Birth of a House-Boy

I promised her... and she didn't believe me.  She thought I was just stringing her along.  But then on January 3, 2014, I showed her. Our big adventure finally began.  Now let me explain.  My wife, Lane, is a nurse.  More specifically, an emergency room nurse.  For years she has been wanting to hit the road as a travel nurse, and for years I have promised her once I retired our dogs and I would go with her and and I would be her House-Boy.  So there we were, off we went, here we are, and now I am a professional House-Boy.

For a while now she has been suggesting I/we start a blog to chronicle our travel adventures.  I am not sure anyone will be interested in reading this, but I guess it will at least be a diary  for us to look back on and remember in our later years.  We are eight months into this now so I'll use the first few posts to summarize and get up to date.

We left Western North Carolina headed to our first assignment.  A hospital emergency room in Dallas, Texas.

Texas here we come.

Crossing the Mississippi River

For those who may not know, a travel nurse has two main living space options for each contract. They can elect to have the travel company provide the housing, or they can elect to receive the full housing stipend and find/secure/provide their own housing.  I had originally been thinking we would take the stipend and rent an apartment and rent furniture for the apartment (or rent a furnished apartment).  After I found out how much it was going to cost to rent furniture, I convinced Lane to change our plan.  We bought a small, enclosed trailer and took the minimum bare bones necessities and furniture with us.  So we headed out with our two dogs and a packed-full trailer for Dallas, Texas.

A cold stop at a rest area.

 We left on a Friday morning.  Spent the first night in Birmingham, Alabama.  I did not want to try going too fast using Lane's Toyota Highlander pulling the utility trailer.  We stayed in a La Quinta (and have continued using La Quinta) because they all allow pets.  Saturday night we stayed in Shreveport, Louisiana.  Then arrived in Dallas on Sunday, mid day.

We did the lease paperwork for our apartment and got the trailer unloaded.  We really got lucky on the apartment.  I found it by using Apartment Guide on line, and we committed to leasing it sight unseen based on the reviews we found on line.  The apartment is in a complex called The Hill, which is part of a cluster of apartment complexes called The Village.  I can't say enough good things about the place.  It is a little dated, but everything is well maintained, the grounds are beautifully maintained, and any maintenance issues are very promptly corrected.  Would definitely recommend it to anyone.

Our first view of the Dallas skyline.

Lane started work the next day, Monday.  Her hospital is just a ten minute drive from where we live. Very convenient.

And I started my new job as House-Boy too.  What, you may ask, is a House-Boy.  Well I try to do everything that needs doing so Lane only has to worry about going to work.  My standard House-Boy duties include washing, folding, and putting away laundry, vacuuming, bathroom cleaning, grocery shopping, cooking, washing dishes, making the bed, taking out garbage, feeding, walking, and loving the dogs, and of course chauffeuring Lane to and from work.  Yes, she gets front door drop off and pick-up each work day.


That's enough for this first post.  I'll try to be less wordy in future posts.  I'm hoping to document the fun and neat things we see and do, and the ups and downs of being a professional House-Boy.  More to come.




"You can't explore it if you haven't ever been there."

Brian Hallman