Thursday 8/19/2021
I set up three of the four solar panels on the roof of the shed. I need to either cut off the connectors from the fourth or get connectors to continue the leads. I hooked the panels to the controller and to the two batteries. The controller shows that they are charging. After breakfast of a bowl of frosted flakes, and a tour around the property to survey how it had fared since I was here last, I drove to Kona to return the rental car.
I arrived in Kona around 11:30. I needed to return the car by 12:30 and the bus was not until 4:30. So, I figured to use the car to it’s fullest. I did not want to go to the market as I did not want to have to carry much on the bus, so I went out to the old airport to check out the beach there. I hung around the beach and watched the waves as they tumbled onto the rocky beach area for about thirty minutes before hearing out to the airport. Before getting to the turn off for the airport, I turned off the highway and drove up the hill a few hundred feet to gain a little altitude. From there I could see the island of Maui.
From the airport north, this area of the island is called the Kohala Coast – after the now dormant Kohala Volcano that formed this area. As you can see in this picture, the area is on the dry side of the island. It is also where most of the high end resorts are built. I guess that is because of the ability to see Maui across the channel. I guess the advantage of the dryer climate is fewer mosquitoes, but I prefer a bit more greenery. I love the green tropical jungle of the Hilo side, but I don’t like the daily rain that goes along with it. My location near South Point is the perfect mix between the two.
After dropping the rental car off, I hung around the airport and used their wi-fi to check emails. Then I took a nap. I was on the mauka side of the airport at the restaurant/snack bar that is closed due to the pandemic, right next to the stop for the rental car shuttles, shared ride pickup point, and the Hele-On bus stop. I used an electrical outlet there to plug in my computer and cell phone. At 4:00 PM, I decided to go to the bathroom – it’s a two hour and twenty minute ride to Naalehu. As I was coming back, I saw the bus on the outer loop of the drive. It had to go down to the end of the parking lot, turn and then return back to the bus stop. I wanted to get a picture of the bus as it was approaching.
I figured that the bus would stop at the designated bus stop, so I was standing back taking the picture, . . . and it just kept right on going. Didn’t even hesitate. Just drove right on past. I ran out into the road and waved my arms trying to get the driver’s attention, but it just kept right on going to the end of the drive and turned up towards the highway and was gone. Just like that. I had missed the bus. I looked at my cell phone and it was 4:25. According to the schedule, it wasn’t even due for another ten minutes!
What do I do now???
I looked down at my cell phone again, and it died! It just plain shut off. WTF???? It had over 80% charge!
So, I went back to the benches outside the closed restaurant/snack bar and plugged in my cell phone. It went through the whole start-up routine. . . which takes forever . . . especially when you are stressed because you just missed your ride home!
Finally, I checked out the cost of a taxi – $165.00. Then I checked on the cost of an Uber – $148.00. OUCH!
Well, you gotta do what you gotta do. Other than going out to the highway and trying to hitchhike, this seemed to be my only option. Maybe I could get an Uber to take me to a bus stop down the line in hopes of getting ahead of the bus. How long would it take for an Uber to get here? And then if it took me to someplace like the Keauhau Shopping Center, or to Captain Cook even, and I arrived there two minutes after the bus? Then what?
As I was contemplating what to do and wandering around in circles, I looked up and on the outer road was the Hele-On bus! I quickly unplugged everything, shoved the computer and all the wires into my backpack, and cell phone into my pocket, and hustled down to the bus stop just as the bus was pulling up.
The placard on the front of the bus said ” SOUTH KAU”. That is the district where Naalehu is – Kau. The driver opened the door and I asked, “Do you go to South Point? Discovery Harbor? Naalehu?” I was stammering. He replied, “Yeah, to South Kau.” Then he looked at me as if I were an idiot, because I probably sounded like one as I went babbling on and on about how I thought I had missed the bus when the other one drove past and didn’t stop, and was I glad to see him. I got on and gave him the full $2 fare. I moved down three rows and sat down. Relief flooded over me like I could not believe!
This was a different driver than I had experienced before. On my other bus trip the last time I was here, the driver was a large Hawaiian who had played football at NAU in Flagstaff. He had gotten hurt in his second season, and has been driving the bus here in Hawaii for the last 25 years. I had looked forward to seeing him again, but I was too relieved to have been so lucky. This driver was a small thin haole – a white guy.
