Another Warm Welcome

It was ten minutes after five when the plane took off from Oakland.

The direction was west. – into the setting sun.

The sunset was spectacular – not just because of it’s duration (over two hours) but also because it produced a band above the horizon starting with a dark red-almost a purple – to a yellowish orange. In between, multiple shades of red and orange were on display. It was suspended in time as it it were. Flying directly west tends to do that. A kind of a time machine – chasing the past, but never quite catching up. My cell phone battery is dead. I cannot take a picture! No place to plug it in. But this photo is one I took on a previous trip that shows a similar sunset.

I was heading to Kona, and Na’alehu, once again.

Arriving at the airport in Phoenix, just a few minutes before 1 pm, I left my two suitcases – stuffed to the gills with tools I would need in Hawaii, both weighing well over 45 lbs but under the 50 lb limit – with the skycap at the curb. Arriving at the TSA security checkpoint to find no line at all.

As I sit at the gate waiting to board the plane, a woman approaches me and asks, “Do you have 5 minutes to answer a survey?” I immediately thought of that line in the song “Uneasy Rider” by Charlie Daniels that goes: “And I didn’t bother to tell the durn fool that I sure as hell didn’t have anyplace else to go…” so why not? The survey was about my experience at the airport so far today, along with the typical demographics –

What time did I get to the airport, Did someone drop me off? or did I use public transport? How long did it take to get through security? Did I buy my ticket on line? how long ago? On a scale of 1-5, how would I rate the comfort at the gate waiting area? How would I rate the cleanliness of the airport? And then the kicker – How would I rate the City of Phoenix’s response to keeping people safe from the corona virus?

“Well, now you’ve gone and gotten a bit political with that question,” I said. She smiled – at least, I think she did. It looked like her eyes smiled. I could not see her mouth, as she was wearing a mask to cover her mouth and her nose as per Federal Guidelines.

I continued, “That would be like asking how well the City of Phoenix is protecting the citizens from the ravages of the Apache Indians.” She actually laughed out loud. I explained, “All things considered, I guess the city is doing everything that can be done.”

She thanked me for helping her with the survey and wished me a good afternoon. I watched her as she walked out into the crowded hallway where “social distancing” was a pipe dream, and she was turned down by four other people to participate in her survey. I thought back about the qualifying demographic questions she asked: My age group, education level, number of flights I had taken in the last 12 months, did they all originate in Phoenix as round trips, what is my current destination, how long will I be gone, and then she asked – “Did you come to the airport straight from Scottsdale?”

I was wearing a pair of black jeans, a gray tee shirt, and old tennis shoes. Nothing that would indicate that I was from Scottsdale. I wanted to ask her how she knew I was from Scottsdale, and if she found people to be less receptive than usual to participate in her survey since the pandemic, but she disappeared in the crowd.

From the number of people in the walkway, I would think that the reports that people are not traveling as much because of the pandemic are not fully accurate – but yet – as we drive to the airport, there were a dozen or so American Airlines airplanes parked off to the side of the airport with covers over the engines. As we taxiied to take off in Oakland, there were another 16 or so from Southwest, Alaska, and others.

It is getting darker – the light is fading outside the plane window and the sunset band that extends all the way across the horizon is a darker shade; but it is still there.

The flight from Phoenix to Oakland was totally full – every seat was occupied – and yet, the idea of “social distancing” was still stressed – such hypocracy! The flight from Oakland to Kona is less than 1/2 full. “Good afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen. Your flight number 1286 from Oakland to Kona is expected to be less than 1/2 full” a gate agent announced over the intercom. “So there will be plenty of room for you to observe social distancing of 6 feet while on board.” Then as we were getting ready to board, a different gate agent reminded us, “Every passenger is limited to one small carry on and one smaller personal item that will fit under the seat in front of you” she announced over the loudspeaker. “women with a large purse will need to condense their items and we will be happy to check your oversized bags here at the gate to your final destination.”

Why?

Why the limits?

Especially if the plane is less than 1/2 full?

There should be plenty of space in the overhead bins.

Control!

Because those are the rules! And she is going to make sure that every one else follows the rules! No logic involved. No logic allowed! No room for thinking! Just do as you are told!

The sunset band is shrinking. Very slowly, but it is getting smaller, and as it fades, it is getting a darker shade of red and orange. I wish my cell phone had some charge in it so I could take a picture.

They have handed out the Agriculture form. We have filled them out. One per family. Declare what fruits and vegetables or agricultural items you are bringing into Hawaii. . . or else! Again, I wonder if anyone ever looks at them after the airlines collect them and turn them in to the State Government. Even with the pandemic, the shear volume would be staggering.

I felt the engines decrease power and the plane has begun the slow descent as we approach the islands. Soon we will be landing and I will have to deal with the bureaucracy. I have my negative covid test results and my QR code from the Hawaii Travels website so it should be fairly simple.

It is dark as we land in Kona. Really dark. The few lights on in the terminal do not quite reach out to the plane, but there is just enough light on the portable ramp for us to see to exit the plane. The terminal looks deserted. Stanchions with those retractable ribbons direct one path only from the plane into the central area of the once upon a time welcoming terminal. Now it is unwelcoming and forbidding. A mechanical voice says, “Have your government issued ID, your QR code from the Hawaii Travels website, and your negative covid test available.” Gone are the days of Aloha, and a lei greeting!

Check point number 1 – government ID checked.

Check point number 2 – QR code scanned into a tablet by a Hawaii government worker.

Check point number 3 – Negative covid test results verified -or at least looked at.

