After traveling for about 18 hours yesterday, I'm pretty tired and I plan to go to bed soon. I am finally in my condo on Kauai and so glad to have landed. Right now I have all the lights on and all the windows open. I can hear the ocean and the wind and I think it will send me to sleep quickly.
Yesterday after I finished writing, our plane was re-routed to Salt Lake City, where they had us deplane, and about 10 minutes later told us all to get back on again. Seems they were getting mixed signals as well. We flew to LAX, which had reopened - landed about 3:15 California time (6:15 at home) and then we all sat at the gate for the next flight. And waited. And waited. The plane was there, but no flight crew. They kept announcing what they knew, which was not much. Originally it had been set to leave at 4, but we didn't leave until 7. I called my connecting flight and told them I wouldn't be there, then a few phone calls later rearranged my rental car.
I knew I would likely miss the last flight to Kauai, so I called a friend who lives on Oahu and he said, "Your room is already made up. Call us when you get to Honolulu." Turned out that his wife had thought I was planning to stay with them Friday night (as well as the following weekend) so she had had everything ready. She was mistaken, but it was a happy mistake that worked in my favor. The flight got in at 10:45 Oahu time (4:45 AM EDT) and by the time we got the their house and I unwound, it was after midnight (after 6 AM Saturday). I had been up almost 24 hours, unless you count a couple of 40-minute naps sitting upright on the plane. I wouldn't.
This morning I caught an 8:30 flight to Kauai, but the plane had to return to the gate after it had pushed back due to mechanical trouble. They fixed it, but it took about 45 minutes. Fortunately I wasn't in a hurry. The flight to Kauai was gorgeous - it had been drizzling so there were rainbows everywhere. I called a taxi from the airport info kiosk, and a lady showed up with a van. I have never had a female cab driver before. She had two photos pinned to the passenger-side visor. I asked about them - they were her great-grandkids. In thickly accented English she said, "I'm old - 75. I got 18 grandkids." And she laughed. I gave her a bigger tip than I might have someone else because it touched me that this 75 year old woman was driving a cab. Maybe she likes it, but just in case....
She dropped me off in this very industrial-lookng area, where there was a car waiting for me with all the paperwork and the key under the visor. I filled everything out and dropped it in the mail box where indicated. Very relaxed atmosphere.
I did all the things one does with a "new" car - found all the buttons for things, adjusted the mirrors (I often forget to do that until I'm on the road, and then it can be problematic), ran the wipers (which are lousy, by the way), located the nearest gas station to the rental site.
I decided to drive up to the condo and drop off my stuff. I was about 9 miles out of Lihue when I noticed the police cars blocking the road. At first I thought it was an accident, but then I realized it was a parade. Veteran's Day parade. I tried to find a way around but to no avail, so I parked the car and ran up to see part of the parade, the tail end of which was already passing me. After about 1/2 mile of following them (hoping to see them turn off so I could get back in my car ad head to y condo), I decided to turn around, but the scent of breakfast caught me and instead I wandered into a little diner and ate. Very fast service, and about what one would expect from a diner - one egg, bacon, hash browns, toast with guava jam. It was served quickly and I ate rapidly (I was hungry).
By the time I finished, the traffic had begun to move in the direction I wished to go, so I ran back to my car and started off again. But now there was significant congestion because of the Veteran's Day festivities. A parking space opened up next to a craft show so I figured it was providential and stopped. I still remember how to parallel park, thank you very much.
I walked around Kapaa for a little while, poking into the shops and whatnot, and a great loneliness descended on me. I suddenly got fed up with knick-knacks and Hawaiian shirts and magnets and macadamia nuts for sale, and just wanted to get out of there. I decided to go back to Lihue, which was where I was supposed to have a helicopter ride in a few hours anyway, so I drove back to get some necessary shopping done at the Walmart, I'm sorry to say.
I found the things I needed, and noted they also had groceries, and are open until midnight. I called my family to say goodnight as I sat in the car in the relative shade and had a snack. I finally made my way to the helicopter place, and they checked us all in and weighed us with our cameras and all, did the safety check and then drove us to the airport. The helicopter came back in, and the pilot was discussing something with the van driver. Turned out the artificial horizon was starting to go, and even though the weather was not bad, he didn't want to risk it. (He was a medevac copter pilot in Iraq; we trusted his judgment). Unfortunately the three people with me were leaving soon and couldn't reschedule.
So, I went grocery shopping and drove to the condo. I was feeling discouraged with all the seemingly thwarted plans - travel yesterday, not getting to Kauai last night, plane trouble this morning, parade, and now the helicopter ride cancelled. I was very glad, however, that I didn't have to drive up to the condo in the dark while in a tired post-travel state (which I would have had I come in on time yesterday). The road was curvy and hilly enough as it was, and the condo a bit tricky to find. I got here just at the sun was going down, so I was happy to find it and bring all my stuff in to dump.
Turned out I am next door to the concierge, Jeannie, who is an older woman who seems like a free spirit, if you gather my meaning. But she was nice, and gave me some advice. I'm thinking I won't camp overnight in the park tomorrow. We'll see what the hike brings. If it rains, the trail won't be worth hiking, and I'll have to find something else to do. Sigh. This is turning out a lot different than i had thought. I'm thankful I didn't have wall-to-wall plans.
If I'm going to get up early to hike tomorrow, I'd best get to bed. Thanks for listening, and good night.
wb
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