The Olympian Peninsula

The First Ride - 35 Miles

I decided to take it easy on the kid after his little accident. With bandages covering his knees, we sped off toward Port Ludlow to visit my astrology colleague and friend Jeff Peters. We bid farewell to my brother and his wife's family and took to the road heading north from Silverdale, WA. We both want to thank Michelle and her mom for hosting us and feeding us and generally making us feel welcome! Thank you!

Arian's first long ride went great! We stopped frequently to let him drink water and stay hydrated. It was a perfect distance to give him a good taste of a long trip but not enough to make his bottom hurt! After stopping to pee at a gas station we headed across the floating bridge to head north to Ludlow. It was fun watching Arian in his blue rain jacket cruising along on his bike. SOmetimes I would let him lead and other times on the steep hills I would pull ahead and cruise down the decline. After his wreck, Arian was being extra careful with his speed when descending even though I assured him there would be no speed bumps and despite the fact that he had his brakes worked out in his mind!

Eventually, we saw signs for Port Ludlow and got excited about arriving. The town center was quite small and my friend Jeff lived to the north 5 more miles, so we decided to stop for a steaming hot chai. We met the owner of a cafe called Once Upon a Time and she heard me talking about astrology with one of her patrons. Fascinated with astrology, she decided then and their that she had to have me interpret her chart. So I took down her birth data and she paid me in cash. It was nice to have cash in the wallet again after living off the debit cards. I was excited to give her an unbelievably remarkable session.

After that we hopped back on the bikes and got flowing along again. I saw the marina full of boats and started singing the theme song to Gilligan's Island and Arian reminded me that I was indeed crazy. I reminded him that they have not locked me up yet, so I'm still just good crazy, not demented crazy.

Further down the road, we discovered patches of ripe blackberries along the roadside. Now we understood why the Blackberry Festival in Bremerton was in full swing! These things tasted delicious. We both placed our bikes on their sides and ate Blackberries until we were content. Arian went off into the woods to pee again. I told him he was like a woman on a trip in the car, always needing to stop to pee at exits. We both laughed.

A few more miles we came to my friend's address number posted on a sign and saw a dirt road ascending up into the foliage laden hills. We decided to push the bikes, passing hundreds of ripe blackberry bushes. I wanted to stop and eat moe but Arian wanted to press on. We came to a strange metal garage with a VW van parked out front, but decided to keep on going up the road. When we rounded the corner we saw Jeff standing on his porch and he welcomed us wholeheartedly. His house was an alternative domed structure that looked amazing. After leaning our bikes near the garage he showed us around and gave us a tour of the inside where he had painted many oceanic scene on the odd shaped walls. The large painting in the living room on a pentagram shaped wall was the most impressive, an undersea scene of a seal and a school of 3-D fish. An eagle and a floating tree was painted in a large blue circle above the entrance to the kitchen. We could tell that he and his family were very creative to say the least and his wife Jackie was extremely kind. They were both Aquarians like my new friends from Redmond in the Castle, but they lived in a DOME! What's the deal with double Aquarian couples living in strange structures! It fits the archetype of the bizarre, original, and unique.

After an extensive tour of the unique house Jeff showed us to our quarters: An amazing RV parked on the side of the hill just down below the house next to a tree house! Very cool! We had own own beds, a kitchen, a shower, and a cozy table! We felt spoiled. I told Arian to enjoy it because after this we would be heading into the wild rain forests of the Olympic Peninsula to the rainy west. We didn't know how long we were going to stay in Port Ludlow but after Jeff offered to take us on a tour of Port Townsend and told us we could stay as long as we liked, we decided to stay for five days until after Mercury went Direct, to avoid needless road repairs. You don't want to start a long journey under a Mercury Retrograde! Besides, that would give me just enough time to really get into writing my new astrology book and to enjoy the opening week of the Nation Football League! I could root for my broncos from the comfort of Jeff's couch with a delicious home-cooked meal, complements of Jackie.

Port Townsend was a beautiful sailor's town. Originally we were going to take the ferry over to Whidbey and head up to Canada through the San Juan Isles, but with the onset of Fall temperatures, I decided we better get heading south before the nights et really cold. We arrived during the week when Port Townsend was having the biggest festival of the yea called the Wooden Boat Festival. People come from all over to learn to craft wooden boats at unique schools in Port Townsend. He took us o the festival on Saturday and we enjoyed the tour and took lots of pictures. They even had wooden bicycles and pirates! We also went out to eat at 1-2-3 Thai, which was delicious!

