9/1/01
 
This year's summer trip took me back to Hawaii (had been to Maui in 1998)
for 2 full weeks of fun in the sun and lots of hiking.  Of course, it
rained a little each day except one (summer is the rainy season for
Hawaii), but that didn't slow me down or keep me from getting fried.  So,
here's what happened for Patricia's Great Hawaiian Adventure.
 
I've got 9 pictures from this trip at
http://www.eskimo.com/~pbender/pictures/hawaii01.html
And if you are really bored and want to read more details about specific
trails mentioned here, I have a Hiking page that describes these and other
hikes I've been on in the past few years at
http://www.eskimo.com/~pbender/misc-non/hike.html
 
 
Wednesday, July 18 - day 1
The whole day was spent flying.  I left Dallas around 9 am and got into
Hawaii at 5 pm local time - actually 10 pm Dallas time.  The first island
was Maui to do some of the things that I had not done with my last visit.
 
Thursday, July 19 - day 2
With this night and the next to be spent in Hana, the Road to Hana was on
the schedule.  The Road to Hana is about 35 curvey miles with 54 one-lane
bridges through a rain forest and along the ocean with lots of stops
along the way.  This trip I did the smart thing and stopped and purchased
the Road to Hana tour tape that tells about places along the drive (if
you ever do the Road to Hana, definitely pick up this tape/CD at the
Shell station in Kahului).  I first stopped at Waikamoi Ridge for a short
hike (about 1.5 miles) through the rain forest with some pretty tropical
flowers along the way.  I took a number of short stops along the way,
including a drive down to a beach.  Because it was an overcast day, I
didn't take as many pictures as I thought I would.  I drove down to the
town of Ke'anae and enjoyed the pretty ocean views for a bit.  I then went
back to the Ke'anae Arboretum and hiked the trail there.  Supposedly there
was a pool to swim in at the end of the unmaintained trail, but I had
incorrectly thought it was a short hike to the pool and the trail soon
showed me that I was wrong.  I turned around after a bit, thinking I might
stop back in two days and have my hiking gear with me (had left it in the
car).  I arrived at Hana and headed out to Wai'anapanapa State Park.  I
had stopped here the last time I was in Hana and it is a beautiful place.
After first getting cherry shaved ice from a vendor, I heading west from
the park and hiked the trail through a rough lava field along the coast
for a couple of miles.  The ocean views were wonderful.  The water was a
little rough and on the way back I got soaked when a couple of waves
crashed against the cliffs and drenched part of the trail.  I then checked
into the place I was staying in Hana, stopped at a store and picked up
some nukeable pizza (Hana is a very small town with only one (expensive)
restaurant), and spent the evening at the condo.
 
Friday, July 20 - day 3
The Kaupo Gap trail was one of the reasons I came back to Maui.  The Kaupo
Gap is a collapsed section of the Haleakala volcano and the trail goes
from the crater to near the ocean.  I had originally planned on doing this
hike from the top of the volcano down, but was unable to arrange the
transportation (and I tried hard to arrange the transportation).  So I
decided to do it the hard way - from the bottom heading up.  I had rented
a 4-wheel drive vehicle purely because of this hike.  A little ways after
Hana, the road narrows and the car rental companies don't like you to go
on the road as it is narrow and not fully paved.  Well, to get to the
trailhead, I had to go on that road, so "phtwwt" to the car companies.
The road actually wasn't bad at all - a compact could probably make it
without a problem.  After one u-turn in Kaupo (I knew it was after
something and before something else), I pulled the car over as far as I
could along the road, gathered my hiking gear, and headed up the one-lane
jeep road towards the trailhead.  Since I knew it was going to be a hard
hike going up, up, and up, I didn't set a destination goal - I knew I
wasn't going to go all the way to the crater (8 miles, 6400 feet
elevation).  I figured whenever I felt like turning around or time
dictated turning around, I would do so.  So I started heading up.  And up.
And up.  The views back at the ocean were very pretty and I was rewarded
with a pretty rainbow that I managed to capture on film.  The hike itself
wasn't that great as the area was mostly brown grassy fields with a
handful of trees here and there.  I turned around after 4.5 miles (and
3500 feet).  Afterwards I went to an old church in Kaupo just off the
ocean.  I walked down by the ocean and was enjoying the view when I heard
a loud growl.  I jumped about 3 feet back.  There was a seal resting on
the shore and he didn't appreciate my getting so close to him - I hadn't
even noticed him until he said hello.  I headed back to the place I was
staying in Hana and changed into my bathing suit and went to O'heo Gluch.
The river at O'heo Gluch forms 7 pools of water, with a waterfall at the
head of each pool, before feeding into the ocean.  I got into one of the
pools and headed out towards the falls.  Unfortunately, my water shoes
were in my backpack and I had left that at the condo, so the going was
very slow and slippery as there were lots of rocks in the pool to walk on
before it got deep enough to swim in.  As I got closer to the falls, the
current got stronger and my forward progress kept getting less.  I
eventually gave up swimming directly to the falls and climbed up on the
rocks along the edge and walked to the falls.  After waiting my turn, I
walked under the falls.  I then dove off the rocks right next to the falls
into the pool (I wasn't up high) and enjoyed my dip in the stream.
 
