Looking back towards Kona from Highway 11 on the drive to South Point
It was a short walk from the highway where the bus dropped me off down to the rental car center located between the airport and the highway – or as they say in Hawaii, mauka the airport; makai the highway. Then to the Hertz rental car center. I had actually rented from Dollar, but due to the decrease in travelers, Avis and Dollar had moved their operations to Hertz – consolidating as had many of the other rental agencies.
I had rented from Hertz the first week I was here, and then from Dollar for one day so that I could return the car to Hilo instead of Kona. Hertz customer service told me that they could not change the drop off location on the first rental contract. That I HAD to return the car on the specified day at the specified time, to the specified location. So, I rented a car for one day from Dollar at Kona; to be returned in Hilo. So, after having been in Hawaii for a week, I drove to Kona where I dropped off the first car and picked up the second car. Then the next day, I drove to Hilo dropped off the second rental car and picked up the car I had bought earlier in the week.
It had been raining for most of the last three days, when I went to Hilo to return the second rental car and pick up my car. In fact, it was raining on the 26th when I left for Hilo. I was concerned about flooding, because the day before when I was coming back from Kona, I heard on the radio that Highway 11 was closed around Punaluu Black Sand Beach. I stopped in at the county highway department maintenance yard on Kamaoa Road and talked to a worker there. I told him that I was headed to Hilo and was wondering if the highway was open between here and there. “Oh yeah!” he said.
“That’s good enough for me.” I replied. “I figured that if anyone would know, you guys would.”
Just past the turn off to Whittington Beach Park, the road drops down onto a low flat area. There are signs here that say, “Road floods during rain”.
There were two highway workers standing along the side of the road in rain coats. One was holding up one of those reversible signs that say “stop” on one side and “slow” on the other that they use in construction zones to stop one lane of traffic at a time. The rain was coming down pretty steadily and about 200 yards further on, the water was rushing across the road about 6″ deep. There was a regular river of water coming out of the vegetation on the mountain side of the road about 500 yards further on and followed the side of the road before crossing and continuing towards the ocean. There was another highway worker further down the road stopping traffic from the other direction so only one lane could be used at a time. They waved me through and the road rose up as I head towards Pahala.
A few miles further on you pass the turn off to the town of Pahala and cross a series of three bridges covering river beds that usually are very dry. All three had water rushing down towards the ocean.
It rained on and off the entire trip to Hilo and back to Naalehu.
The next day, I went down to the ocean just past Whittington Beach Park to a place called Halekini where we have found a few shallow tide pools that we can wade in, and even sit and soak in. The shore line here is rocky cliffs that rise 6 to 8 feet up from the water, and the waves crash against these cliffs. Because of the storm, the wave action was producing better than average displays of water shooting into the sky.
From here, I could look inland and see Mauna Loa. There was snow on the very top under a thin layer of clouds
I drove my own car until three days before I was to leave and return to the mainland, when I took the bus from Waiohinu to Kona. I got off the bus on the highway at the turn off to the airport and walked down to the rental car center where I had rented two cars so far this trip. This would be my third trip to this same rental counter during this trip.
Everything went smoothly until the clerk asked to see my negative covid test.
“I’m not sure I brought it with me.” I said as I started to sort through the paperwork I had brought with me.
I’ve been here on the island for about three weeks now, “I mentioned “and my covid test was back in the middle of January. It was now Feb 4th.
“I still need to see it,” she replied mechanically.
I’m thinking that this makes no sense. When someone arrives in Hawaii without a negative covid test result within 72 hours of traveling, they must quarantine for 10 days. When you are under this quarantine order, you cannot rent a car. To prove that you are not under quarantine, you must show your negative covid test results. I had been here for the past 25 days or so! Could someone come to Hawaii, quarantine for 10 days, and then rent a car? I didn’t want to ask and confuse her any more than she already was.
“This will be the third car I have rented on this trip from this very counter,” I offered as I spotted the rental agreements for the other two times.
“Well, maybe we can look it up from those,” she said. And then I found my negative test results and the QR code from the Hawaii Travels website.
I showed these two papers to her, and she was happy. “Oh, OK!” she said. “The car is the Chevy Malibu right there in the first row.” She pointed out the window as she continued, “the keys are in the car.”
When it comes to this pandemic, things aren’t supposed to make any sense. Intelligence is not allowed! Just get on the train in the cattle car with everyone else and the government will take you to a “secure location”. After all, we’re all in this together, and its for your safety as well as the safety of those around you!
My neighbor Scott texted me while I was in Kona and told me that he needed the main ingredient in the concoction that is sprayed on the trees to fight the fire ants. My other neighbor Bill who gave me a ride this morning to the bus stop in Waiohinu must have told him that I would be in Kona. Scott said that the most cost effective place to get this stuff was at the Farm and Garden store in Kona or Hilo.
The chemical is named “Tango”, and it is mixed with peanut butter, cooking oil, and something else. Theoretically, the ants are attracted by the peanut butter and carry the tango to the nest. The cooking oil helps to make the mix easier to spray. The tango makes the queen sterile so she cannot produce any more worker ants. The worker ants have a very short lifespan, and as they die off, there are no more to replace them to forage for food for the nest and the queen, so the colony starves and dies.
So, after going to Home Depot and picking up some 12 foot 2 x 6’s for the porch which I loaded sticking out the back of the Malibu trunk, I picked up the tango. This gave me the opportunity to talk to Scott about leaving my car in the back of his property where it would be a bit safer and away from the road.
TTFN
TropicalCastaway 