Check point number 4 – A teenager in a surgical costume complete with surgical mask, blue plastic gloves, clear plastic face shield stands behind a folding table. He probably even had on those paper shoe coverings as well to complete the outfit. On the table is a clipboard with a stack of papers attached, each one a duplitate of the one on top – a form to be filled out – Name, address, email address, phone number, where are you staying while in Hawaii, any symptoms of any type of illness, names of all those in your group. I fill out the form. The teenager proceeds to hand me a swab for me to do a covid test. After twisting the cotton swab in both nostrils, he tells me that I may now go. If the test is positive, they will call me within 24 hours and I will have to come back to the airport for further testing and possibly quarantine. I didn’t bother to tell “the durn fool” that my cell phone battery was dead and would stay that way for the next two or three days – on purpose.

As I walked away, I wondered if anyone could remember when you were greeted in Hawaii with a flower lei and a slight peck on the cheek! Instead, I recall the third voyage of Captain Cook to the Hawaiian Islands where he and his group were greeted with rocks and Captain Cook was killed in Kealakekua Bay.

Play it Again, Sam

Well, I’ve done it again. I’m going back to Hawai’i. So, I need another covid test. Back to the Walgreens on line site to book an appointment.

I got this email:

Hi David,

You’re eligible for COVID-19 drive-thru testing based on the information you provided under current state and federal guidelines.

We’ve requested a lab order on your behalf and we’ll email you a confirmation with appointment details shortly.

THIS IS NOT A CONFIRMATION. Please do not go to the testing location until you receive the confirmation email.

Edit appointment ›
Cancel appointment ›

Seek medical attention immediately if you experience severe shortness of breath, continuous pain or pressure in the chest or persistent fever greater than 102°F. If at any time you feel like you are having a medical emergency, please call 911.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Then later that same day, I received this email:

Hi David,

Here are your COVID-19 drive-thru testing appointment details
BRING THIS EMAIL TO YOUR APPOINTMENT.

Confirmation #:

sgYZkTQWz7

Date: Saturday, January 16, 2021

Time: 04:45 PM

TEST: RAPID DIAGNOSTIC TEST (ID NOW

________________________________________________________________________________

So, at the appointed time on the 16th, I showed up at Walgreens. This time, it was set up in the parking lot away from the drive thru. There were two guys standing under the tent/canopy talking. Both had masks on. I drove up. Signs all over saying to stay in the car, and keep windows rolled up tight. The younger one motioned for me to roll down my window.

I rolled down the window. While standing 15 feet away, he asked me if I had an appointment for a covid test. I said “Yes”.

He said, “Roll your window up and place your drivers license against the window.” – I did. He came over to the car and read my drivers license info through the window glass.

He looked through his box of files and found my info. He handed this to the other guy and motioned for me to drive on a few more feet. I did. The other guy had a pile of little blue trays about 6″ wide, and 10″ long, and 4″ tall. He placed a piece of paper in a half roll into the top tray with the two ends ot the paper sticking up on both sides of the tray. Then he placed a paper envelope about 2″ wide and 5″ long into the loop created by the paper. He then placed the tray on a cart, and motioned for me to roll down my window. He stayed 15 feet away from the car.

He asked, “What is your name and birthdate?” Kind of dumb since the other guy just got that info off my driver’s license less than 10 feet away, but, OK. I’ll play your little memory game.

“David Andersen. Eleven, five, fifty six.” I said. He looked down at the paper the other guy had given him and nodded. Great. I passed! He then told me to roll up my window. I did. He pushed the cart over to the car right next to my window and retreated 15 feet away before motioning for me to roll down my window.

He then proceeded to tell me to lift the paper roll from the tray. Open the little envelope from one end – kind of like a large bandaid paper envelope – and take out the swab. Grab the swab with the cotton sticking up and twirl the cotton part around in one nostril for 15 seconds. Then do the same in the other nostril. He would time me. he looked down at his watch and said, “OK, GO!”

I twirled. Right nostril first. Fifteen seconds, later he said, “OK! Now the other one.”

I twirled in the left nostril. Fifteen seconds later he said, “OK. Nowplace the swab back in the envelope with the cotton in first. Then place it back into the blue tray.”

I did just that. He said, “You’ll receive an email within 24 hours with the result.”

I gave him a thumbs up and pushed the cart away from the car. He said, “Now roll your window back up”

I drove home.

Less than six hours later, I got this in an email:

Your results are available!
You can now access the results of the lab testing you did with Walgreens. You will need to enter your date of birth to confirm your identity.
Patient Name: David Andersen
Requisition Number: 61217763
VIEW RESULTS  
Walgreens has partnered with PWNHealth to provide you with convenient access to diagnostic lab testing.

Pressing the VIEW RESULTS button, I got my results:

Test Result Details

ORDER #61217763SPECIMEN COLLECTION DATEJanuary 16, 2021RESULTS RECEIVED DATEJanuary 17, 2021TESTSCOVID-19 LAB PDFPATIENT FRIENDLY PDF

EDUCATIONAL INFO

CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION: ABOUT CORONAVIRUS DISEASE 2019 (COVID-19)WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: CORONAVIRUS DISEASE (COVID-19) OUTBREAKFREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONSSummaryCOVID-19COVID-19NegativeYour results do not detect SARS-CoV-2. A negative test means that the virus was not present in the sample you provided.

Your results suggest you were negative at the time of testing.*

*Although the possibility is low, a false negative result should be considered if you have had recent exposure to the virus along with symptoms consistent with COVID-19.

