TOUCHING THE EAGLES

On the Road Again
I stayed up reading for several hours and retired to bed at 2 A.M. Bonzo, my son Doug's dog, woke me up at 6 A.M.. Halfway between being awake and asleep I heard a voice in my head.

"Good morning, and it is a good morning. This is the most important day in your life, because it is now. Yesterday was then. Tomorrow is when. Live this day to its fullest. Live this day with love in your heart."

I got out of bed and put the dog outside.

Looking at the clock I noticed that it was 6:06 A.M. I thought it appropriate to be getting up at 6:06 on the sixth day. I looked out the window at the beautiful scenery. I live on a hill overlooking beautiful Shuswap Lake in Salmon Arm where often the cloud formations hang suspended below eye level over the lake.

The town of Salmon Arm is situated on the lake in a pocket area with small mountains bordering it in a circular formation.

As I was shaving the guides told me that a new cycle was beginning for me. they flashed the number nine to me and suddenly I realixed I had lived in this house for exactly nine years.

I had some things to do in town before I began my trip to Vancouver, 330 miles to the west. I dropped into my office to check the mail and went to the Motor Vehicle Department to get my plates and insurance on my vehicle. I had a temporary permit to transport the new car from Calgary.

Before leaving town I had one other stop to make, again initiated by the guides. I stopped at the hardware lumber store to see a very dear friend Maureen. After visiting with Maureen I was on the road again.

Pick Them Up
A few miles from Salmon Arm I noticed two young Indian boys hitchhiking. there were cars behind me so I did not stop. Driving on I heard the guides voice again.

"Go back. Pick them up"

I went back and picked them up. Although I did not know the boys, I did know their families. Donavan, age sixteen, and Patrick, age twenty-six, were from the nearby Adama Lake Indian Reserve. I drove them about sixty miles to Kamloops where they were going to visit Donavan's aunt.

Meeting Shawna
At Kamloops I gassed up and went into the restaurant to have something to eat. The guides told me which section to sit in. As I ordered a sandwich I was informed by the guides that the young waitress was to be my next contact.

Shawna had been working as a waitress to help put herself through college. She was a first year science student at Caribou College in Kamloops. She had just turned nineteen.

"I am from Lynn Lake in Northern Manitoba and I enjoy living in Kamloops", she told me.

The One Hundred Dollar Viewpoint
Leaving Kamloops I continued to travel west. On Kamloops Lake near Savona I pulled over at a tourist rest stop. There was a concession stand there so i stopped and had an ice cream bar.

"Her, talk to her." I was told.

Joyce had been operating the concession stand by the side of the road for several years. She had one daughter living in Kamloops and had a thirteen year old grand-daughter.

Joyce showed me a 1954 issue of the Canadian one hundred dollar bill which she had in her possession. On the back of the bill was a picture of the spot on which we were standing. I offered to trade a new one for her bill.

"No way, I wouldn't trade this", she replied.

She asked me, "What's the idea of the blue balloon?"

I had the blue ballon that I brought from Virginia in my car and she noticed it. I told her the story of the balloon and of my writing this book.

Peddle That Austin-Mini Faster
As I was about to drive away a small Austin-Mini car parked next to me. I started to leave when the guides told me to talk to the young man in the car. Turning off my motor I got out of my car and approached him.

Michael was having car trouble. He would travel about twenty miles before he would have to stop to put water into the radiator. I asked him to tell me something about himself for the book.

"I will be twenty-one in September. I'm a student at the University of British Columbia studying geography and city planning and re-development. I was in Vernon seeing my girtfriend.

Michael went on to tell me that he was from Pennsylvania and teaches sailing in the summer months. He also enjoys skiing, running and soccer.

I followed Michael to the next town where we stopped again and chatted briefly.

Rendezvous at Jackass Mountain
I continued my journey to Vancouver travelling through the beautiful Fraser Canyon. The new Coquihalla Highway linking Kamloops to Vancouver was to be officially opened the next day. The guidse wanted me to stay off it.