On one day, Jeff let me borrow his car to go to town and write. Arian decided he wanted to hang out at home and cough his lungs out. He had been adjusting to the Northwest climate for a time. In the last 8 months, he had been in NC, CO, AL, and finally WA. Four different climates in nine months. I think his system was on climate change overload. By the end of our time in Ludlow he finally came to terms with the climate after regaining his voice and coughing up a bucket of sludge. Arian enjoyed hanging out with Jeff's son and daughter and reread their copies of the first three Harry Potter books.

When I was in town writing at the cool cafe by the ocean where ou can sit at a table and look out at boats and the sea, I bumped into Emily again, the girl with a backpack who was on her own journey of locational independence after growing up in insulated, isolated Utah. She decided that she was going to travel the world with her backpack hitching from place to place and was trying to find a ride on a boat down to California. In addition, the first NFL game of the season was broadcast on the web with the Vikings and Saints having an epic rematch. The coffee shop closed so the picture you see above shows my wooden picnic table outside overlooking the ocean with Brett Farve on screen!

One night when I came home Jeff unveiled his surprise! He had assembled a special bike cart for my journey ahead. That's right, one of those carts that you attach to the back of your bike to load your gear in. He had decided to build it when he kept reading about me breaking spokes. Turns out that Jeff is a Triple Aquarius with a strong Saturn in Virgo, the sign of the Craftsman. He is like a living Hephaestus, the Greek God of Artifice and was as clever and crafty as MacGiver! His shop down at the base of the field was full of tools and trinkets for designing anything. I had mixed feelings about the cart, mainly because I didn't want anything behind me feeling heavy and awkward, but my brother assured me I would love the cart. In addition, I had decided that if the opportunity to have a cart presented itself in my journey south to San Francisco, that I would give it a try. So this Centaur can't look a gift horse in the mouth. Besides, this cart was built by a human being who was both a master inventor and a Vulcan-like craftsman. How could anyone refuse a magical item on a grand adventure. The cart had two wheels and looked like a portable cooler. It could be locked and double as a small table!

I shared the Preface and Chapter 1 of my new astrology book with Jeff (being edited by my spiritual brother Peter Roth) and he loved it. We spent lots of nights discussing astrological ideas and I ran some of my new concepts by him and he helped me work it out on paper through discussion. It was fun brainstorming new idea combinations with a fellow Aquarian visionary whose 12th house of spiritual insight was packed with planets like mine. He was a painter by trade and a Magi by calling, often doing astrology for his painting clients. He was a lso a handyman and could pretty much build anything someone wanted building. Just give him the parameters and the visions and off he goes! And his Aquarian wife Jackie was a genius in her own right, managing a computer store and cooking the most eclectic foods possible! She liked going in the kitchen and taking base recipes and mixing them in unexpected ways. We had a great time watching football on Sunday even though my Broncos lost o the Jaguars. But the Seahawks won big in the late game.

Before I arrived, Jeff had inspired by my writings and astrology teachings and crafted a set of laminated, circular Tarot-like cards called Astro-Discs for educational purposes. Arian came up with the name of this new interpretation tool! He took many of my ideas about the twelve archetypes of the Zodiac and packed the information on the front and back of these 8" cards. I got to hold the finished products in my hands and they are amazing. He has a local astrology group in Port Townsend and upon seeing them, everyone had o have a set. Now we are offering them online for anyone who wants a set. When you place your order here, Jeff will hand craft your very own set of Astro-Discs!


In addition I've decided to release my popular tool, the Celestial Mandala for a donation of any amount. The catch is that you have to build it ourself with these instructions.

Also, if you are into learning astrology with me through my video courses I offer the first three courses on Houses, Signs, and Planets free on the web, plus an extensive FREE Course manual! Just follow the link below. You can watch the first 3 classes (with over 8 hours of video instruction) free and then order subsequent classes for $20 each. You make your purchase online and then I'll email you a private link to the class. You can also elect to buy the FULL course and gain access to all the classes!

Tao of Astrology Video Course

In addition, I'm offering a special Astrology Chart Interpretation to readers of this blog!

Normally my services (backed by 25 years experience) cost $195 for an Explore Your Birth Vision chart Interpretation or Seasons of the Soul update chart. Readers of this blog can make a donation of at least $25 and I will do an inspiring chart interpretation for you! The length of the interpretation will be proportional to your donation, but I will guarantee at least 30 minutes no matter what and you'll probably get more time because once my archetypal oracular window opens, I just can't stop talking about a chart. There so much vital information! Why am I offering this to you? Some people can't afford my full professional fee, especially during these trying economic times and I need to generate funds to feed Arian and the occasional campground fee and bike repair. So it's a win win situation. You can get started now with the special donation button below.

Traveling Magi Chart Interpretation Special

Enjoy the New Moon IN Virgo and both Mercury and PLuto going Direct as Arian and I head out to explore the Hoh Rainforest of the Washington Coast on our epic journey south!