______________________________________________________________________________________

GREAT! Good to go! Now I need to go to the “Safe Travels Hawaii” website, register, upload a recent photo of myself and the pdf of my negative test results. Then whthin 24 hours of traveling, I need to go online to this same site and answer their health questions – Are you currently experiencing . . . Have you recently come into contact with . . . . etc. . Then, I should get a bar code that I will need to show them when I get to Hawaii.

Welcome to the new world! Our new existence. It won’t be long until we will be required to do this in order to go to the grocery store.

Pros and Cons

Screen Shot 2018-12-19 at 9.26.26 PM.png

I was reading about another couple’s transition to being expatriot Americans and living in a foreign country. They seem to have gone through the same or similar steps as we have – they have gone traveling to interesting places with an eye out for answering the question, “Would we want to live here full time?” They were faced with so many different choices, that they sat down and made a list in descending order of importance, their top criteria. Top of the list was being near or on the beach. They wanted to actually hear the waves crashing on the shore or lapping on the beach..

So, what is your perfect beach house? What do you think about when someone mentions going away to live on a tropical island? Or when asked what you would do if stranded on a desert island, what image comes to mind?

Mele Kalikimaka Hawaiian Christmas Card Hawaii Christmas image 0

Maybe, something like the images above? Or maybe something like this:

Or even this?

cottages on body of water

Whatever your image of the perfect tropical beach bungalo may be, you picture it right on the beach. Ocean front properties – properties right on the beach – are always the perfect dream choice! There is nothing like waking up in the morning and walking directly out on to a sandy beach, between a couple of palm trees, and straight into the ocean. Unless of course, the wind is blowing, and then that sand hitting your face actually hurts. And there is no way to keep the sand out of the cottage. It is in everything. And the salt spray has eaten or corroded every metal surface around. The door knob crumbles in your hand due to the constant corrosion, and your light fixtures and your kitchen appliances have to be replaced every other year because the salt simply eats them away. Or there is a storm and you are up all night trying to keep the storm from entering the house! Suddenly, your image isn’t so perfect anymore.

For a week or two vacation, when someone else is responsible for the maintenance, a shack on the beach is ideal. But when the storms come up, maybe you would prefer to be somewhere else.

These thoughts were all in mind as we searched for that perfect spot. There were some constants that kept coming up during the search. The first and foremost – this is going to be expensive. Ocean front, beach front lots on Kauai start at a million dollars and go up for a postage stamp sized lot. The same with St Thomas in the Virgin Islands. Mexico has some beautiful spots and affordable locations. Near Todos Santos, north of Cabo San Lucas, there is a beach on the Pacific Ocean that is fantastic. We stumbled across a couple of lots north of Mazatlan, and even along the gulf of California north of Puerto Penasco towards El Golfo. But they are all still in Mexico. And we would always be gringos with lots of money and a target on our back for schemes to get that money; which really isn’t too bad, except when you are in one of those situations and the only way out is lots of money, but you don’t have any, and no one believes you. Others do it, but Mexico might not be for us after all. So, second is security. The Bahamas, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic are fantastic, but every house, every building has bars on the windows to keep out the unwanted. Thinking in terms of a place that is left alone periodically, we didn’t want a place where every time we come, we have to replace half or more of what we had left there. But we also did not want to live in a guarded compound.

I am sure, that we are not alone in this endeavour. Many others are looking for that perfect place, and creating their own lists of priorities. And I realize that others’ requirements and priorities are not the same as mine. In fact, I am finding that my requirements and priorities are not the same as my wife’s.

So, . . .after a day of volcanoes and waterfalls, we got out our list of properties that we had compiled from the internet, and went looking. Again, we gravitated to Ocean View Ranchos – or at least, I did!

Being right on the beach has it’s advantages, and it’s disadvantages. Being just a bit back from the beach relieves some of these disadvantages, and retains the advantages of having an ocean view. And what an ocean view! That is why it is called Ocean View. 270 degrees of ocean view – unobstructed in most cases. That is what brought me back to Ocean View Ranchos. We had made an offer on a lot at the bottom of the Ranchos after our last trip, but it didn’t go through. The owner wanted more than I was willing to pay!

My list had numerous lots to look at. First on the list was one on the SE corner of Menehune and Kamaina. Disappointing to say the least! A thirty foot deep hole in the lava and the lots next door on all 4 sides were all up on cliffs. No ocean view here – explains the low price.

But there was this really cool lava tunnel that looked interesting. Unfortunately, having no flashlight, and not really being dressed for exploring, all I could do was peer in from the entrance.

The second was a jumble of large jagged boulders with the far back 150 feet of the three acre lot being higher than the rest. Wow! what a view from here. Wow! what a chore, just climbing to get here. I can imagine the task to making it possible to access this portion of the lot.

The third on Poha street sloped up from the road to the back of the lot which was about 25 feet higher than the road, and it all faced the ocean. 180 degree views showed the cliffs and windmills at KaLea (South Point) and the small cinder cones at the bottom of Road to the Sea up the coast towards Kona.There was some skraggly grass an a few scrawny shrubs growing amongst the lave, but it was mostly the smooth type lave – the kind they refer to as pahoehoe. In the front south corner, there were three small ohia trees – each about six to eight feet tall. What I wanted was the view, and what a view there was! I was ecstatic! This was it! I really liked this lot! A voice penetrated my visions and dreams – “All this lava is ugly!”

This statement from my wife startled me. It simply did not register.

“What!?” I asked. “You never said that before!”

“Well, it is!”

“So, you really don’t like this area?”

“No.” she said, “Not really”

‘”You never said that when we made the offer on the lot on Lanikai, three streets down” I think to myself. “So, why are we here then?” I ask.

