March 23 - Volcano to Hilo

 

For the second morning in a row, we enjoyed our B&B host's breakfast hospitality over fresh tropical fruit, pancakes, sausage, eggs, and as always, Kona coffee. On this morning we were also joined by many other B&B guests from all over the U.S.

 

Aloha Junction B&B

 

The sun came back out as we packed up to leave, so we decided to complete the 15 mile Crater Rim Road within Volcano NP that we had cut short yesterday due to rain. Of course, once committed to this loop, the clouds rolled back in and the wind picked up. We dodged the rain drops, took a few photos of the craters and barren lavascape, then hit the highway for Hilo and the warmth of sea level, 28 downhill miles or an average of 27 mph for the first 20 miles. As they might say in Hawaiian, "Waahuu!!"

 

Panorama of Kiluea crater with offerings to goddess Pele

 

   

Hilo, mean annual rainfall greater than 300 inches

 

Just outside of Hilo Mike stopped to fix another flat on his rear tire while I checked to see if there was anything I might want at Baskin and Robbins 31 ice cream flavors. We checked into the Hilo Seaside Hotel, cleaned up, and explored Hilo on foot. This involved walking several miles to 2 bike shops and getting caught in a drenching thundershower on the way back from dinner at Café Pesto. To escape the rain, we ducked into a miniMart on the way back to the hotel and discovered....Big Ed ice cream sandwiches, which we took back to the room with us. This is becoming a bicycle touring tradition since discovering these on our 2001 TransAm trip.

 

Mike finds a Big Ed ice cream sandwich in Hawaii

 

We were pleased with our accommodations at the Hilo Seaside Hotel until we discovered that our location was at the end of the Hilo airport runway. For a while, every 15 minutes, there was a deafening jet engine roar, the room shook, and it sounded as if a large jet was going to touch down on the hotel roof. This was followed by Mike exclaiming loudly, "GEEZ!!, then laughing, and shaking his head. It would have been a very long night if the air traffic had not eventually eased off.

 

March 24 - Hilo to Honokaa

 

   

Sunny morning outside our hotel room... leaving Hilo Seaside

 

We were glad to see the sun in the morning, but it was not long lived. We put in over 50 miles today riding north up the Hamakua Coast. Whenever there was a particularly scenic overlook or route (and there were many), the clouds rolled in, but if the riding was uphill or potentially hot, the sun was back out. 

 

       

On a scenic detour, 

the sun disappeared to gray-out a photo op, 

but returned to entice us to stop for tropical fruit smoothies.

 

We had a good ride but were tired and sweaty by the time we reached Honokaa and checked into the Hotel Honoka'a Club, built in 1908, where our room overlooked the distant Pacific. Honokaa is another small town reflecting old Hawaii's plantation days. Our dinner at the Italian restaurant in the historic area was another of many very good meals on this tour.

        

       

Hotel Honokaa Club

 

March 25 - Honokaa to Waimea

 

Early morning at the Honokaa Saturday Market

 

We started up the old Mamalahoa Highway to Waimea after breakfast at Tex’s open air café. This climb of 3000 ft over 16 miles took us up to the Parker Ranch cattle country in the green Kohala Mts. Again, the morning weather was sunny and pleasant. After a mile or so of slow climbing, we passed a fenced yard with a young dog in it. The dog ran along the fence, whining to get out as we rode past. We had not ridden much further before this same dog loped up behind us, obviously inspired by us to find his escape and overjoyed to consider himself a part of our adventure too. He followed us for many miles, despite our attempts to convince him he should turn around and go home. Finally, we had to stop and become more persuasive as the pup was posing a hazard to our progress and looking quite lost. While Mike tried to undo any friendly impression and send the dog home, I pedaled on as fast as I could to get ahead, figuring that Mike would catch up.

