I have several friends there and have lived in the city a few years back. I figured it would be wise to start this new lifestyle on familiar turf. I also decided to travel with a good friend who also wanted to start in Seattle. A win-win situation for both of us!

The purpose of this blog to record and share my experiences during my travels. I'll do my best to keep it up to date and hopefully offer some tips for nurses who are getting the itch to travel. Scratch on!

So a quick and dirty list for first timers:

• Choose your city.


• Choose a travel agency (preferably one that offers assignments to the city you've chosen).


• Make sure licenses and certs are up to date (BLS, ACLS, RN license etc... )


• Contact the Dept of Health for the state you want to work and apply for state licensure (most if not all states have online application forms).


• Make sure all health records are up to date (immunizations, PPD, etc...)


• Obtain a current physical and bill of health from your doctor or ARNP.


• Obtain letters of references from managers and peers if possible. (You might not need them but they sure come in handy when you do!)

As I mentioned earlier, it took me about two months to get everything finalized. The longest part of the process was waiting for licensure in the state of Washington. I sent my application in right before the Christmas so I imagined it was sitting under a pile of applications to be processed after the holidays. I didn't receive my license until a week before I left. In hindsight, I would have saved myself a few sleepless nights by allowing myself a little more cushion by sending it in a week or two earlier.

Choosing an agency that will work for you is another VERY important step. I was lucky to have a travelling partner who was on top of researching which companies offered the highest salaries and which ones had the best housing options and stipends. Equally important is word of mouth from nurses who have had experience with these agencies. We went with Cross Country Travel Corps because of the positive feedback we received from other RNs and not to mention, their competitive pay rate and excellent housing options!

Once I signed and faxed my forms, it was mostly a waiting game as the agency looked for positions at hospitals in the area we were interested in. There were certainly several to choose from, but we had our eyes set on Harborview Medical Center, the Northwest's premier level one trauma center and a teaching hospital to boot! - an environment we were both accustomed to at our current job at Tampa General Hospital. It was exciting to finally get a call from an ICU manager about two open positions. A job! The biggest piece of the puzzle had finally fallen into place. So there we were! Ready to take on a new adventure. Start date: February 5th 2008. I have to admit, I was a little apprehensive about leaving my current job and starting at a new, strange hospital. But what did I have to lose? I could do anything for three months! The pay was right, this was a chance to visit some good friends in a city that I enjoyed. I braced myself for a new adventure.

From Tampa to Seattle! Did I mention we were driving?