Waunderin' Washington

It has seriously been a crazy 2 weeks. I left Elkton on the 26th of August to head to Washington for 2 nights of Phish. I am definitely not a huge fan of Washington, though it is very beautiful. I have had a lot of ups and downs since I arrived here. I went to see Bernard & Lucy before I left town, and they look great. When I arrived, he immediately ran over to his ducklings and protected them. He really is a father! On the way back from seeing Bernard, something happened to one of the wheels on my Beetle. I am not sure what it is yet (whirring noise), but since I am not allowed to bring my bus back to the property in Elkton, it is hard to take it to a shop to get it looked at, in addition to it being hard to sell my vehicles from afar. Still trying to figure all of that out right now and find a new place to live that isn't permanent, since all three vehicles should be gone soon.

I had to get a hotel room when I got to Washington, since the RV parks didn't like the look of my bus. It was nice being in a hotel room for two days, but I was glad to get out. I am actually glad the RV parks didn't like my bus, because it ended up being in the 100's the whole time I was in Wenatchee for the shows. The A/C was pretty much running on full blast the whole time since there are no trees in that town..or many anyway. The first night I went to the Phish show, I was blasted with a bus full of pesticides from a farmer that was spraying his field. It was windy, so it covered the whole windshield and the inside of my bus, and many of the other cars around. Since then, I have had a very serious respiratory infection that I have been trying to heal. It seems to be calming down, but it is very hard to get to sleep some nights. Spraying fields like that should be illegal on windy days (or in general). I feel really bad for the baby having to endure my coughing fits (and poison). The show was amazing though, and I was successfully able to dance for 4 hours straight.

Kelley, the father of my child, was also able to meet up with me in Wenatchee. He was traveling from Missoula to Seattle at the same time, so it worked out well. It was nice to have him there with the baby. The second night of the Phish show was really rough. On the way to the show, there were two small fires that were being put out. Over the next 4 hours, they spread over many miles of land and were really close to the show - you could see it over the hill. A lot of people were coughing and couldn't dance anymore, and I was having a lot of issues because of the respiratory infection I recently acquired. A huge crowd of people ended up leaving early because of it, and the whole way back to the hotel was pretty rough. When I reached the fire, it looked like a volcano had erupted over multiple mountain hills. It was really sad, and last I heard, they were still trying to contain it over 40 miles of land. It started in a really windy area, so there didn't seem to be much hope for containment right away, especially since Washington hasn't seen much rain lately.

The day after the show, I headed to Seattle. I quickly found that Seattle isn't the town for me. Much like Wenatchee, the whole school bus thing wasn't a very accepted concept, nor was a traveling pregnant hippie. When I got to the next town of Marysville, Washington, a woman actually told me I wasn't welcome in her town, and asked her husband to back me up and tell me I wasn't welcomed there. It really bummed me out, and I don't really understand what the big deal is..it is just a converted school bus after all. Outside of Marysville, I found a huge dog park for Layla and Millie to run around in. They had a lot of fun and met a lot of dogs. We ended up sleeping at a rest stop (they are all pretty beautiful around here), which was nice and cool at night. After Marysville, we made our way out to Anacortes, Washington. Once again, another town I wasn't welcomed in? A lot of people were disgusted with the bus, making loud comments about it. My first encounter there, I parked my bus next to a park. I parked around a tree, and somehow my bus caught a branch that I couldn't see because of the leaves, and pulled it off. The branch wasn't big, maybe a foot long and dead (all of the leaves were dead on it). These parents in the park had their kids come down to the bus door and yell at me for about 30 minutes saying I was a bad, bad, horrible person for hurting a tree. I was pretty astonished, and wouldn't leave the bus because it was really embarrassing, especially for such a tiny thing that broke off. The kids were only about 5-7 years old, and there were about 7 of them outside of the door. I felt like I was in a foreign land, where humans were at their worst. I went to the local natural foods store, and hightailed it out of that area to the state park down the street. I parked my bus in a RV spot with electricity and water, which was such a nice change  of pace for me. It was quiet and peaceful the whole time, and right next to the ocean. I saw many porpoise, sea lions, and I think even a mink whale. I would walk the girls about 5 miles a day, but had to cut it down near the end because the I was getting some small early contractions from it. But it was really nice just being in nature and being able to breathe in some fresh air! :) The girls certainly loved it, and the weather was perfect being 70 degrees during the day, and around 40-50 at night. I even got to take a shower! A hot shower. :)

Leaving was sad, but the camping is too expensive for me at this time. Especially with the high price of gas right now. On the way out of Anacortes, I stopped at the store to pick up some produce. This man stopped me and talked to me about the bus and changing to something smaller for me and the baby. It is so true, I need something smaller and more maneuverable, especially being pregnant. It is hard driving that huge rig by myself, even though I love my home. But he opened my eyes to many different options for mobile homes that are small and fit in a single parking space. It was comforting being around someone who was so accepting, and he gave me a lot of good travel tips for Washington. I am really looking forward to getting rid of all of my vehicles and starting fresh again. Being on the road for two weeks, I have truly realized that the bus life isn't meant for a single person. Sometimes you just need an extra eye to help you make a turn or back up. The gas milage hasn't been too bad lately though. I have been averaging about 10-15mpg! Pretty amazing for a school bus.

Since I left Anacortes, things have been really challenging. I ended up back in Seattle, and Kelley found a place for me to park where they were staying so I could hang out with him and Mira for the night. The people we were staying with became pretty hostile toward me because of the school bus and my dogs, and said that their landlord was yelling at them for me being there, even though they said it was perfectly fine multiple times prior to that. I was thankful to at least spend a night with people I knew, and hope to meet up with Kelly & Mira to camp near Mount Rainier tonight. All in all, I need out of Washington and fast, and I want to place my vehicles in new homes very soon. Looking forward to going down to Portland and Eugene to be around people more on my wavelength. I might have a temporary home with a community near Eugene for a while, which would be super nice. I have also been thinking about moving to Northern California for a while when all of my vehicles are re-homed. We will see. :) A nice change in pace would be wonderful right now. I really want to be around love, hugs, and people I know.

Hoping that things look up very soon. I am putting good vibes toward a quick and happy transition for me and all of the girls. Sending love to everyone. <3