I sat back in the seat and sighed! I was the only passenger as the driver closed the door and right at 4:35, pulled away from the curb and headed down the drive and turned up towards the highway.
Once out on the highway, he changed lanes and a couple of miles down the road, he turned left up a road towards the mountain. Just after leaving the highway, he was flagged down by another passenger. After picking up this passenger and putting his bicycle in the luggage compartment under the bus, he drove up to the community college and pulled off this road to the left and out in front of the college where he turned around in a cul-de-sak and went back to the road. Then he turned up towards the mountain again and went up to an intersection with a traffic light. Here, he turned right and drove on for about a mile, and turned into the parking lot of the West Hawaii Civic Center. After a loop through the parking lot, he was back to the upper road and then turned right and headerd back down to the highway. Turning left, he headed towards Kona again.
At the edge of town he again turned left and went up the hill, this time to the Court House. After a turn around in another cul-de-sak, he was headed back to the highway when he was flagged down by another passenger who came running up the road towards the bus waving his arms. Once this passenger was on the bus, he drove down towards the highway in the direction this last passenger had come from.
Rather than turning left, he crossed the highway and drove down to the shopping center and around to the back side, where he picked up four more passengers. Then down towards the ocean and towards the King Kamehameha Marriot Hotel. He drove past the hotel and out onto Alii drive past the waterfront and marina. He continued through the tourist area for a few blocks and then stopped across the street from the ABC store where he picked up two more passengers – one who could barely walk, with an ace bangage wrapped around his left knee, and had half a dozen large packages/bags. The driver helped the guy with his stuff as the guy folded up a walker and brought this on board.
We continued on down Alii drive past all the small houses on the waterfront that would each sell for a few million dollars, and past a couple of billion dollar resorts. He did not stop until he pulled in to the Keauhau Shopping Center. Here, the guy that got on near the community college got off and retrieved his bicycle from under the bus.
Off to the side of the parking lot was another large Roberts Hawaii Hele-On green bus. I tried to get a look at the front to see if this was the one with the placard that said PAHALA that had passed by in the airport, but did not get a good look. The driver turned up past the L & L Barbeque restaurant and up from the parking lot towards the main highway.
He stopped twice before we got to Captain Cook to let passengers get off. The guy with the bandaged knee and the walker got off in Captain Cook across from the two banks. The driver got out and helped him with his bags.
It was well after 5:00 PM and possibly even 5:30, and I was trying to figure out if the sun had set yet or not. The sky was very overcast so the sun could not peek through. There was a thin layer of open sky just above the horizon. Because this area of the sky was still light, I figured that the sun was still up behind the clour layer. This was important to me because I hoped we would get to Naalehu before it was dark. I figured that it would be around 6:30 orm 6:45 and was hoping that there would be just a little light for me to start my walk up the hill.
And, it had started to rai as we pulled into the Keauhau Shopping Center. Most everyone who had gotten on the bus, had an umbrella. I had forgotten to bring my vinyl jacket and I wondered just how wet I would be when I arrived in the dark at Holowai Wai Wai. Alanah has started calling it that – Holowai Wai Wai – Wai Wai translates as place, so it is Holowai Place.
As we passed the turn off to Miloli, the rain quit and the sun dropped down out of the clouds at the horizon. Less than ten minutes later, it had sunk into the ocean and was gone. It was just starting to get dusk when we pulled in to the park and ride at Ocean View where three people got off. I was pleased to see that the driver didn’t tarry here too long, but headed right out onto the highway and down towards Naalehu.
One woman approached the driver and asked him to stop at South Point road. At Ocean View as well here, it was not raining and the clouds were pretty much gone from the sky. As we were weaving through the town of Waiohinu, I told the driver that I needed to get off at the Chinese store. He nodded, and after a sharp left turn, then another sharp right turn, he pulled up in front of the Chinese Store and I grabbed my back pack and got off. There was still just a little light as I headed up the highway to Kama’oa Road. It was 6:50 PM. The bus ride had taken 2 hours and 20 minutes.
To be continued . . .
TTFN
TropicalCastaway 