bob

b's still asleep- I'm getting ready to clean up the hotel room. we leave maui at 10:40 tonight, but have to check out by 11:00 am. ah, what a great trip it's been. we'll stay another few days in Los Angeles before heading back to nyc. b has a little business to take care of and I have to see that baby koa again!

yesterday we took the *hana highway,* touring through the lush, tropical east coast of the island. driving the 50-some miles of twisting, turning, cliff-side road, we arrived in hana and hit the beach. maui is so small that any time you get in the car, you're likely to hit some coastline. the surf was a bit rough- each bit of beach is different. on the way into town we had passed a grouping of food shacks, so we decided to head back out and eat on the way. b spotted an older man who was thumbing a ride, and asked me if we should pick him up. we had passed by so many hitchhikers in northern cal and oregon, and I was wondering if b would ever stop for someone. so I said yes, and he got in the car. this man, bob, turned out to be somewhat of a legend. a retiree from glendale, ca, he lives in lahaina and hitchhikes every day to hana. b told him we were headed back to kahalui and would be stopping for lunch, and he was agreeable. when we got to the food shacks, the woman serving tacos (choice of mesquite-grilled kaluha pork or fish) thanked us for taking care of bob. it had started raining, and she mentioned to him that it was a good thing he was riding with us, and not in the back of a pickup. (a commonly-seen thing in hawaii)

as we headed in to town, b suggested that we could keep going and take bob to lahaina. we had been there once, but it had been at night. I have an old friend living there, and I had gotten her number a few days ago from a mutual friend. I called her up to let her know we were coming, and she agreed to meet us with her three daughters, under lahaina's enormous banyon tree. we walked around lahaina with alice and the girls, going into a small grouping of shops where alice's friend runs a jewelry store. I mentioned to her the story of bob, and she said, "oh, the guy?" apparently everyone knows him. we ate some yummy ice cream where they blend fresh fruit into vanilla to make the flavor. so good! and then strolled to alice's house so she could change athena's diaper. the two year old was suffering bad from "owie butt!"

so I hope to be filling these posts in with more info about the trip, and adding photos to the previous posts.

until then, aloha!