Saturday, July 21 - day 4
I started the day off with another trip to Wai'anapanapa State Park.  This
time I headed east from the park along the coast.  The lava field wasn't
quite as rough for the first mile and the ocean views were magnificent.
The trail got a little rougher after the first mile, and then got scary as
it went right along the cliff above the ocean.  After a little bit of
hiking the scary part, my nerves said, "Enough!" and I headed back.  I had
decided that this was a waterfall day and I would swim under every
waterfall I could.  I first went out to the end of Ulaino Road on the
outskirts of Hana and took a short walk along the rocky coast to a small
pool under some thin, tall waterfalls.  After swimming under those falls,
I headed back up Ulaino Road and pulled over near a stream.  A short hike
up the stream was the Blue Pool where a pretty fall feeds into a nice
sized pool.  Then it was back on the Road from Hana.  I stopped at the
Puakaa State Wayside and had lunch before swimming under the two falls
that are there.  I again tried to find the pool at the Ke'anae Arboretum,
but gave up after the trail went steeply up a muddy cliff and there were
no foot holds.  Ke'anae was beckoning and I had to go out there and enjoy
the pretty ocean views again.  I also stopped an picked up some yummy
banana bread.  Back on the road, I pulled over and looked at some of the
waterfalls along the way.  At one of the stops, I saw some people were
swimming in pool by a waterfall, so I had to get out and join them for my
5th waterfall of the day.  The people were from Germany and the son
decided to jump off the cliff above the fall into the pool.  No, I wasn't
nuts enough to join him in his idea of fun.  I checked into my hotel in
Kahului and decided to head to Lahaina for dinner.  I ended up stopping
and getting some macadamia nut fudge ice cream and watching the sunset
instead.
 
Sunday, July 22 - day 5
I headed out early to Waihee Ridge on the west side of the island for a
hike in the lush mountains.  After a steep hike up a paved road, I was
pleasantly surprised by this wonderful trail.  The trail was well
maintained and went up along the ridge for 2.5 miles.  Despite the heavy
and low cloud cover, the area was a beautiful.  If you are ever in Maui,
I highly recommend going to this trail.  Afterwards, I headed to the Iao
Valley for some unfinished business.  When I was in Maui in 1998, I got
majorly fried on my hike in Haleakala volcano and my hike the next day in
Iao Valley was cut very short as the ferns were killing me each time they
touched my legs.  After eating lunch near the river, I ignored the "No
trespassing" sign and headed deeper into the valley along the well
traveled trail along the river.  After a while, the trail hit a steep,
muddy spot and I decided that was a good place to turn back.  I then went
to another "No trespassing" trail in the park and headed up a mountain.
The ferns were still thick along this trail (I didn't know about the other
trail before).  I hiked along the trail for a while before it disappeared
on me and I turned around.  Afterwards, I went to a beach and planned on
spending some time there relaxing and reading some.  But it was too windy
with sand blowing every where, so I didn't stay long.  I then took the
long drive up to the top of Haleakala volcano.  I had thought about
watching the sunset from up there, but the clouds were rolling in, so I
didn't stay long.  [I have a National Parks pass, so I didn't pay the
entrance fee to the park.]  I thought about having dinner at Lahaina and
drove there.  Everything seemed so crowded that I continued to drive on.
The idea of driving around the west side of the island back to my hotel
took my fancy and I did so.  Part of the road on the northeast side of the
island is narrow and the car rental companies say don't drive on it.  It
seemed fine to me even after it narrowed.  I was driving along and
enjoying the scenery and the sun was going down.  Then the road got scary
as there were long sections along mountainsides when it was purely a
one-lane road and you just prayed that no one came the other way.  Then it
got dark.  Then I noticed the fuel gage was on E.  Me and my bright ideas.
Fortunately, the only cars coming the other way came when there were
places to pass and I made it back to town without running out of gas.  It
did test my nerves, though.  The restaurant at the hotel had closed while
I dropped off my stuff at my room and, thus, I had banana bread for
dinner.
 
