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Sat. January 8, 2000
Drive in, drive out
The three vans hit the road this morning heading towards the western side of this island. The road carried us just to the south of Mauna Loa, through desertified lava fields, and to the southern extent of the United States. While the other two vans sped onward, Dr. Benham's van stopped over in a town just beyond Naalehu, HI — the southernmost incorporated city in the U.S. The driveway we drove down curved around a tree purported to be planted by Mark Twain and was hugged to the left by rows macadamia nut trees. The person we met is a woman that Dr. Benham has known in Hawaii for years. They were originally introduced many years ago and keeps in contact with her so she may get this group into places private to landowners on this island and to clean her clocks. Yes, Dr. Benham is a truly versatile man. I haven't found much that he doesn't know. Anyway, Nick, Charles, Jerry, the elder Benhams and I were treated to a brief lesson in macadamia drying and were welcomed to relieve the woman of about five plastic bags worth of tangerines. We picked all of the orange beauties ourselves. I constantly marveled at the beauty of the property we were on. Green trees adorned with red flowers with equally green hills intersecting the vibrant blue sky overhead. Clouds whizzed from the nearby hills over us as if they were cars in traffic with drivers that all had appointments to be somewhere important. Wafts of fruit came with puffs of wind to delight our senses. After accepting the generosity of our host we took our bounty of fresh fruit and nuts on the road with us to our next destination.
Our van met up with the other two (and their passengers) in Kona, HI on the strange, concrete wall controlled sand of Kahaluu Beach Park. The groups of fruit pickers and sun bathers gathered around a couple picnic tables and inhaled various combinations of sandwiches and chips for lunch. Once completed, everyone began to decide their next goal for the day. This is when the fun started. Some people were perfectly content sunning themselves on the pathetic sand of the snorkle friendly cove while others of us wanted to again hit the road to visit a potentially more active beach environment and still others wanted to shop 'til they dropped. The conflict arose when the drivers of two of the vans overlooked the wants of the group and became unhappy with the pressure placed on them to do what the group wanted. While the Benham's van was eventually going to beaches more exciting, they first were scheduled to stop at a marketplace to get yet more fresh fruit. Sacrificing myself (and avoiding the tension that was sure to be present in the other vans) I joined the Benhams in their vehicle, thus delaying my arrival at the other beach. We did hit the marketplace and I found a couple things that wallet couldn't resist. One other attempted stop followed then we headed north on Highway 11 through endless, jagged, coral graffiti-laden lava fields toward what I though was Spencer Beach (which was actually Hapuna Beach). Although in Kona the weather began to degrade, the Sun shown bright and hot on the beach that we drove to. Dr. Benham, Charles and I walked up and down the beautiful body filled beach looking for the missing members of the class. Without success we returned to our vehicle and began to round the island and head back to KMC.
Waimea, HI is host to the headquarters of the Keck observatory atop nearby Mauna Kea Mountain. Dr. Benham, always pushing for students' goals, wandered around the empty building to help me look for anyone that could help me get to the top of Hawaii's highest peak to see the observatories that call it home. We met no one this Saturday at the headquarters and set a goal to call there on Monday to try to make some connections. With this, our van then again sped down the highway and, in almost no time passed from the dry, leeward side of the island to the wet, windward side. We weaved around cinder cones a-plenty within the mist and clouds of this portion of the island. Once on the part of the highway that parallels the _________ coast nearly every bridge crossing a valley was a scene like those filmed on Kawai for the movie Jurassic Park. The Sun was on its way toward the western horizon, providing a golden backlight to the valleys. This brilliant light did well for the colors that are always present
there but could only be enhanced this time of day. I could almost hear John Williams' sweeping score in my mind for all these brief, driving moments. Once in Hilo, the Benham parents thriftily shopped for the group's food. We returned to KMC and feasted on a spaghetti dinner prepared by our illustrious on-staff chef.
And then there was the night. Card games, chess, and loud cheers made up the first part of the evening following dinner. Brook and I faced one another like brave warriors on the chess field while others took part in the playing card games. Once the crowds thinned here in the firehouse, only the true and the proud were left to whittle the night away with conversation that makes friends out of relative strangers. Matt, Nick, Kristin and I went from philosophy to philosophy and from body part to body part when we talked tonight. That sounds kinda' crude but it would not be true for me to let loose the fantastic words that we shared. By the time 4:30am rolled around we all decided to end the night with a slumber party on the floor of the firehouse.
Oh, and DAMN Nick! That's some smelly stuff!
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