finding a contract

With over 300 travel companies, no, you will have to beat them off with a stick.

I was thinking more of the line like working

Not understanding. There is lots of work.

Well, don't do what I have done in trying to find my first assignment--limit yourself too much geographically (I've been trying to get work in one metro area). It hasn't been as easy as I expected. In fact, though I'm licensed in two states and will be able to reinstate another fairly easily, there isn't that much work (in med/surg and tele) in any of those three states, apparently. The jobs are elsewhere right now, though the recruiters keep saying that could change at a moment's notice.

Medsurgtele is effectively entry level for nurses so you are competing with the most nurses in a specialty with fewer jobs every year. So yes, leaving more options open geographically is a good thing. Getting licenses in restricted non-compact states like AK, WA, OR, CA, NY, NJ, MA improves your odds (and pay). Even better is getting experience in other specialties - for you perhaps stepdown or ICU makes sense (which has a lot of further potential like CVICU or other specialized unit, cath lab, flight nurse), or just go crazy and try for something like OR or ER.

Yeah, but one of the reasons I chose now to do travel nursing is that I didn't want to commit to another year or two in a new specialty (if, indeed, I could get hired into one--I probably could have transferred at my last hospital, with a two year commitment, but wanted to leave the area). I do have stepdown experience, but there seems to be very little available for that. I had been told previously that tele was where most of the needs are! That was one reason I chose my last full-time job--so I could get more tele experience. And as it happens, my two active licenses are in Oregon and Washington.

Tele is sort of baseline to even get a medsurg job.

OR and WA are good states to have licenses in for sure, at least for good pay and as far as I know, good working conditions with heavy union penetration.

Yup, two years is a totally reasonable commitment. It would be harder now, but you could have made it a more interesting transition to find a teaching hospital with an internship in some new and exciting city. That's not as new and exciting as a new city every three months, but better than two more years in Boringsville.

It's quite difficult to find internships in a new specialty these days. I actually had what some would consider a dream situation--a job in a teaching hospital, level 1 trauma, awesome city. But sometimes it's simply time to move on. And another two years is a long time to me--I'm looking at long-term volunteering abroad and/or going back to school full-time.

Well, expand your territory for more assignment options. Part of the fun, especially for new travelers, is going somewhere unexpected not on your bucket list and loving it! I might suggest talking to a few more agencies as well. Step downs are available, but you have to get on the same page with nomenclature. For example, they can be called PCU for progressive care unit or IMC for intermediate care unit.