“Just part of the adventure, I guess.” she says and shrugs her shoulders as she turns and walks back down to the car.

AAAAARRGHHHHH!!!!

Leilani Estates

On May 3, 2018 Kilauea Volcano erupted in the East Rift Zone area outside the Volcanos National Park boundaries. A series of fissures developed along a fault line between the towns of Volcano and Pahoa. Most of them just bubbled up spitting out enough lava to cover a few acres and then quit, but there were a few that came forth with a vengence. There were some 24 different fissures identified and fissure 8 initially was the most active. Then fissure 8 showed signs of relenting as fissure 22 put on a show of shooting lava to 160 feet high.

Fissure 22 lava
Fissure 22 – photo by US Geologic Survey

Then , towards the end of May, fissure 22 subsided and fissure 8 opened up to build a spatter cone over 100 feet tall.

Fissure 8 spatter cone and lava river

The lava flowed from fissure 7 and 8 (which had combined) to form a river that reached a half mile wide and extended through Vacationlands and consumed Kapoho Bay – extending the shore line over a mile out into the ocean. In the process, this eruption created over 800 new acres of land and destroyed over 700 homes.

Other than searching for real estate, we wanted -OK, I wanted – to see the lava coming out of the ground and flowing into the ocean. I felt that it would not be often to be able to witness a volcano in the process of erupting and didn’t want to miss this potentially once in a lifetime experience. We booked tickets to return to the big island and scheduled a helicopter tour over the volcano.

We left the Hilo airport and flew down to the SE corner of the island and then out over the ocean. We followed the coast line heading west and could see two distinct columns of white/gray smoke/steam in the distance. One marked the location of still active fissure 8, and the other was at the shore line where the lava was spilling out into the ocean.

There was a huge semi-circle in the water surrounding the area where the lava was entering the sea. Almost a perfect bouy line but without the bouys showing the changes to the water resulting from the lava. The ocean outside the circle was a beautiful dark blue, and inside was a sickly brown and sludgy green. White clouds of steam were billowing into the air for miles along the shore.

Then the helicopter followed the brown fluid lava river as it snaked across the island back to the spatter cone at fissure 8. I don’t know how long this river was as it traveled to cross the 10 to 20 miles from shore where the fissure erupted. As we hovered near the fissure, the bright red and orange lava was boiling out of the ground and created a bright red/orange river for several hundred yards before it changed color as it was cooling to the brown/black of the fluid river of lava.

As I looked closer at the river, I could see a red line at the banks on each side. This corner of the island was – and still is – a tropical green paradise. Now it has a black/brown swath cut through it perhaps a half mile wide with the vegetation on both sides either burnt or brown and dead for 200 to 300 yards. The contrast between the lush green area and the lava zone is distinctive and truly awesome. Pictures and words cannot possibly describe the amazing power of this lava flow. Nothing man can do will stop it, or contain it.

Back on the mainland and in other places in the world, the way the media has portrayed this event makes people think that the entire island is on fire, and everyone has been evacuated. In reality, over 95% of the island is unaffected – life goes on as before – except of course, for those whose homes have been destroyed.

Satellite image of lava flow in June 2018.

After circling the devastation caused by this eruption, we headed north to the east coast of Hawai’i. This area of the island is lush and green, with tall tropical jungle vegitation growing everywhere there is not someone to cut it back. There are a number of waterfalls in this area, and we flew along the coast and were able to see a few.

After the helicopter landed at Hilo International Airport, we drove into Hilo and went to visit a few of these waterfalls we had seen from the air. Our first stop was at Rainbow falls, located not to far from downtown Hilo. Legends and stories abound of the expliots of King Kamehameha here, but the falls are truly beautiful to see.

Upstream from Rainbow Falls a few hundred yards, there is a section of the river known as “Boiling Pots”. We got there by driving through a subdivision about a quarter of a mile. There is a small park with a couple of picnic tables, restrooms, and a large green lawn between the parking lot and a viewing area where you can see why they call this “Boiling Pots”. During the rainy season, these pots truly are boiling. Apparently people have died trying to swin here, so they warn you to stay out of the river. It would be quite a hike to get down to the river in the first place, so not many people disregard this advice. But there always are the few.

From the park, we drove up towards the mountain further inland and came across a couple of bridges. We would park at one end or the other of each of these bridges, so that we could walk back onto the bridge and look upstream and down and saw many other waterfalls.

Passport

I found this on Linked-in this morning:

‘Vaccine passport’ needed to fly?

Share

By Jake Perez, Editor at LinkedIn News

Updated 1 day ago  12/29/2020

While coronavirus vaccines are distributed around the world, a Geneva-based nonprofit is teaming up with airlines and The World Economic Forum to create a “vaccine passport” app to ease air travel during the pandemic. They say the digital credentials can also be used at stadiums, movie theaters and offices. According to developers, users will receive a private QR code once test results or proof of vaccination are uploaded. IBM has developed a similar app, Digital Health Pass, that lets companies and venues customize what they require for entry to a physical location.

I anticipate that soon we will need to have this to go to the grocery store, to church, to school, to restaurants, movie theatres, the post office – basically every time you go out your front door. The modern day “Show me your papers”

Currently, we see people standing on the street corners with all kinds of signs asking for help. The new sign will read something like this: “NO CELL PHONE. NO COVID APP. NEED HELP!”

Sept 2018 Return from Hawaii

After spending a week in Hawai’i in September of 2018, we were scheduled to return on a flight out of Kona at 10 PM on United Airlines. We arrived at the airport around 7:30 PM and returned the rental car. The shuttle dropped us off at the terminal and we proceeded through the TSA gauntlet and out towards the gates. As we passed from the central patio area in the terminal where the shops and the restaurant are located into the section for gates 1 – 4, we passed through an agriculture checkpoint.

