February 16th, Hawai'i Day 3

This was the morning I departed the Island of O'ahu and flew to the big island of Hawaii. The flight itself was fairly short, about 1 hour, and uneventful. Hawaiian Air does not have assigned seating for economy class passengers so you can essentially sit wherever you want. I knew that to keep my sanity I would either have to sit at the very front of economy or by an emergency exit. The emergency exits have more leg room because of the need to move passengers through the area in case of an evacuation order. I'm 183 cm tall (6 feet for those of you still in the Stone Age), which really isn't that tall but I have trouble sitting in regular economy class seating. Luckily, I managed to get a seat on the shadow side of the airplane in the emergency aisle. I sat next to this Mormon guy who was in the business of selling pharmaceuticals. I mentioned that I thought it was unusual that a man in his position, working for a large pharmaceutical company, would have to sit in economy. In any event, we talked and he told me about his business and I told him about the benefits of using obsidian (a volcanic stone) blades for surgery. Unlike steel, they do not leave a scar.

When I got of the plane in Kona, a "city" on the western part of the island, I was amazed at how desolate it was. The old lavaflows had created a flat and rocky landscape all around. I had requested a 4WD vehicle from Thrifty's because they were the only ones who would rent to someone under the age of 25. I ended up receiving a Wrangler, which did the job nicely. I had arranged to meet a friend of my mother's who now lives in Kona but because she could not meet me until 21:15 that evening, I was free to drive around the island.

I first tackled what I call the "Northern Horn". The highway stretches around the northernmost section of Hawaii and if you were to look on a map, it sort of forms a triangle with Kona, Waimea and Hawi at its vertices. I had received my vehicle by about 11:00 and the drive took nowhere near 10 hours. It was very interesting as the pictures will attest to. As I left Kona, the rock gave way to shrubbery, which eventually changed into grassland. I snapped some pretty spectacular pictures from that drive.

After I had attained Hawi in the north, I then turned south towards Waimea. I took the road along the Kohala Mountains, known imaginatively enough as the "Kohala Mountain Road" (Route 250) and there I experienced the most incredible winds. At times it was almost impossible to open the car doors. Because it is along upper parts of the mountains, the wind just comes roaring off the peaks and hits the slopes at around 70 km/h, if not more (my estimate using the Beaufort Scale). What was most amazing was that for long stretches of time, I was the only one on the road.

After reaching Waimea, I turned southwest towards Kona and made it into town around 15:00. To kill some time, I went to the local movie theater and saw Hitch starring Will Smith and Eva Mendes. I'm not a big fan of romantic comedies, but I do enjoy Will Smith and it was the only good thing on at the cineplex at the time.

I met my mother's friend in the parking lot of the local Borders Bookstore as she had agreed to let me spend 1 night in her home.

Photos now available at: http://day3hawaii.blogspot.com/