Hi. My name is Wendy, and I am a Traveling Interventional Radiology Technologist. Let me tell you a little bit about myself. I spent my elementary years living in the hot desert of Arizona. My parents, for the most part, were not employed and at the time I gave no thoughts as to how or why that was. All I knew and cared about was building up my pendant collection. See, every summer my parents and I would go on an epic road trip across the United States. My dad would start his journey preparations at the AAA offices acquiring maps, trip routes, hotel bookings, and planned gas stops from one of the agents. I fondly remember his yellow steno pad filled with every day's travel plans. Each page had the beginning odometer readings on the top and what the final mileage read at the bottom, how many miles to the next gas station, how many gallons and the cost of gas at each fuel up, and the name and address of the hotel we would sleep at that night. I loved to play the navigator and tell him how many miles more we needed to drive, or read from the huge atlas we carried what the next turn would be. He always made sure to bring his road trip mix tapes that eventually became legends in our family. No trip, whether great or small, could go without listening to Willie Nelson's "On The Road Again," or Eddie Rabbit's "I Love A Rainy Night." We always visited National Parks and monuments, went fishing and camping, and visited family. At the end of summer, I would take all my souvenir pendants and place them on the wall all around my room so I could spend the school year looking up at them and reminisce about the past. I'm pretty sure it was because of these summer trips that I have this love of traveling.
In the fall of 2001, I entered Radiography school. It was during my first semester of clinicals that I learned of travelers. Travelers were x-ray techs who worked across the US where ever there was a need. Some of these travelers even traveled with their family. I was intrigued. I excitedly told my husband about it, but he didn't seem too interested. But, for the rest of my schooling that was my plan. I was going to get my x-ray license and start traveling. By the time I passed my national boards and became a licensed x-ray tech, life got in the way. We began having children, and I knew I could not be a traveler toting babies. Fast forward to 2016, my urge to travel was getting stronger and stronger. I wanted to see more of the US. I wanted my children to have the same experiences I had when I was younger. My family and I would always talk about how we should buy an RV and travel around the US, but how would we support ourselves while on the road? And then it just came to me to one day; I could just be a Traveling IR Tech. We didn't have an RV, but I knew traveling companies would provide housing. I brought the idea up with my family and immediately they all agreed it would be a fantastic adventure for all of us. I was taken aback by how quick they said yes and was super excited that everyone was willing to do this. So, in August of 2016, we set off to our first assignment in Montana, and we have been having a blast since.