Monday, July 23 - day 6
The day started off with an early flight from Maui to the Big Island of
Hawaii.  Since it was along the way, I decided to do a tourist stop at the
Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Plant.  It was a big waste of time as there was
nothing to see - not even a tour of the plant as offered.  I then head out
to Volcano National Park.  I drove around the Crater Rim road and then
headed down the Chain of Craters Road towards the ocean.  I took a short 1
1/2 mile hike out to the Pu'u Loa petroglyphs, Hawaiian carvings in the
lava.  It was my first hike over a lava flow.  I then proceeded to the end
of the Chain of Craters road.  It is the natural end of the road as one of
the lava flows in the 90s re-claimed the road before heading into the
ocean.  The current active lava flow is about 3 miles from where the road
ends - the park strongly does not recommend hiking out to the active flow
and there is no trail and there are lots of dangers.  I opted to do the
smart thing and not hike out to it.  The park does have an observation
area a short ways on the old lava flow and I did go out there and saw the
small stream of steam in the distance where the active flow hits the
ocean.  So that was my uneventful experience with the active lava.  I
checked in to where I was staying on the Big Island - a very nice bed and
breakfast near the park - and then headed out to South Point, the farthest
point south in the US.  There was a bakery shop along the way that I had
read about and I stopped there and picked up some of their famous
sweetbread and an coconut turnover.  The bread wasn't really impressive
(but did hold me over or substitute for meals number of times over the
rest of the trip), but the turnover was delicious.  There were some pretty
ocean views at South Point.  As I walked across some old lava toward the
ocean, I was surprised by a flash of color in a pool of water surrounded
by lava.  There were a number of very colorful fish in the small pool of
water - they must have been stranded after high tide.  On the drive back
to the hotel, I took a short stop at a small black sand beach and walked
barefoot in the rocky sand.
 
Tuesday, July 24 - day 7
It was time for my big volcano hike.  There are a number of craters in
Volcano National Park and this hike went through 2 of them.  The trail
started by going down through a forest to the crater floor and then across
the middle of the Kilauea Iki crater.  It was misting that morning and, as
a result of the water going into the vents, there was steam coming up out
of the ground all around me.  Quite a weird experience.  At the far end of
the crater, the trail goes up and then through another forest.  In this
forest, I saw a number of Ne'ne geese and geeselings.  The Ne'ne bird is
the state bird of Hawaii and only exists in Hawaii.  After the forest, the
trail descended into the vast Kilauea Caldera.  I hiked 2 1/2 miles over
lava through this large, barren crater.  The most uncomfortable moment of
the hike occurred midway through the crater when there was a sign that
said, "Danger: Stay on trail.  Thin crust."  Needless to say, I kept a
close eye out to make sure that I was staying on the trail.  And being in
the middle of a lava flow, the trail was not well defined as you look for
the lighter colored lava (lighter from the people having walked on it) and
stacks of rocks that marked the trail.  The hike got a little boring as
the trail went along a sandy, dull ridge area for 2 miles, but the last 2
miles of the hike was beautiful as the trail went through a lush fern
forest.  I saw more Ne'ne geese here.  This was a 10 mile, 5 hour hike.
And I still had plenty of time to go back out to South Point and hike to
the Green Sand Beach - I found out about this place 2 days before I left
for my trip.  I first stopped and picked up another coconut turnover.
After a 2 1/2 mile ugly hike (lots of trash along the shore), there was a
small cove with a green sand beach.  The sand is a brownish-lime color - I
don't recall the chemical that naturally makes it that color.  After
figuring out how to get down the cliff to the beach, I thoroughly and
relaxfully enjoyed myself (yes, I do occasionally relax on my trips).  I
strolled through the surf, ate my turnover, and read a book.  I was
kicking myself for not bringing my bathing suit, though (I had come
straight from the volcano and was slightly watching the clock when I left
and didn't want to take the time to stop at my hotel).  A few of the other
people at the beach (and there were only a few there) enjoyed swimming in
the water.  After getting back to my car, evening was approaching.  I
decided that to get a takeout meal of KFC and eat it under the stars.
The stars were pretty at Volcano National Park and I ate dinner at one of
the stops along Crater Rim road.  I then drove down Chain of Craters road
to the end and walked out over the lava to the observation area.  I still
couldn't see the active flow (sometimes a red glow is visible at night),
but the stars were bright and gorgeous.
 