When you arrive in Hawaii, you are given a form (one per family) that you must fill out while still on the airplane. The flight attendants pass them out (but they do not provide pens or pencils) and you indicate if you are bringing any agriculture products into the state. . . anything such as fruits, vegetables, seeds, plants, soil, – the form even asks if you might possibly have soil on your shoes from a farm or agriculture location – need to be declared. Theoretically, once you have declared these items, someone from the State Agriculture Department will inspect them and if they are safe for the ariculture of Hawaii, you may bring them in. If not, they will confiscate them. ( just a word to the wise – they confisgate everything) If you do not declare them, then it is a major violation and you get fifty lashes with a wet noodle, or a ten thousand dollar fine, or six months in jail, or any combination of the three. I have yet to see any Agriculture inspector at Kona when we arrive, but I have seen them in Honolulu.

I tell you this, because I am aware that Hawaii stresses the need to protect their fragile environment. What I was not aware of, was the need to protect the environment of everywhere else. But apparently there is. As I said, when we went into the gate area, there was an agriculture inspector there and we were told to put all our bags through their conveyor/scanner. Apparently, you cannot take any fruits of vegetables with you from Hawaii. Anything that you had purchased at the duty free shops in the airport did not need to be checked, because when you purchased it, part of the purchase price was funneled to the state as payola. . . no, wait, I didn’t say that out load did I? It has been disinfected – yeah, . . . that’s it.

A guava as found on Hawai’i

Anyway, as we passed through this checkpoint, we had two apples that we intended to eat on the trip back home along with four guavas. Major violation! They took these away from us and gave us a lecture about the dangers of infecting agriculture. OK, Alright, already! Take the damned fruit. Add it to your stash that you have taken from other passengers. Spare me the lecture! My wife was not so forgiving. She wanted to argue the point.

As we sit at the gate, I notice that there is a line of people standing at a little building next to the gate openings. My wife is giving the agriculture guys the evil eye! The announcer says over the loudspeaker that our flight has been delayed for an hour due to mechanical difficulties. Now I want one of my apples back for something to eat during the next hour’s wait. No such luck! So we sit and we wait. The line at the little building grows longer. My wife and I discuss the lack of information, and she suggests that we go back out to the front through the security and check with the people at the check in counter to see if they have any better information. I suggest that I stay there with the luggage and she goes out, that way it will be easier to come back through TSA without luggage. She agrees and leaves.

5 minutes after she has gone, the announcer on the loudspeaker tells us that our flight has been cancelled. We need to go out to the check-in desk where they will give us a voucher for a taxi in to Kona, a room at a hotel in Kona, and a meal voucher along with booking us on the next flight out in the morning. People began scrambling like roaches when you turn on the light. I just sit there. I have two rolling carry-on suitcases, my backpack, my wife’s purse, and her computer bag with her computer. I gather them all together, putting some on top of others so that I can drag them out to the street. As I struggle towards the front of the airport, an agent for the airlines comes up to me and asks, “Are you Mr Andersen?”

“Yes” I reply.

“Your wife asked me to come and get you and help you with the luggage. “

I get out past security and meet up with the wife, and thank the girl from the airlines, who leaves. My wife tells me that she approached the front counter and there was no one else in line. The airline employee greets her and asks how can she help her. My wife explains that she was wondering about the status of our flight. The agent says, ” Let me check that for you.” Then she continues, “Oh. it looks like that flight has been cancelled.”

“Oh,” my wife replies, “Well, my husband and I were scheduled to be on that flight, so what now?”

The agent says, “We will book you on the next available flight, . . . which is tomorrow at 12:45 PM. That means, we will issue you a voucher for a room in Kona, a taxi ride into Kona and back to the airport in the morning, and a meal voucher for breakfast in the morning.”

“Where is your husband?” she asks.

“He’s at the gate with our luggage.” my wife explains. “Should I go get him?”

“Oh, that’s alright.” the agent responds, “we’ll send someone to help him.”

Then the agent makes a quick phone call and proceeds to print out the vouchers and the boarding passes for tomorrow’s flight.

By the time my wife tells me all this, there is a long line at the counter, so we decide that we had better get a cab while they are still available, and go out to the curb. Then my wife sees the Agriculture inspector walking out towards the parking lot and hurries over to him. She demands her fruit back. He just looks at her disgustedly and sets down the two large bags he is carrying and sorts through the bag until she points out the two apples and the guavas. She comes over in glorious triumph!

There is one cab, way down at the end. I stay there with the luggage and my wife goes down and talks with the cab driver. They get in the cab and drive down to me. We load the luggage in the back, and off we go into Kona.

King Kamehameha Marriot Hotel in Kona – front entrance.

We get to the King Kamehameha hotel, right on the shore in the bay, and check in. It is almost midnight, and the lobby is empty. As we are checking in, another couple arrive. They tell us that they were also on our flight. We go up to our room – facing kind of away from the ocean and more towards town, but whatever, we just want to go to bed.

In the morning, we walk through the hotel where they have a display of paintings and a history of Hawaii. Then through an ABC store ( kind of like a corner convenience store similar to a 7-11, but with more tourist souveniers) and out on to the roadway alongside the sea wall at the edge of the bay.

Waves splashing over the sea wall in Kona

We go down the sidewalk a ways to a restaurant and stop in there to use our meal vouchers for breakfast.

