We said goodbye to the "cabin in the treeline" in Hawi in donning full rain gear as the wind whipped drops in our faces during our fast downhill ride. As the road flattened out to gentle undulations a few miles to the west, we noticed an amusing smokey bear sign stating "Caution: Dry Area." And literally in the blink of an eye, it looked like we had been transported to the African Serengeti, minus the major wildlife. Yep, back on the Kona side. We exchanged rain clothes for thick layers of sunscreen and pedaled on.
Our first significant stop was any cyclist's dream, the Hamakua Macadamia Nut Factory, where we ate multiple rounds of free samples of flavored mac nuts in air-conditioned bliss, skipping the SPAM variety after the first time
. Free samples of Kona coffee helped motivate us too. Our second attempt to cool off was a quick visit to the famous Hapuna Beach, where disregarded the man-o-war warning signs posted everywhere and joined hundreds of other people frolicking apparently sting-free in the gentle surf.
After that, an attempt to take some backroad short cuts to avoid the highway for a while left us stranded at a dead end conveniently located next to a small beach with some shady trees. So we did what any good and lost cyclist would do: we sat down and ate! In the meanwhile, some outgoing mainland-wanna-be-locals showed up and invited us to party with them. We had many more miles to cover that day, so we declined, but they did kindly point us down a sandy trail that connected with where we were trying to get to, the Puako Petroglyph site.
After a short but hot hike out to view the petroglyphs, one of my favorite pursuits when traveling, we knew we would have to make up time for all of the leisurely stops that day
. Fortunately, the only attractions between our location and the town of Kona were a string of mega-resorts, and let's face it, once you have seen one, you have seen them all. As we were approaching the airport a bit north of Kona, it became apparent that we were not going to make sunset on the beach with cocktail in hand back in town to celebrate our circumnavigation, as I had originally envisioned. No matter, we ditched our bikes on the shoulder of the highway and climbed up on some old lava flows to watch the sunset accompanied by Clif Bars and water, almost the same thing...or not. It felt like coming home when we checked in to the Kona Hula Girl, cleaned up, and had a late night dinner at a local pub.
The next day we did get to celebrate our accomplishment though, beginning with a surprisingly quality snorkel at crowded Kahalu'u, then watching the local kids on bodyboards loving getting pummeled in big surf while we safely sat on White Sands Beach. We joked that this was the first time we actually sat on a beach for a respectable amount of time, but in all seriousness it was quite true
. We also got to take in the last of our epic Kona sunsets (in proper fashion) from the vantage point of Don's Mai Tai bar, where apparently the mai tai was invented. We enjoyed a sampler set of mini mai tais to not so much say goodbye to the Big Island, but rather (in proper Hawaiian custom) "until we meet again..."
Little did we know then that we would almost not be leaving the Big Island the next morning... When our taxi driver pulled up to the go!Mokulele check-in stand in the hinterlands of the airport and pointed to the little 10-seater airplane for us, we instantly perceived that this was going to be a very long day. "Our bikes won't fit on that!" we said to him, and he said "I was wondering about that when you told me you were flying go!Mokulele." When we had received an email notification that we had been rebooked to this airline from a larger one, we didn't know that the size of the plane had shrunk considerably as well.
We looked into shipping the bikes separately through a cargo service, but the cost was steep and we would have to return to the Maui airport the next day to pick them up, which wouldn't bode well for our tight itinerary
. So Matt busted out his "New Yorker" skills on the phone with a rep from the airline we had originally booked with, negotiating his way up to the supervisor level to get us a free rebooking on a flight that could accommodate our bikes.
While this was clearly a win, the challenge was now being in the hinterlands of the airport with no transportation and a flight we needed to get on leaving from the main terminal. Matt grabbed the two AirCaddy bike boxes and charged ahead, yet another time we were so thankful for the genius of wheels on them. I was then left with 100+ pounds of gear split between two cumbersome and wheelless duffel bags. Cursing the invention of duffel bags and our ineptitude at packing lightly once again, I began stumbling down the sidewalk, stopping every 30 feet to drop the bags and rest.
Eventually a true savior approached in the form of the Assistant Superintendent of Security riding his majestic steed in the form of a shining white golf cart. After loading my bags in the cart, he explained that Matt had appeared so distraught that he had approached him and asked if he could be of assistance. Matt commanded him to go look for a "short and probably very unhappy looking woman" walking with some big bags and help her. By the time both of us had made it to the check-in counter, there was no way we were going to get on our flight, so we were then rebooked again for a flight to Maui later that afternoon by first flying past Maui to Honolulu, then switching planes to go back to Maui. All of this while we can see Maui across the water from the Big Island! Well, we got to know the Kona airport pretty well, and certainly had no problem making it on to our third scheduled flight of the day. Just as importantly, our bikes did too.
Circling back to Kona
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, United States
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Elaine
2012-09-21
You guys are too funny!
Not only do you have New York attitude, looks like you brought along some "chutzpah" as well.
Enjoy... and thanks for sharing
Tessie
2012-09-21
Gee, it's fun to go travelling with you two. I love it because you discuss the trials of travel right along with the wonder and beauty.
Jen
2012-09-28
Your airport escapade is hilarious! ...at least the recounted tale of it, that is. something tells me "grumpy Matt" was not so amusing to be around at the time.