8/19/2021
After getting off the bus, I walked back up the highway about a hundred feet or so before turning onto Kama’oa Road. I walked past a couple of houses to the left and the highway maintenance yard on the right. I was glad that there was a full moon as it was starting to get dark. The moon lit up the black pavement just well enough to see while walking on the road, but if I stepped off the pavement into the mowed grass on the shoulder, it was impossible to look out for any branches or rocks, or holes, or gullies. The highway department periodically mows the grass along this road but there is no way to tell if anything is hidden in the grass. This mowed shoulder can be anything from a few inches to maybe three feet wide, with the tall, thick jungle beyond. So, I stayed on the road as much as possible and only strayed off when a car came on my side of the road. After the maintenance yard at the first side street, there is another lot/house before the next street that goes into the Waiohinu neighborhood for about three football fields before ending at the highway as is winds around the bottom of the Waioninu Hills. Past this street, there are a couple of houses and then a dirt road. I’m not sure if this is a street or someone’s driveway. Then it is jungle on both sides of the road. The road rises up over a slight hill as it turns to the right, then descends into a small valley. There are two or three bed and breakfast properties on the makai side and a large pasture on the mauka side. As I was walking over this rise, I got out my flashlight – mainly to be able to see better when I stepped off the pavement into the grass when cars came. After the short valley, the road begins a steady climb for the next 800 to a thousand feet with a couple of hoeses on each side on large properties. At the top of the rise, there are two or three houses on the right. As the road leveled out a little, but still going uphill, I walked past a large pasture pasture on the left, the makai side. At the gate to this pasture, during the day, there is usually a teenage boy there with a table selling fruit, and jars of honey and coffee. Then there is a short but steeper climb with a few more houses to the right, and then jungle, with another pasture on the left that usually has sheep and a donkey. Past a dirt road on the left that may be someone’s driveway, there is more jungle on both sides of the road. Suddenly, there is a house on the left with a dirt road that goes off at an angle from Kama’oa Road. Beyond this road is a subdivision of lots that are about 1/2 acre each. This is the upper section of Mark Twain Estates.
The road that angles off from Kama’oa Road is called Lewalani Street, and goes down past one house and then another road branches off to the left and heads straight down the hill towards the ocean. This street is called Amepela Road. This is the path I take. It starts out as a fairly good gravel road, but after a few hundred feet, it begins to get a bit rougher – with larger rocks and holes. Every three or four hundred feet, there is a road branching off to the right. I pass four of these roads, all the while glad that I had my flashlight to assist the moonlight to light my way down this road as it gets rougher and rockier as it descends down hill. About a quarter mile from Kama’oa road, the first dirt road that heads off to the left is Palaoa Road.
After leaving the paved road of Kama’oa Road, I have walked past maybe a dozen homes. Some of them are quite nice, others are not. Most of the 1/2 acre lots in this subdivision are still christmas berry tree jungles. Even though I know the street names, I also know not to look for a street sign, as they are few and far between, meaning, not many intersections have a sign of any kind.
The walk along Palaoa Road is a gentle down sloping dirt/rocky road that makes me glad to have my flashlight as well as the moonlight. About two hundred feet along this road, is Mankani Nalu Road that goes off at a 90 degree angle to the right. On the corner of Palaoa and Mankani is a home with well manicured lawns and gardens.
A few more hundred feet and I come to Ahi Road that angles back to the right. Following Palaoa Road on through the jungle, I eventually come to Holowai Street on the right. This is about a quarter of a mile from where I first turned on to Palaoa road, and Palaoa Road turns about 60 degrees to the right and heads down the hill.
Turning right onto Holowai, I come to my gate about 125 feet down the road. It is 10 minutes after 8:00PM. It has taken me 1 hour and 20 minutes to walk from the Chinese Store in Waiohinu. In the dark.
To be continued . . .
TTFN
TropicalCastaway 