After breakfast, we become tourists and walk along the road next to the shops. Then on down the road past the Kona Inn and then out to the bay at the back of the Inn.

Historic Kona Inn
Looking across Kailua Bay from the Kona Inn to the Marriot King Kamehameha Hotel

As we head back towards the hotel, we walk along the sea wall with the waves splashing against the wall and spraying over onto the road. I climb up on the wall. Looking down, I see something in the water. It is a large turtle.

Large ocean turtle in Kailua Bay
Two turtles

I watch it for a while as it washes back and forth with the waves right next to shore. Then it swims away from shore a ways and I look a bit further out into the bay, and there is another one.

After watching the turtles a while, we go back to the hotel, get our luggage and go back pout to the airport and off we go. Back to the real world.

November 2020

I sit and I wait.

It was a rush to get to the airport so that I could sit and wait.

It was a hassle at the check-in kiosk. I thought that the purpose of the kiosks was so that you didn’t have to wait in line. There was a line waiting for the kiosks. I also thought that the purpose of the kiosks was to free up the employees by allowing you to do it all yourself without the employee. There was an employee directing people in how to line up properly, one employee performing IT fixes on the kiosks that were not working properly, and two employees helping people at the kiosks. Maybe if they got rid of the kiosks and put these four people behind a standard check-in counter, there would be enough clerks helping passengers that there would be no line. What a novel idea. The instructions for using the kiosks told you to slide your passport or boarding pass into the machine face down when in reality, you need to hold it under a little red light underneath the slide portion of the machine. Another passenger had to show me this as the employees were all busy doing other things. After printing my checked luggage tag for my one checked bag, the instructions tell you that you are to put the luggage tag on the bag yourself, so that an employee did not need to do this. How? How do I get the paper off the adhesive part so that it will stick together? I had to have an employee do this anyway. Despite the hassles, I got my bag checked in and now I am off to find gate A27.

I go through the security check point. Both my carry on and my “personal item” are pulled aside for additional inspection. When this happened the first few times, I would get worried. Now it is almost a given. The bottle of sugar and the smoked sausages were suspect. I have to admit, who would be taking C and H pure cane sugar from Hawaii, back to Hawaii? Does C and H still exist? I know that they no longer grow sugar in Hawaii, but I thought C and H was based out of California. One of those things that make you go Hmmmm.

At the gate, I sit and I wait. Gate 27 and Gate 29 share the same seating area. I see a plane sitting at the end of the ramp for gate 27. It does not look very big. I hope that it is just my angle.

The people for the flight to Miami leaving from Gate 29 line up. The line extends past gate 27 and down the concourse. I wonder about social distancing. They get on their plane.

I sit and I wait. A mechanical voice calls for group 1 for my flight, and about 16 people go through the gate and down the ramp towards the plane. I do not hear them call for group 2, but the call for group 3 attracts 5 people to the gate door. A crowd of 15 to 20 people are standing in a semicircle about 15 feet away from the podium at the gate, waiting. The mechanical voice calls for group 4, and no one moves. These groups are assigned by the airlines when they creat the boarding passes. Surely, they know that there are no people in group 4. But we wait. Group 5 is called and 10 to 12 people go to the podium, scan their boarding passes, go thru the door, and head down the ramp towards the plane. The gate agent leaves the podium and goes into the jetway, closing the door behind her, leaving 4 people standing at the doorway. The group of people grows to around 25 or 30 and crowds closer to the gate door. We wait. A few minutes later, the gate agent returns and scans the boarding passes of 4 people who were waiting at the door. They enter the doorway and go down the ramp as the gate agent returns to her position behind the podium. We wait. She is furiously punching keys on the keyboard of her terminal and the mechanical voice says, “We would like to welcome group 6 to board American Airlines flight 663 to Kona.” Everyone presses forward and I get in line behind 9 or 10 other passengers. It is my turn, and I go to scan my boarding pass on my phone screen and the gate agent informs me that I also need a picture ID. Huh? What? I don’t remember doing that before. Whatever. I stand at the scanner as I put away my phone after scanning my boarding pass. I search for my ID. It is not in my wallet. I find it in my shirt pocket where I put it after printing my luggage tag. I show it to the gate agent and everyone behind me stands and waits. I go down the jetway, and straight on to the plane. It looks empty. I find my seat, and wait. The plane is about 1/3 full when they close the door and start the safety briefing.

The plane leaves the gate, taxi’s to the runway and immediately heads off down the runway! We are off! 6 hours and 27 minutes to Kona!

I sleep.

Somewhere over the Pacific Ocean, I slide up the window shade. The ocean stretches out for miles. There are a few clouds out on the horizon, but as I look down, all I see is water. I wonder what it would be like to be on a sailboat in the middle of all that water for three weeks. We approach the clouds. They look like cotton balls that have been spilled out onto the bathroom floor.

We fly between Maui and the Big Island as we approach Kona, and begin to descend as we fly along the coast of Hawai’i. The landing is soft and smooth and we taxi to the gate. I gather up my cell phone, my book, and stuff them into my backpack and head to the front of the plane. Kona does not have jetways. Getting on and off the planes, you must walk from the gate, across the tarmack to a mobile ramp that leads up to the dooor of the plane. The reverse is true for when you arrive. There are cones that direct passengers to the appropriate gate and don’t just wander around the tarmack. Today, there are a dozen people stationed among the cones “helping” the passengers stay within the boundaries of the cones. Once inside the gates, the terminals appear deserted. There are lanes identified to direct you to certain checkpoints. The first of which is to verify that you have registered on line with the Hawaii Department of Transportation and have received a bar code pattern for you and this trip. It is really quite simple, the form asks you a few questions about your health, and where you are staying and how they can track you – everything short of imbedding an RFID tag under your skin. I had tried to register a week before traveling, but you are supposed to do it within 24 hours so that the information about your health is current. I could not complete it because I was too early and didn’t remember to go back and complete it, so they had people there to assist travelers in completing the form. After getting the bar code, I needed to have it visible on my cell phone so I could show it to the person at the next check point 15 feet away, along with proof of my negative covid-19 test within 72 hours of traveling. I checked out and was free to go on my way.