Wednesday, July 25 - day 8
When I got up in the morning it wasn't raining, so I took a drive around
the Crater Rim Road to see what it looked like with a little bit of blue
in the sky.  I then headed to the northeastern side of the island.  My
trip up to Akaka Falls was failed as the fog was too heavy to see the
falls.  I continued on to Waipio Valley.  Waipio Valley is a mile wide and
10-mile deep valley.  There is a one-lane 4-wheel-drive-only road down
into the valley.  I did not have a 4-wheel drive vehicle on this island,
so I did what a handful of others did - I hiked the steep road down into
the valley.  My knees complained on the hike down (and the rest of my body
complained on the hike back up).  At the valley floor, I hooked a right
and headed out to the beach.  The head of the valley has a small patch of
beach, a stream feeding into the ocean, and a large stretch of beach.
There were a number of people at the small patch of beach.  With the help
of my trusty hiking stick and invaluable water shoes, I forded the stream
and had the rest of the beach almost to myself (there was a couple near
the tree line who had kayaked in).  Off went the water shoes and I walked
barefoot in the surf about 3/4 mile to the far wall.  I've been to a
number of black sand beachs and none of them come close to comparing to
this wonderful beach.  This was the first black sand beach that I've been
to that was not rocky - the sand was smooth and grainy.  My original plan
was to hike the trail up the far wall and hike up there for a ways, but
the hike down the road and the promise of the hike up the road left me not
wanting to exert myself with a continued hike and I was so in love with
this beach that I did not continue hiking.  Instead I settled down near
the far wall, enjoyed the view, went swimming in the ocean, ate lunch, and
went swimming in the ocean.  As I was enjoying my barefoot walk in the
surf heading back up the beach, I noticed a waterfall on the near valley
wall a little ways inland.  So, instead of heading straight out of the
valley, I walked a little ways inland for a better view of the falls.
Unfortunately, I couldn't get too close to the falls as there was private
land in front of it.  Then came the dreaded hike back up.  If I came back
to the Big Island, I would rent a 4-wheel drive vehicle and drive into the
valley and use my energy to hike up the far wall.  On the drive back, I
again stopped at Akaka Falls.  They were visible this time - pretty, but
not breath-taking.  On a whim, I went down to Kolekole Beach Park that is
right before the turnoff for Akaka Falls.  I was rewarded with a small
park next to a cool river that feeds into the ocean.  On the far side of
the river near the ocean is a small waterfall feeding into the river and
there is also a swing rope on one of the trees hanging over the river.  I
went under the falls and, as always, enjoyed it immensely, but was unable
to take full advantage of the swing rope as I was unable to hang on to the
rope and get up the rocks on the river's edge.  I had to settle for
floating in the river while hanging on to the rope.  It was relaxing
though.  A great end to a completely marvelous day.
 
Thursday, July 26 - day 9
My flight from the Big Island to Kauai had a stop over in Maui, so I
didn't get to Kauai until 10:30.  I drove to the North Shore with thoughts
that I might do the Hanakapai Falls hike.  It started to rain along my
drive to Kee Beach and was crowded at Kee Beach with no parking spaces, so
I decided that there would be no hikes this day.  I spent the rest of the
day driving around, doing a little bit of tourist shopping, driving by
some waterfalls, and stopping briefly at the Kileau Lighthouse.  I did
stop and have a real dinner (a rare thing for me on my vacations).  I
drove back out to Kee Beach about 30 minutes before sunset (the crowds
were gone) and swam in the ocean.  Afterwards, I watched a gorgeous sunset
over the ocean.
 
