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ACROSS NINE STATES IN NINE DAYS
Day Eight - August 17, 1986
Santa Monica Beach,
near L.A. California
Brother John and His 'Smokin Oldies'
"You have had enough time at the beach. It is now time to travel north," I was told by the guides.
I got into my car, turned on the ignition, noticed it was 1:33 p.m., and headed north from Santa Monica along the Pacific Ocean. Turning on the radio, I heard the announcer say, "This is A.M. 930."
"Appropriate," I thought, in keeping with the three and nine energy.
"This is Brother John," he went on, "playing Smokin Oldies all day and night."
It seemed that every song Brother John played related to my trip and the inner guidance I was receiving.
25,000 to 1 Odds
At 2:33 p.m. I was driving along Number 1 Highway through beautiful Malibu with the blue Pacific Ocean to my left.
At 3:15 p.m. I was given further instructions.
"Pick up two at 3:33," I was told.
At 3:30 p.m. I arrived at Santa Barbara. I had not seen a hitchhiker all day, yet at 3:33 p.m. precisely there was a hitchhiker standing beside the road. Stopping to pick him up I thought there certainly were not two people to pick up. The window on the passenger side was rolled down. The fellow put his head in the window and said.
"Do you mind. There are two of us. I have a dog with me."
"By all means, I don't mind," I replied. "I am pleased there are two of you."
Richard and his five year old dog Sheikh got in the front seat of my car.
Richard had been on the road hitchhiking from Virginia on the east coast for three weeks with the dog accompanying him all the way. He had been standing beside the road where I picked him up since 7 a.m. which was eight and one-half hours. Every so often he would count on his stopwatch the number of cars that passed him and estimate the number per hour, coming up with a similiar number each hour. He estimated that a total of 25,000 cars passed him by before I picked him up. His guess was that there was an average of two persons per car, which meant that 50,000 people passed before him as he waited for a ride.
These statistics gave me something to ponder. Did the guides keep him there until I came along? Was I destined to pick him up? What if it wasn't 33 minutes after the hour when I passed by? Would I have stopped for him?
As I learned more about Richard's personal life I was convinced that the guides kept him there until I came along.
Richard was returning home to Ukiah Valley north of San Francisco where he lives in an adjoining sparsely populated valley. He had no family and no living relatives. His closest friend is his dog Sheikh. He told me that the name 'Sheikh' in Arabic language meant "irresistible to the eye of the beholder".
Richard told me more about himself.
"I am a tool designer. I was always curious about how things ran so I would take them apart just to be able to put them together again. I always looked for the simple mechanism of how things worked. Nothing is really complicated. I worked in a large company with twenty men below me. I was the chief draftsman and ran the operation for designinhg and building unusual structures and buildings. When the management changed I was laid off because I did not have the academic qualifications."
Richard continued to tell me his interesting story.
"I always went to the library to learn about things, so that I could study how they operated. I always looked for the simplicity and was easily able to figure things out. I have worked for the past four years as a sheep herder. I love animals. I would rather be alone with animals rather than being with people."
Richard was 43 years old and never married. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio and came to the Ukiah Valley area four years ago while aimlessly hitchhiking across the country. He felt he was guided to the one place on earth where he is very happy to stay. He lives outdoors in the wild as much as possible, feeling at home with his dog and the animals. He has built his home in the stump of a large cedar tree and lives partially under the ground.
Richard told me he was most happy when he is watching nature.
"I once sat still for six hours watching with fascination a butterfly emerge from a cocoon," he told me.
As I listened intently to what Richard was telling me, I thought to myself. "Yes, It is true. The meek shall inherit the earth."
Did You Know That Eagles are Part of the Hawk Family?
We were travelling on Highway 101, a main highway running north and south. As Richard was talking I looked at the kilometers driven on my car and noticed the number 26300. The guides continued to keep me excited.
"Something will happen at 36363," I was told.
I hoped it would be something good.
"You will be surprised," the guides continued.
As we drove along I though of my friend Menno Pauls and his book, The Gathering of the Eagles. I was thinking that Richard certainly fit the category as an eagle.
With anticipation I waited for the kilometers to reach 36363 and just as it did Richard suddenly asked.
"Did you know that eagles are a part of the hawk family?"
Up to this point in the conversation neither of us had mentioned eagles or anything about birds and just after I was thinking of gathering eagles Richard asked the question.
The guides certainly wanted to impress upon me the importance of meeting Richard. They were right. I was surprised.
It was dark when we drove through San Francisco. Continuing on Highway 101, we headed north. I drove Richard approximately 450 miles from Santa Barbara to his destination. We arrived at Ukiah late at night.
Richard slept with his dog under a bridge just outside of town while I slept in my car nearby.
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