A Place called Home

The first is essentially about fun and adventure, while the other delves deeper into a transformative life journey from petrolhead to pilgrim and the eventual decision to be the change I wish to see in the world.

As humanitarian and nobel laureate Albert Schweitzer insisted: “I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.”

Former heavyweight boxing world champ Muhammad Ali echoed that sentiment: “Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on Earth.”

Only four years separate the publication of my two books but the one belongs to a former lifetime of infatuation with the automobile.

Masters of Africa is also a tribute to my passion for wilderness and the sense of connection I feel in wild places, although it does pay homage to the jumbo-sized Land Cruiser 200 as a luxury 4x4 that sets new standards in 4x4dom. Yes, it is immensely capable but it is a dinosaur doomed to extinction. Does the world really need vehicles so extravagant and excessive!

Lost and Found spotlights a personal transformation and examines the inner and outer journey where the greatest challenges were not found on the way to Timbuktu or Antarctica, but on explorations of the untamed territory of the human soul.

Significantly, it has often been in the secluded Findhorn community in northern Scotland that I have felt most inspired - and most challenged.

As Neale Donald Walsch, author of the best-selling Conversations with God series, observed: “There is a unique energy here ... it makes it easy for people to access a different way of knowing, understanding and experiencing of some of the higher truths of life.

““Come to the edge,” he invites. “What Findhorn brings to the human spirit is the possibility of flying.”

Looking back over the past five years I recognise that the first book was written for many reasons, generous remuneration being one of them, while the more recent creation has yet to earn me a single cent. Instead it has helped to shine light on painful chapters of my past that were deeply buried, like the violent death of race drivers I knew and admired, and my meeting with a tormented survivor of a civilian airliner shot down by terrorists. Many died in that horrific and fiery impact, although others were murdered on the ground by gunmen who laughed and joked. I struggle to understand that.

Happily there are more stories that showcase the magnificence of the human spirit and the fact that nothing is impossible, among them time spent with National Geographic’s explorer-at-large Mike Fay, and more recently a little black girl with a hideously disfigured face whose life was miraculously changed in hours by corrective surgery. Memories of her smile will always light up my life.

Lowrian Williams was among the first to buy a copy of Lost and Found

Turning my back on money and materialism I’ve learned firsthand how joyful a life of simplicity can be, and how unnecessary possessions become unnecessary burdens. My wants and needs are much the same these days.

Findhorn has taught me another way of living and reminded me that if it isn’t fun, it isn’t sustainable. Be sure to laught a lot.

Not surprisingly I chose to launch Lost and Found here among kindred spirits and I was deeply moved when American friend ‘RJ’ Chapman confronted his fear of large audiences and sang a haunting song dedicated to my journey.

A Place Called Home by Kim Richey

Well, it's not hard to see

Anyone who looks at me

Knows I am just a rolling stone

Never landing any place to call my own

To call my own

Well, it seems like so long ago

But it really ain't you know

I started out a crazy kid

Miracle I made it through the things I did

The things I did

Someday I'll go where there ain't no rain or snow

‘Til then, I travel alone

And I make my bed with the stars above my head

And dream of a place called home

I had a chance to settle down

Get a job and live in town

Work in some old factory

I never liked the foreman standing over me

Over me

Oh I’d rather walk a winding road

Rather know the things I know

See the world with my own eyes

No regrets, no looking back, no goodbyes

No goodbyes

Someday I'll go where there ain't no rain or snow

‘Til then, I travel alone

And I make my bed with the stars above my head

And I dream of a place called home