When Dobby barks, it is a loud, forceful bark. He barks to express his frustration and fear about the movement of the boxes, the packing, the humans scurrying from one room to the next. The absence of his comfy spot in the bedroom. Having to spend a night in a hard crate in an RV that makes so many new noises. The chaos of downsizing from a 3-bedroom house to a 29-foot RV left him with many emotions to express.
Packing up was stressful for all of us, but the time was right to move from Washington State (at least for now). The end of medical training opened a whole world of possibilities; being a traveling family med doctor seemed like a great fit. The doggies and I are travelers, after all – Lucy and Dobby are from Afghanistan and I am from the East Coast. Back in January when my initial contract for a full-time clinic position fell through, I realized it was the perfect opportunity to try something new. Working as a travel doctor is called locum tenens, which means “placeholder”. Physicians take the place of other physicians who are absent for short amounts of time. I could work in rural areas, cover for providers in cities, work in urgent cares or hospitals, clinics, or via telehealth. The options within family medicine are nearly unlimited. Why choose one right now when I can try a little of everything? So I took a leap of faith, bought an RV, and started planning.
I have traveled across the country a few times before, on road trips from one coast to the other, but never with my two furry best friends. I love the freedom of being able to stop and explore without agenda. I dream of camping on farms, mountains, and beaches. Of taking the dogs on hikes and letting them experience a different part of life. Of solitude and nature. We are so lucky to live in a place with hugely diverse landscapes, climates, and cultures. What better way to experience all of this than through a tiny home on wheels?
Where to go?
Although I love Washington, there are so many places I haven’t lived or worked yet. One of my favorite places to visit is Maine, where my parents got married and have lived for the past few years. Maine is similar to Washington in climate with cold, rainy beaches, similar in personality with just the right amount of stand-offish attitude, and is free-spirited enough that a girl and her two dogs can travel around in an RV unburdened by societal expectations. There are countless places for the dogs to play and Acadia national park in the northern part of the state is one of the most dog-friendly places in the country! Plus being away from my family during eight years of medical training was quite enough. It’s time to pay them a prolonged visit.
So we created a home on wheels with our RV (affectionately named “Roaming Rhonda”), planned a route East, and readied ourselves for a grand adventure!
Follow our adventure:
As of this writing, we are currently on the road and enjoying the ups and downs of traveling. We will be staying at a combination of campgrounds and Harvest Host locations (look out for an upcoming post about this, but for now here’s our affiliate link: https://www.harvest-hosts.com/S1GS2J/2CTPL/ ). We’ll visit friends, stop at some SniffSpots (again, look out for a future post on this!), and find the best dog-friendly places along the way. We hope that you follow us along on our journey through our blog entries, YouTube videos, and social media posts. Look for content such as our daily life in the RV, how we cook food on the road, and of course an excessive amount of dog videos. All of this is under our handle @DrJessAndTheDogs.
We are so excited to share our adventures with you! We hope we inspire you to find joy and follow your dreams!
-Dr. Jess, Lucy & Dobby (bark bark!)