I passed an area cordoned off with those metal barriers that look like bicycle racks where travelers who did not have proof of their negative test were sent for further processing. What that meant, I do not know.

I went out of the terminal and into the fresh air. The psychological difference was amazing. Inside, while passing through their gauntlet, I felt depressed, oppressed, inferior, suspect, etc, but once out of that environment, I felt truly free.

I collectred my checked bag and got on the shuttle to the car rental facility. Check in was relatively quick and easy, and they asked to see the proof of my negative covid test. My car was in space A28 – it was a Chevrolet Malibu. The car in space was not a Chevy Malibu, it was a full size Nissan SUV. Back to the office. “Wait here, sir. I’ll bring up your car to you.”

Through the gate at the street and around the corner to the Highway, and I’m off on another Hawai’i adventure.

Ocean View

2017

Late in 2017, we made a trip to Kona to continue with our journey towards a vacation home/ retirement home/shack on the beach. We met with a realtor from Hilo and toured some interesting locations. We looked at a three acre parcel north and west of Ocean View Ranchos, a sprawling subdivision in a vast lava field with three acre lots and fantastic ocean views. Unfortunately, the week before we arrived, someone had made an offer on this property and the realtor was not keen on us submitting a backup offer. This lot is about 2 miles below the highway 11 along a rough dirt/gravel/rocky road called Road to the Sea. This road goes all the way down to the ocean, but it requires a 4 wheel drive vehicle further down. Also, this lot does not have a deeded right of way access to it. You would need to cross two other one acre lots to get to it. This lot would require extensive bulldozing to create a building site out of the Aha lava. Not ideal.

We looked at property on the other side of the Volcano National Park, nearer to Hilo in Hawaiian Paradise Park (HPP), Leilani Estates, Hawaiian Acres, and Orchidlands Estates. While these lots and this area is on the wetter side of the island and has more vegetation and jungle, most of these lots have no view of the ocean. Not what we had in mind. An ocean front lot in this area would be so far out of our price range to make it an impossibility.

This brought us back to the subdivision/town called Ocean View. We looked at a couple of lots in the area above the highway, or the mauka side meaning away from the ocean in what is called HOVE or Hawaiian Ocean View Estates. These lots are one acre each and have variety of vegetation/trees. We looked at one home that had a neighboring lot that looked like the city dump. It seemed to us that this was pretty common here.

This led us to the Ranchos which are three acre lots and below the highway, or on the makai side meaning towards the ocean. The terrain of most of these lots is mainly rough lava. Like HOVE, the Ranchos has paved streets and power poles at the streets with electricity and telephone available.

Ocean View Hawaii – The Ranchos

But no water. These lots would all require a catchment system where the rain water is collected from the roof and storred in a tank, Then it is filtered and pumped into the house for use in washing, bathing, landscaping, gardening, maybe cooking, but not for drinking. It would require additional purification like boiling before it would be suitable for drinking. This area of Hawaii gets an average of 2″ of rain per month. Some months, more, some months less. In the months when there is little to no rain, people would have water delivered in large tanker trucks, much like I saw them doing in Rocky Point Mexico. Two inches of rain is not a lot of water, but there are many homes in this subdivision that seem to be able to get by with this system. There are even a couple of homes here with swimming pools, however, most every home has very limited landscaping.

What I find appealing about Ocean View – both parts, the upper section as well and especially the Ranchos – is the view. Most every lot has a fantastic ocean view. And that is what I am looking for. I keep picturing in my mind, the home where John Robie (aka Cary Grant) lives in the 1955 movie “To Catch a Thief” with Grace Kelly.

John Robie’s Villa
Lunch with John Robie from Alfred Hitchcock’s “To Castch a Thief”
“Mother will just love it up here” from Alfred Hitchcock’s “To Catch a Thief

We made an offer on a lot down in the lower sections of the subdivision and returned to the main land to wait for the response. I didn’t offer full price, but I did offer cash. The seller said no. He wanted full price and cash. No counter offer. Just full cash pricing. Kind of put me off. I’m not sure if I was relieved or disappointed, but I decided to look a little further and went back onto the internet , located a few more likely candidates, and booked tickets to return to the Island. . . but for more reason than just looking at property.

Kileaua is one of the most active volcanos on earth. The home of Pele, the Goddess of Fire, Kileauea has been continuously erupting from 1983 to 2018. In May of 2018, Kileauea opened up on what is known as the East Rift Zone with numerous fissures opening up. A yer or so ago, there was lava flowing through the forest in this same area towards the town of Pahoa when it stopped. This time, the lava came up in the backyards of many people in the Lailani Estates subdivision creating a new lava cone some 300 feet high with a river of molten lava flowing to the ocean hundreds of yards wide .

We decided that we might never get a better chance to witness a volcano erupting, so we booked tickets and returned to the big island in July.

Doctors and Hospitals

September 29, 2018

How do you find a doctor on the far south end of the big island of Hawaii? One that is on your Arizona health insurance network? On a Saturday morning?

