Long journey!

I just got back to Elkton, Oregon after a 1,700 mile journey over 25 days. 1,700 miles may not seem like a lot, considering I have even driven 8,500 miles over a few weeks before, but it is a lot being pregnant, solo, and driving a school bus! :) I must admit, I want to leave Elkton already. I came back to dead batteries and a fun new sound under the hood of the bus, plus a lot of fleas. The friends I am staying with have a wicked flea infestation - one of those where you walk into the house or yard and your legs are covered. I am really hesitant to let the girls out in the yard, because it took all of those 25 days to get the fleas off of them since the last time we were here, which led to the girls chewing their hair off in many places on their bodies. Poor girls! They have seriously never had fleas until now. :(

I came back to get my motorcycle, car, and pack up everything I am storing in Elkton into the bus. When I went to "take inventory" of everything I need to load up, my heart sunk. I can't believe how much stuff I acquired over the past 10 months - things that I did indeed use very often, like a cage for the geese (to transport them in), and a huge water container for the geese to swim in etc. Looks like I will be having a huge sale soon! I am off to Ashland, Oregon (for real this time) in a few days. I am hoping that will increase my chances of selling the Beetle, Bus, & Motorcycle. I should only be living there for a month, as long as everything sells quick. I went to Bend on my way back to Elkton, and met up with the woman who is selling the Toyota Dolphin (camper) that I want to buy after everything is sold. It is truly a dream. That little truck runs like a champ, and the camper is super spacious and comfortable. The couple that owns it are very, very nice people. They also have a Great Pyr (but a mix), and another huge dog that they traveled around with in the Dolphin. There is definitely plenty of space for the dogs & rat, and after I downsize everything, my belongings. ;) And of course, there is plenty of room for the wee one, and the Dolphin even has seats with seat belts for her carseat. :) I am definitely praying to the Universe to help make this transition happen soon. Especially being a few days away from 30 weeks pregnant.

Portland was pretty uneventful. On day 3, I was told to leave by the cops because an old couple in the neighborhood said my dogs were barking all of the time and keeping them up all night. I think it was other dogs, because I came back to the bus by 8 (when they go to sleep), and the girls never barked. At one point I hung outside in the grass for a couple of hours during the day (just to see for myself), and they still didn't bark - so I think that the couple just didn't like the bus. They also told the cops that I was going to the bathroom (pooping) and sleeping in the grass at night, which wasn't true at all, for I have the bus and that it just not how I am, especially pregnant. They made not-so-nice comments when I visited last October as well, so that is my guess. It was time to leave anyway, and it was kind of funny that the cops came up to the bus when I had just finished getting ready to leave.

The ride down to Bend was pretty awesome. I stopped at a rest stop right outside of Bend, and it was on the edge of a huge gorge..the kind that you don't want to accidentally fall into. It was a pretty "dangerous" gorge - apparently a lot of dogs have accidentally gone over the edge, so they don't allow dogs anywhere near it. I was trying to imagine how that even happened, considering they have 5ft tall walls around the whole area. The rest stop was by far the most quiet of all I have been to, and I have stayed at a lot of them on this journey. Bend was pretty cool too. The neighborhood that the Dolphin was in reminded me of my friend Sal's place in Nederland. All of the residents seemed to have their own gardens filled with food, some converted school buses, and tons of people waived at the bus and smiled (even kids). Definitely completely different from what I have experienced on this journey. I  could even park the bus in their driveway and everyone made really sweet comments about it.

The baby has taken up residence right on top of my bladder. For the past three weeks, I pee my pants at least twice a day/night. Even since I started writing this blog, she has been putting a lot of pressure on my bladder. It doesn't matter if I just peed or not, something always seems to come out. It has made me think about wearing diapers. ;) I already had a pretty weak bladder before (since childhood). I am pretty sure most of the pre-pregnancy issues with urgently needing to pee often were in my head, so this situation is a whole new level of pee issues. ;) The wee one is also getting so big that finding a position to sleep in is becoming interesting. Especially with this coughing thing that is going on, since it starts up when I am laying down. It is definitely one in the same with the pee issue, regarding the way the baby is positioned. At least I got some new underwear out of the pee thing though. I haven't bought underwear in years - I am serious. I was thinking that it has been at least 8 years or so. I have had the same underwear since Layla came into my life. All I can say is that Hanes makes some tough underwear! :) On the peeing note, has anyone else had a consistent cough for a few months leading up to birth? I have been running into more and more people that say they had a cough for 3 months prior to giving birth because of the baby pushing on their diaphragm.

I am going to be reunited with Wolfgang come Tuesday! I am really excited to see him. It has been over 4 months since I was last with him. Such a long time. I hope that he remembers me. :)

Will write more when I am about to head to or arrive in Ashland. Love to everyone. <3