We ended up at Golden Gate Park. It was a beautiful day and loving the view of the bay and the bridge. Used one of those sea binoculars to take a look at Alcatraz. It was vacant in 1972. There was an occupation starting in 1969 when "Indians of All Tribes" took control of the island till 1971. Read about it. It's interesting.
There were some hippies hanging out, but not a lot. It was obvious that Berkeley was meant for us.
Missed a darn good concert too. But organized gatherings weren't always in my story. I'd have to figure out about what day and month we were in, but it was past June 30.
Headed back on the bus. It was easy to take. We stopped at Telegraph Ave. That was the main drag. Most of the scene happened there.Sure there were a lot of cool coffee shops and restaurants in Berkeley, but an awful lot of the hippies hung at the International House of Pancakes. Yes, a chain restaurant. They had a lot of seating and the coffee pots were endless. You could buy pretty cheap food too. I always got a bowl of oatmeal and coffee. They encouraged groups and people to crowd together in booths and at tables. So you always got to meet people. Talk. Find out information on maybe some work or some free stuff. Sorry I can't find any photos from that time period, let alone now.
We had a miraculous guest at our table that late afternoon. Now I'm not kidding. We didn't laugh it off or say pshaw. Jesus asked if he could sit with us. He was wearing long, plain and kind of raggy robes. The hair and the beard. Now some of you might say today that Jesus wasn't white. Maybe, maybe not. I think that any deity can appear in any form. He sat with us and asked if we could buy him a bowl of oatmeal. Of course. No question. Of course we would. We didn't have much, so none of it meant anything anyway.
He appeared this certain way but when he sat we all introduced ourselves. He said "Jesus." I was so open to different experiences, different people, different spirituality. I asked "Theee Jesus?" He said yes. I stand on the highest mountain closest to the heavens when I tell you he showed us stigmata. All the way through and through. Hands, feet, wound on his side and scars on his head. I looked closely. Good size nails went all the way through his hands. They weren't fresh but the scars were thick.
We ate and talked for a long time. It was dark and we were going to leave. We couldn't drink anymore coffee. We asked Jesus where he lived. This was before the homeless situation we have today. Back then if hippies were living outside it was usually under a tree, or in Berkeley at People's Park, or they crashed somewhere they were invited. He said 'a cardboard box.' I said "a cardboard box?" We went outside and he showed us a large appliance folded up cardboard box leaning against the restaurant. Oh.... something we hadn't seen before. In New York people lived in abandoned buildings or stairways. "Would you like to stay in our room with us?" Yes. He appreciated that.
Brought him in and we all sat on the floor and talked a little while more. About kindness and love. We decided to sleep. He said he'd sleep on the floor. ❤️🔥 We tried to give him blankets and pillows but he didn't want anything. He thanked us for our kindness and we all went to sleep.
We slept pretty heavy but woke up when we heard the door close. I looked on the floor and noticed he left some of the cloth from his robes that he draped over himself. LBJ got up and opened the window and called out "Hey! You left some stuff!" Jesus looked back and yelled "Keep it."
Sometimes I think the cardboard box was a message telling us where we were headed. I also think, you can believe I'm a complete flake but you weren't there, that I got a small blessing for all of that. No matter what or who he was, he was in a state of grace. I am still trying to learn the lesson. LBJ and I also wondered if we should have kept the cloth. Maybe it would have been like the Shroud of Turin. But we couldn't load ourselves down on our travels.
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