Phone calls to the 800 number of the health insurance network go to an automated recording . . . “Our office hours are Monday thru Friday between the hours of 9:00 AM and 4:30 PM Eastern Standard Time. If you are calling outside these hours, please call back during regular office hours. If this is a medical emergency, hang up and dial 911.” Well, that’s no good! A search online for an urgent care center nearby yields a phone number for a Nurse Practitioner in Waiohinu who does not answer. Hmmmm! Well, I know that there is a hospital in Hilo. Also, there are a couple of urgent care centers in Hilo according to our internet search. Hilo is closer than Kona – time wise – so it is into the car and off we go.

Alanah has sliced her thumb pretty badly. While fixing breakfast, she got a knife out of the cabinet drawer in the kitchen. These knives have a cover over the blade to keep them sharp when they are in the drawer and so that you don’t accidentally cut yourself.

Not realizing that the cover was already off, because the blade is the same color as the cover, she grabbed the handle with one hand and what she thought was the cover with the other hand and pulled the knife out of the cover. . . only, there was no cover, and the knife sliced deeply into her thumb.

We drive through Na’alehu, and past Whittington Beach Park. We go past Punaluu Black Sand Beach and past the town of Pahala. Not knowing what is in Pahala, we didn’t think it wise to go cruising around a strange town hoping to find an urgent care center, so we passed by Pahala and headed up the road towards Hilo when Alanah’s phone rang. It was the host we were renting the house from. They just wanted to check that we found everything and that everything was OK. Well, . . . actually, . . . things aren’t OK. Alanah proceeded to tell her about slicing her thumb, and that we were headed in to Hilo to the hospital or an urgent care center. She said; “Don’t go to Hilo. There’s a hospital in Pahala.” So, we turn around and go back to Pahala. Sure enough, right there just off the highway is the hospital. We walk in and about fifteen minutes later, Alanah is getting her thumb stitched up.

She needs to keep it dry for the next week or so. The nurse gives her a bunch of those plastic gloves, some clean gauze, a roll of white tape, even the small scissors the doctor used. “We just have to throw it all away anyway,” she says. We finalize the paperwork and we’re out the door.

We arrive at the property around noon and begin cutting and trimming the christmas berry trees – trying to create a path in. The next door neighbor’s little dog is sitting on his porch barking. And barking. And barking. After about an hour, a woman walks up the road. “Good morning”, I said. And then correct myself, “or afternoon.”

She timidly replies “Hello”. But I can tell there is more she wants to say, but doesn’t want to be rude.

Alanah speaks up, “We’re trimming up our property.” From the startled look on her face, I wondered what she thought we were doing. We put down the clippers and the tree saw and came out onto the road towards her to intoroduce ourselves. “Hi, I’m Alanah.” my wife says. “I’m David” I add.

Our neighbor next door, Lorenzo walks up the road ang joins us.

Lorenzo and Pua

“I’m Pua” she replies. I must have given her a questioning look so she quickly adds, “like the flower”.

We exchanged the typical neighborly formalities of small talk – where we are from, where she lives, etc,. and she asks,”You bought this place?”

“Yes”, I replied. “We bought these two lots last month and have come over to see what it is that we have bought.”

“You aren’t going to spray, are you?” she asks.

Not knowing what she is referring to, I just say no. After exchanging the typical, “Well, it was nice to meet you” greetings, she turns and leaves and comments to herself, but out loud, “I’ll have to record you on the roster.” ????? What roster? She proceeds back down the road in the direction she came from and stops at the neighbor, Lorenzo’s, gate to chat with him. I’ll have to tell you about Lorenzo in a different post.

September 28, 2018

We flew United Airlines from Phoenix to Los Angeles. Then changed planes and continued on to Kona. We left Phoenix at 10:45 AM and arrived in Kona at 7:50 PM. There was a great sunset view from the plane as we crossed the Pacific Ocean above the clouds.

We picked up a rental car at Thrifty Car Rental which we had booked on line a couple of weeks ago. The car rental agencies are all located within walking distance of the terminals, but they still provide shuttle busses to pick you up from just outside the baggage claim area to their lot – less than 1/4 mile away. That was a good thing, because it was dark.

We drove to WalMart and did some grocery shopping because the best information we had was that there were not any grocery stores down near South Point and You needed to get your groceries before leaving Kona. The next stop was Home Depot to pick up some tools – a hammer, prybar, a shovel, 2 large pruning shears, a small hand shear, two folding tree saws, some closethline rope. We had come to start work.

The last time we were here, we had purchased two lots in the Mark Twain Estates subdivision outside of Na’alehu, next to the Discovery Harbor subdivision.

Currently, they were covered in a tangle of jungle – mostly what they call christmas berry trees some 25 or 30 foot tall. Our objective was to try to tame this jungle and try to get an idea of what it is that we have bought.

We drove to the Green Sands subdivision which is located between Mark Twain Estates and the town of Na’alehu. There are a couple of hundred lots with a mixture of paved and dirt roads. Each lot is about a third of an acre, and they have electricity available on power poles at the street in front of each lot. We had booked a week at a house in this subdivision through Air-B-n-B. The directions were fairly easy and we found the house relatively easily. It is a two story house, or maybe I should say it is a single level that is up on stilts 10 foot tall, with an exterior starcase and the area under the house is enclosed for storage. The house is approximately 24 by 30 and has one bedroom, a bathroom, a living room and a full kitchen. This will serve nicely for the week ahead.

It is after 10 PM – which to us is more like 2 AM in the morning. As Garth McCann would say – We’ve had a full day – even if we haven’t been chasing after lions or fighting with teenagers! https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/secondhand_lions