January 30, 2016
Day 20: Hilo to Honokaa: The Three Gulches, Damn
We recognized a lot of the people at Wild Ginger from last year, and many of them recognized us. For example, there was the old man with the black beret. I said to him "Hey, you've been wearing that beret for a whole year!". "Nope", was the reply, " I also have a red one".
Though nothing is explicit and nothing is written, we have been observing life at the Wild Ginger, and see that there are people here other than the tourists who pass through for a day or two. Many of these more permanent residents seem to be old or sick. We are not sure quite where they stay, but we have the impression that the free breakfast is a major meal of the day for them. These folks are also different from the ones who live in the basement and the hostel section. There is a kitchen down there where they may prepare their own food.
Each day the owner takes his own breakfast with the guests and regulars, always sitting at the same table. We have the impression that he is a benevolent landlord. Last year in particular while we were here he put on a Thanksgiving dinner for everyone. This was a flat out turkey and all the trimmings thing, really nice.
I reintroduced myself and asked if he remembered me. He said no, he has seen 3000 people since last year. I said sure but I am unique - bike, beard, etc. (Dodie is amazed that in Europe, I get peeved if sunflowers do not turn my way!). But sadly the reply was that the 3000 includes lots of bearded guys on bikes.
We loaded up on as much breakfast as possible, to be fortified for the coming ordeal. I took a photo this time to illustrate what is available. Yes, that is pink toast, and if you look closely, the bread pudding has blue bread!
Even if the owner did not remember us, some of our " old friends" came to the front of the building to wish us aloha as we set off for Honokaa.
Once again, we did not find the cycle to up near the Botanical Garden to be too long or difficult. We again passed that speed sign at 8 mph, though I was rather hoping for 10. I would have put on a sprint just to make a show of it for a photo, but as Dodie is fond of saying, she only has two speeds - slow, and stop.
At the post office in Pepeekio we mailed what could be our last post cards home. We have now been on this trip just long enough to have forgotten about home and be right into it, but realistically, we will be home again before any further postcards could make it.
The traffic heading up the Hamakua Coast is pretty much as heavy and as noisy as that on the Kona to Hilo link down the other coast. To some extent it was easier to handle, because the shoulder " on average" was wider. However that average disguises some devilish problems. The many streams that flow to the sea on this coast are crossed on bridges, and at each one the shoulder, no matter how broad it may have been, disappears. The layouts vary a bit, but the most common situation is that that the shoulder ends at a narrow "sidewalk". If you are approaching quickly, maybe on a downhill, then this high and narrow sidewalk can be a bit of a shock, to put it mildly. You could go up on it, or you might choose the remaining 8 inch shoulder, or you could take the road. If you take the shoulder, then in half the cases, it's a trap - with drains designed to catch bicycle wheels. If you take the road, you are risking getting sideswiped by a careening pickup truck. Thanks, Hawaii!
In most cases the bridges cross the stream gulches high above the water and without descending much. But there are three gulches where the road goes down down, crosses, and then climbs up, up. These gulches are the Maulua, the Laupahoehoe, and the Ka'awali'i. From the look of the map, Maulua looked to be the worst. But though it duly went down, down, and up, up, we came through it quite well. Laupahoehoe also seemed like a monster, but again, though tough it was not the end of our world.
On the map, Ka'awali'i looked the the baby of the three. Hah. It was awful. It started out getting a lot of help from the State of Hawaii, which has been doing " safety improvements". One of the brilliant ideas for this was to install a steel guardrail in much of what otherwise could have been more shoulder for us. So that wedged us between fixed steel on one side and speeding steel cars on the other. There was shoulder to the left of the guard rail, but it was only marked by occasional reflectors. We felt like we were out in the middle of the road.
Ka'awali'i, having done its down, down bit got started on the up, up. Only thing, it forgot to quit. The road went up, up, for 30 km, basically all the way to Honokaa. We had been going really strongly, and after Lapahoehoe felt we had this thing licked. But it was a pretty bedraggled pair who finally trailed into Honokaa. Still, we made it!
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Honokaa bills itself as a historic town, and it does have a large number of old buildings. None of these is large or impressive, so the town looks more like an Old West set than anything else. Our place here is the "Hotel Honokaa Club", which is the oldest hotel on Hawaii - older even than the Manago. The first building was completed in 1912.
"By 1915 it is listed in the local business directory as the “Honokaa Hotel Club - A First Class Hotel and Boarding House, Rates $3.00 per Day and Up.” By 1920 rates had increased to $4.00 per day. The hotel portion served as a residence and lodging for immigrants, unmarried sugar cane workers, and traveling salesmen, while the bar served as a “watering hole” for residents, local paniolos (cowboys) from nearby ranches and Marines (from Camp Tarawa in Waimea who were forbidden to drink in Waimea by Samuel Parker, Parker Ranch owner, and builder of Waimea town). "
Today the bar is closed, which is fine by us. We are also in the "new" part, which was built in 1948! Though the price of our room, with tax, is over $US100, there is no tv, no phone, no microwave, no fridge, no desk, no shampoo, and hmmm, no candy on the pillow. Well, this is Hawaii, I guess, and nothing is cheap.
When we dragged ourselves through the door, we were really warmly greeted by the managers, Jory and Annelle.We felt like family members, arriving home. We planned to eat supper at "Gramma's" - "downtown", about a block and a half away. Seeing that Dodie looked pretty beat, Jory offered to run us down there in a car. But no, we stubbornly trudged down on our own.
Gramma's is a family style operation too. It is named for the two Portuguese grandmas of the owner. We were again greeted like family, by grandma. This white haired lady was however not one of the grandmas referenced in the name of the restaurant. Rather those grandmas were our greeter's mother and mother-in-law. Time goes by, so this was a second generation, but genuine, Gramma.
Gramma's was not totally cheap, with main dishes around $14. But we got pot roast and chicken, needed protein, we think, after so much papaya and bread pudding in our diet. Grandma came around and gave me a big hug, asking if the food was good (which it was). She was really tickled to learn that we are planning to cycle in Portugal.
We stopped at the old theatre on the main street, to see what was playing. Tonight it was the newest Star Wars. Had we stayed, the admission would have been $3! Maybe tomorrow we will come back, though the playbill has a much less well known selection (I forget what it is). There is a farmers market tomorrow just outside of town.That will be one of our main activities. After that, we will brave any mosquitoes and check out the famous Waipio Valley. (But only from the lookout on the rim - we are not that brave, plus the access to the valley below is closed by Civil Defence because of the Dengue threat.)
Today's ride: 67 km (42 miles)
Total: 699 km (434 miles)
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