Ar 6 P.M. precisely I arrived at Jackass Mountain. I parked my car and got out to stretch. Then I got back in my car, started the engine and was told to turn it off. I followed instructions.

The guides spoke to me again. "Someone will come by shortly. The small car will be travelling from the west They will park facing that sign. You are to talk to them."

There was no indication as to how many people there would be or if they would be male or female. I waiter until 6:21 P.M. and I was beginning to think that this was ridiclous. Maybe this time it was only my imagination, I thought. I was about to start my motor again when the guides informed me that my party would arrive at 6:33 P.M. I decided to wait curious to see what would happen.

Shortly a small car pulled in facing the sign as the guides had predicted. I looked at the clock in my car. 6:27 P.M.

I walked over to the car as the gal wound down her window.

"Hi", I said. "You're six minutes early".

She looked at me with a questioning look upon her face.

I continued. "You were not supposed to be here until 6:33 and you arrived at 6:27. You are six minutes early.

"What is this all about?", she asked.

"Let me read to you what I had just written down here", I replied.

Bonnie was a very interesting and entertaining person and surely well worth the wait. We had a most pleasant visit.

The interesting thing was that during the 27 minutes I had been there no vehicles stopped there. After Bonnie arrived several other vehicles stopped there.

"I was born in Saskatchewan and graduated in Kamloops", she told me. She went on "I am returning home to attend my young sister's graduation. I have just gotten back from a holiday in Argentina and Chile.

Bonnie and I had similar interests. She was selling vitamins and herbs and i purchased a special cleansing diet from her, one which I had been intending to go on for some time.

When I got into my car to leave, I looked at the clock. It was 7:33 P.M. exactly. The guides wanted me to tell her the significance of the time. They spoke to me.

"You were granted an extra six minutes."

I want back over to her car and told her that we were supposed to have been together for one hour; but that we were actually together for 66 minutes. I expressed gratitude that we had an extra six minutes together.

I left Bonnie and continued my journey to Vancouver, thinking about meeting her at the sixth hour of the sixth day and the significance of the threes and the sixes which were becoming more and more apparent.

{Author's Note: The date of typing this in manuscript form was January 26, 1987. This insert is added to give a follow-up on the friendship that has developed between Bonnie and myself. As the result of meeting Bonnie I was fortunate enough to meet a group of her friends in Vancouver as well as several of her friends in Salmon Arm thereby broadening my list of friends. We have kept in close contact. Just today I received a letter from her. I am indeed fortunate to have a friend like Bonnie.}

No Time For Coffee
Arriving at Hope at 8:33 P.M. I decided to stop for coffee.

"No time." I was told. "Up the highway six minutes is a young man hitchhiking. You are to pick him up and take him to Vancouver. He is thinking of giving up hope and returning back to Hope. He must go to Vancouver."

"Well, we'll see", I thought as I drove on.

A little further on I came upon the young man hitchhiking. I looked at the clock as I stopped to pick him up. 8:39. The guides were right on.

"I'm supposed to pick you up. Jump in." I told him.

Steve, age twenty-three, was a male nurse in a Vancouver hospital. His father passed away suddenly one month ago as the result of a motor vehicle accident and Steve had been staying with his mother in Hope since the funeral.

Steve was torn between leaving his mother and returning back to his job in Vancouver. He left suddenly without telling his mother. Steve's father was a well known gun collector and Steve himself was very fond of collecting guns.

Steve had been in the military for five years and has always had an interest in nursing and medicine. He has a sister who is a registered nurse working in Vancouver. He was separated from his wife and has a three year old daughter named Rebecca who he loves dearly. However he does not get to see her very often.

After dropping Steve off in Vancouver I went to my friend's home where I was to stay during my visit to Vancouver.

Jim and Myra had been anxious to see me again, since it had been several years since we seen each other. We talked for several hours before retiring for the night.

Touching the Eagles - Day Seven!

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