Friday, July 27 - day 10
On the schedule was the big Na Pali Coast hike - also known as how much
can Patricia torture herself.  The hike along the magnificent, rugged
coast started at 7:10 am.  After going up and down and up and down for 6
long miles, I stopped at the halfway/turnaround point and had lunch by a
stream in a valley.  I mercifully took my shoes off and soaked my feet
while I ate.  The scenes of the coast along the rocky mountain cliffs were
great, but it was a tough hike.  And I still had to go back.  After 4
miles, I reached the Hanakapai Valley.  I had a big decision to make.  I
was exhausted, but I really wanted to go to the Hanakapai Falls and didn't
think I'd be able to talk myself into hiking those first 2 miles again
tomorrow.  So, I gutted up and started heading inland.  I had thought the
falls were only a mile in, but was wrong as they were 1 3/4 miles in.
After many stops for rest, I finally reached the awesome falls.  There is
a large pool in front of the 300 foot falls and getting in the cold water
woke me up quickly.  Then the swim under the cold, large falls literally
took my breath away.  I sat on a shallow ledge behind the falls and was
amazed by how incredible it was.  After a little bit, I swam back out
under the falls and then turned around and back-stroked so that I could
watch the falls coming down as I swam away.  Awesome.  Easily the best
waterfall I've been to.  This was the highlight of my trip and if I ever
go back to Kauai, I'd go back here as a lunch spot and spend more time
(I was a little rushed as sunset wasn't too far away).  Back at the head
of the valley, I finally went out to the Hanakapai Beach for a visit and
rest before the final hike back out.  And my body couldn't take much
more, but I had 2 miles to go to get back to my car.  The sun set on me
when I had about 1/2 a mile left.  I _finally_ reached my car at 7:35 pm.
Over 12 hours of hiking.  Ouch.  It's been years since I've been that
close to tears due to exhaustion and pain.  And my feet complained
bitterly about what I had put them through - I had trouble falling
asleep a couple of hours later due to the pain in my feet.  But they were
fine and ready to go the next day.
 
Saturday, July 28 - day 11
I had planned for a calm day following the big hike and it was.  I had a
short visit to 2 small caves near Kee Beach in the morning, but my plan
of spending an hour or 2 swimming at Kee Beach was disrupted by the rain.
So I started my drive to the other side of the island and it rained
almost the whole drive.  I did a little tourist shopping along the way.
It finally stopped raining when I reached the west side of the island.
I took the fun drive out Polihale Beach.  I had rented a 4-wheel drive
vehicle (I had, correctly, thought I'd want one for the Waimea Canyon
area) and passed several compacts and convertibles that were crawling
along the 5 mile, extremely potholed, dirt road.  Polihale Beach is as 
far west as you can go on the island.  It's a beautiful, wide, and very 
long beach.  I played in the ocean a little bit and sat on the beach and 
read.  I then went to the place where I was to stay for the next 3 
nights - right across from the beach on the south shore.  I did 
(desperately needed) laundry and took a nap.  I then walked across the 
street and went in the ocean.  I almost immediately went back to the 
house and got a boogie board and went back to the ocean.  The first wave 
I tried to ride in, I road perfectly.  I was floating in the ocean 
hanging on to the boogie board letting waves pass while I waited for a 
good one to ride in.  I mis-judged a wave I was letting pass and it 
crested on me and threw the boogie board over my head.  Unfortunately, I
was a little slow in realizing that letting go of the board would be a 
good idea and the wave jerked my arm pretty good.  My upper arm was 
smarting pretty bad after that.  Of course I couldn't end my boogie 
boarding career on that note, so I went back out and eventually road 
another wave in.  And that ended my boogie boarding career.  I sat on 
the beach and read until the sunset.  The sunset was nice, but it was 
over the beach instead of the ocean, so it was not as stunning as the 
sunset I saw at Kee Beach.  The arm continued to bother me the rest of 
the trip (it wasn't serious enough for me to get it checked out during 
the trip and it only hurt when raised it), but it didn't slow me down.
 
