Saturday, May 21, 2005
Beaten back to Earth
Morning appeared sunny thru the haze of sleep in my eyes and it wasn’t until I’d had my second cup of coffee that I noticed some gray in the skies. Unphased, I grabbed my backpack and headed out to hitch a ride into town. Much like life in/near Denver, the weather in the front range doesn’t necessarily reflect conditions up in the hills. Upon reaching Kailua-Kona the sun shone down and warmed me and filled me with high hopes. It took one ride in the back of a pick-up (it’s hard to converse thru the rear window of a truck while at high speed, but we managed) and they dropped me right where I wanted to be-the library.
Libraries are a problem for me. I can’t seem to go into one and not leave with an assortment of books. Today was no different; I left with three and was told that books I’d ordered were waiting for me at the library closer to home. Another errand to take care of today! One of the books I left with was the Hawaii Lonely Planet (a travel guide) which bolstered my good spirits as I could now plan some activities and figure out how to get around the island.
A motorcycle/scooter rental place was my next stop. My inquiries were not met with an answer I wanted. A week’s rental of a scooter is almost $300. Too expensive.
No other errands popped their heads up, so I began making my way down the coast to one of the beaches. On the way I stopped for a bit to watch the regatta. Double-hulled canoes were vigorously paddled along the shore-front in race after race. Meanwhile, people along the dock near the finish line were continually leaping into the water. Fun as it looked, I didn’t join in. Maybe next time.
Feigning hunger I stopped at a deli/snack bar I’d eaten at last weekend and got a boca burger and iced mocha. The place faced the ocean and I was able to continue watching the regatta while listening to the people behind me discuss the ins and outs of Paul McCartney and his kids and their money and wives and
It didn’t take long to flag a ride down to the beaches where I was greeted by people drinking beer, and playing volleyball, but the best sights were the masses in the ocean bodyboarding in the waves. It was awesome! I’d never seen a backflip on a bboard before. Very cool. Laid there and watched and read my book for a couple hours, coming away with lava rock and shredded shells imbedded in my back and a funny burn on my left arm and right leg.
My next ride came along in plenty of time to get to the next library before they closed and not only did I get my 2 saved books, but a couple additional books and a dvd. Which means I got back here with 6 or 7 more books. Oops. I may have a problem.
Today was a day blessedly easy to hitch. My last ride came along after only a few minutes and I found myself riding along with quite the conspiracy theorist. He blasted the use of fluoride in the water and some other chemical he said screwed him up. Claimed that Rumsfeld is a godfather in the Jewish mafia, that he (the driver) had spent a couple years in jail b/c of his unveiling work against the govt and had death threats and was hiding from the govt until recently. Hell of a wrap up to the day!
Sounds good, right? A nice day in paradise.
My first action once I unloaded my backpack and gazed at my booty (the books, not my heine) was to flip thru the Hawaii Lonely Planet and try to set a course of action for future adventures. “Getting around” was the first section I looked at. A quick read knocked me to the ground so fast my head was left spinning. There is a public bus system that goes around the island; however the books describes it as infrequent and inconvenient. But the worst part is that they apparently only run Monday thru Friday!! So the best ways to get around are to have a car or rent one. Son of a….
Tomorrow I’ll hitch back in and talk to the tourist helper people and see if they have any advice. I haven’t been able to find a bicycle to buy either; maybe the classifieds in tomorrow’s paper will have something.
I’m still toying with the idea of buying a crapper car or motorcycle, but gas and insurance are expensive, not to mention that there is no room here for another car.
I know I’m bitching a lot and it may be said that I should DO something about it. I’m trying, but each idea I have gets obliterated. And buying a car or motorcycle has not been a part of my budget and would seriously hamper my efforts to take another trip or two in the next year. Yeah, yeah, life is rough. My complaints are a bit greedy I guess. I’ve done a lot and after all, I am living in Hawaii right now.
The problem is, right now I am wondering if it is at all worth it to stay much longer. My expectations are quite high for the new ‘interns’ that will come here to work sometime next month. The question is, will my sanity hold out that long?
The image that comes to my mind is that of Jack Nicholson’s face shoved thru an axe ravaged door sneering “here’s Johnny!”. That is how I am starting to feel. Who knows, maybe if I snap I’ll have a lot more fun…..
Libraries are a problem for me. I can’t seem to go into one and not leave with an assortment of books. Today was no different; I left with three and was told that books I’d ordered were waiting for me at the library closer to home. Another errand to take care of today! One of the books I left with was the Hawaii Lonely Planet (a travel guide) which bolstered my good spirits as I could now plan some activities and figure out how to get around the island.
A motorcycle/scooter rental place was my next stop. My inquiries were not met with an answer I wanted. A week’s rental of a scooter is almost $300. Too expensive.
No other errands popped their heads up, so I began making my way down the coast to one of the beaches. On the way I stopped for a bit to watch the regatta. Double-hulled canoes were vigorously paddled along the shore-front in race after race. Meanwhile, people along the dock near the finish line were continually leaping into the water. Fun as it looked, I didn’t join in. Maybe next time.
Feigning hunger I stopped at a deli/snack bar I’d eaten at last weekend and got a boca burger and iced mocha. The place faced the ocean and I was able to continue watching the regatta while listening to the people behind me discuss the ins and outs of Paul McCartney and his kids and their money and wives and
It didn’t take long to flag a ride down to the beaches where I was greeted by people drinking beer, and playing volleyball, but the best sights were the masses in the ocean bodyboarding in the waves. It was awesome! I’d never seen a backflip on a bboard before. Very cool. Laid there and watched and read my book for a couple hours, coming away with lava rock and shredded shells imbedded in my back and a funny burn on my left arm and right leg.
My next ride came along in plenty of time to get to the next library before they closed and not only did I get my 2 saved books, but a couple additional books and a dvd. Which means I got back here with 6 or 7 more books. Oops. I may have a problem.
Today was a day blessedly easy to hitch. My last ride came along after only a few minutes and I found myself riding along with quite the conspiracy theorist. He blasted the use of fluoride in the water and some other chemical he said screwed him up. Claimed that Rumsfeld is a godfather in the Jewish mafia, that he (the driver) had spent a couple years in jail b/c of his unveiling work against the govt and had death threats and was hiding from the govt until recently. Hell of a wrap up to the day!
Sounds good, right? A nice day in paradise.
My first action once I unloaded my backpack and gazed at my booty (the books, not my heine) was to flip thru the Hawaii Lonely Planet and try to set a course of action for future adventures. “Getting around” was the first section I looked at. A quick read knocked me to the ground so fast my head was left spinning. There is a public bus system that goes around the island; however the books describes it as infrequent and inconvenient. But the worst part is that they apparently only run Monday thru Friday!! So the best ways to get around are to have a car or rent one. Son of a….
Tomorrow I’ll hitch back in and talk to the tourist helper people and see if they have any advice. I haven’t been able to find a bicycle to buy either; maybe the classifieds in tomorrow’s paper will have something.
I’m still toying with the idea of buying a crapper car or motorcycle, but gas and insurance are expensive, not to mention that there is no room here for another car.
I know I’m bitching a lot and it may be said that I should DO something about it. I’m trying, but each idea I have gets obliterated. And buying a car or motorcycle has not been a part of my budget and would seriously hamper my efforts to take another trip or two in the next year. Yeah, yeah, life is rough. My complaints are a bit greedy I guess. I’ve done a lot and after all, I am living in Hawaii right now.
The problem is, right now I am wondering if it is at all worth it to stay much longer. My expectations are quite high for the new ‘interns’ that will come here to work sometime next month. The question is, will my sanity hold out that long?
The image that comes to my mind is that of Jack Nicholson’s face shoved thru an axe ravaged door sneering “here’s Johnny!”. That is how I am starting to feel. Who knows, maybe if I snap I’ll have a lot more fun…..
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