Sunday, July 29 - day 12
Since I was staying right across from the beach, I was able to do one of
my favorite things in the morning: walk the beach barefoot in the surf.
Ahh.  Then it was on to the big hike above the Na Pali coast.  I drove up
to Waimea Canyon (the Grand Canyon of the Pacific) and headed away from
the canyon side on the Awa'awapuhi Trail.  After 3 miles of heading down
through a forest, I reached the Awa'awapuhi overlook.  I was on top of one
of the rugged cliffs of the Na Pali coast looking into the deep Nu'alolo
valley next to the ocean.  It was an amazing sight, made more dramatic
when one of the many sight-seeing helicopters would go through the valley
and look so itty-bitty against the cliffs.  I was not alone at the
overlook as a wild rooster, a hen, and a chick came out to beg for food.
My hike continued back inland a tad and headed along above the interior
valley boundary and then out along a thin ridge to another overlook.  From
the Lolo Vista I was able to see all the way up the Na Pali coast to Kee
Beach.  Wow.  I had lunch there and enjoyed the view.  The hike back
inland on the Nu'alolo trail wasn't much fun as it went steeply up and
down for 2 miles and then it went it a forest where there were a number of
tall grassy fields that I had to trudge through.  At the trail's end, I
had an uneventful hike along the road back to my car to cap this 11.5 mile
hike.  I then drove around the Waimea Canyon area to look at some of the
views, but the clouds had rolled in and some of the stops were clouded
over.  I again went out to the beach for the sunset.
 
Monday, July 30 - day 13
I started the day of right by again getting up early and walking the
beach.  Then it was back to Waimea Canyon for a planned hike on the canyon
side.  I took full advantage of my 4-wheel drive vehicle and drove the
one-lane dirt road a little less than a mile to the trailhead instead of
having to hike it - as others were when I left.  I started the hike and
realized early into it that - and this is going to come as a shock - I
really wasn't in the mood for hiking.  I went ahead and went to a
waterfall that was about 1/2 a mile in to the hike.  Because the trail was
directly above it, I couldn't see the waterfall, but did have some nice
views of the canyon.  I turned around there and headed back.  With lots of
time on my hands, I cheated and I drove my car (a long way on one-lane
dirt roads) to the other end of the trail.  Well, I didn't quite drive to
the end as a downed tree blocked the road about 1/4 a mile before the end
and I walked the rest of the way.  There was a nice overlook of part of
the canyon and I had lunch there.  It was a lot of fun trying to turn my
vehicle around on the narrow road - is there such a thing as a 20-point
turn?  I drove to some overlooks in the canyon that were clouded over the
day before and enjoyed some nice views.  Back in town, I stopped at a
shaved ice place and had a Pina Colada, banana, strawberry colada shaved
ice with macadamia nut ice cream at the bottom - makes my mouth water
thinking about it.  The day was again capped by watching the sunset over
the beach.
 
Tuesday, July 31 - day 14
I again walked the beach in the morning.  Such a lovely thing to do.  I
was surprised when I looked out in the ocean and saw something that looked
like a submarine.  I kept glancing at it and, sure enough, it was a
submarine.  I said goodbye to Kauai and flew to Oahu.  It was another
planned calm day with mostly driving around the island.  And what would a
trip to Hawaii be without something Magnum related (the reason I was
spending a day on Oahu)?  I stopped at the Anderson Estate where Magnum
P.I. was filmed and walked in the ocean behind it.  I drove around the
island and had some poor coconut shrimp for a late lunch at the North
Shore.  After driving as far northeast as I could (nothing exciting to
report), I stopped and got some shaved ice at a famous place at the North
Shore (the one at Kauai was better).  I headed back towards Honolulu and
stopped at the Dole Plantation along the way and picked up some sliced
pineapple.  I went to the Napi Lookout and planned on eating the pineapple
there and maybe do a short hike, but the wind was so strong (it actually
would move me) that I didn't stay long.  Those plans dashed, I ended up
back at the small beach park near the Anderson Estate and ate the
pineapple there (I've had better).  The last night in Hawaii was spent at
a dull hotel right near the airport in Honolulu.  Sigh, no beach walk the
next morning, but it was necessary as I had an early flight.
 
Wednesday, August 1 - day 15
Call this the price to pay for a vacation in paradise: my flight left at
8 am and I got back in Dallas at 10:30 pm.  And, yes, I went to work the
next day.  It took me a week to catch up on my sleep and all the
basketball stuff that went on while I was gone.
 
So that was my summer vacation.  One of the things strange about this
trip was that at the gas stations on the Big Island and Kauai someone
always came out and filled the tank for me - even when I stopped at the
self-serve island.  I can't even remember the last time someone at a gas
station filled the tank for me.  My arm still bothers me some - the
doctor said it was a bruised muscle and would take 4 to 6 weeks to heal.
It was a great trip.  In 2 weeks I hiked over 70 miles of trails and
swam under 8 different waterfalls and had some great times at different
beaches.
 
 
patricia