 

Just out of sight of Mike, I reached a fork in the road. Both directions looked equally important to me, and I misread the road sign, taking the wrong fork. I was not on this road long before I caught my mistake but it was long enough for Mike, who was behind me, to get ahead of me. When I returned to the fork, I thought Mike was still behind me, so I waited a while for him to catch up. Meanwhile, Mike thought I was ahead, so he pedaled on to try to catch me. Eventually, when Mike did not show up, I flagged down a motorist coming from Mike’s direction who told me Mike was up ahead. The remainder of the way into Waimea, I tried to catch Mike, and Mike pedaled on trying to catch me. All of this made for a 1-2 hours of unplanned, separation. We didn’t reconnect until we ran into each other in Waimea, both of us looking for our destination, the Kamuela Inn. This is the first bicycle tour on which we have carried a cell phone, but only one of us had it. A lesson learned from this is that we each plan to carry a phone in the future.

 

 

Up the old Mamahaloa Hiway through Parker Ranch country to Waimea   

 

At the Kamuela Inn, we quickly unloaded our bikes and put on hiking clothes, then biked back out of town to White Rd, and the Hamakua Ditch, a highly recommended hike. This involved climbing over a gate labeled "ABSOLUTELY NO TRESPASSING", and hiking a couple of miles through a tropical forest preserve to an overlook at the top end of famous Waipio Valley. The trail then follows a ledge along the steep upper wall of the valley. Unfortunately, by the time we got there, the valley was shrouded in thick clouds, allowing us only brief glimpses of the spectacular view possible on a clear day.

 

  

Hiking to the Waipio Valley overlook,.... over looking the clouds 

 

Back in Waimea, we had dinner at the food court in Parker Square Mall, and headed back to the Inn. Our room was the smallest we’ve had the entire trip, barely big enough for the bed, yet we had to squeeze our bikes in too. Late in the evening, Mike made a trip to the laundromat, which proved to be a 35 minute walk to the other side of town.

 

March 26 - Waimea to N. Kohala

 

We got a late start this am and ended up back at the nearby Parker Square Mall, looking for breakfast and contemplating our plan for the day. A tropical storm front was forecast for the next few days, so we sat outside the Mall and debated when, how, and where we should get the rental car (necessary for transporting the boxed bikes to the airport) to finish up our vacation. Hawaii has been experiencing unusually wet, stormy weather, and it was becoming a bit discouraging. So far, weather was overcast, and we had not had much rain in Waimea. We contemplated the bus schedule, routes to the Kona airport, etc, and finally, decided to head directly for our N. Kohala B&B by bike. Leaving the cool mountain environment of Waimea and dropping back down to the coast via Hwy 19, went very quickly, though we had to contend with a blustery wind heralding the incoming storm. 

 

Spencer beach - popular with the locals

 

We took a break at the historical sites near Spencer Beach, still optimistic that we would have some good weather tomorrow then turned north toward our B&B. In Kawaihae we stopped at a minimart to pick up dinner for later that evening: tuna sandwiches, chips, and beer. When I had made reservations at Hale Ho'onanea B&B in N. Kohala Estates, I had not made much notice of its elevation, 900 ft in a steep climbof 1.6 miles. This proved too much for both of us with our heavily loaded bikes. We were pushing the bikes and drenched in sweat by the time we arrived to a warm welcome from our hosts. Our suite for the next 2 nights included a bedroom, kitchenette, living room, and outside lanai, much more elbow room than we had in Waimea. Hale Ho'onanea means House of Relaxation in Hawaiian, and we were very happy to have such nice accommodations for our last 2 nights in Hawaii. We relaxed on the lanai with our tuna sandwiches, chips, and beer, and watched the incoming storm front obscure the sunset over the Pacific.

 

March 27 - N. Kohala layover day

 

The rain picked up overnight and by morning, we were socked into a tropical storm system with flash flood warnings in effect for the whole island. This was supposed to be the day in which we enjoyed the beaches on the "dry" side of the island. Originally we had planned to bike south from here, exploring the beaches on the way to the Kona airport to pick up the car late in the day. Instead, the weather was so bad, that we decided we needed the car sooner. Our gracious hosts, Bruce and Melanie, offered to give Mike a ride the 35 miles to the airport, but Mike said that biking was "part of the adventure" and set off solo. As soon as he was down on the highway, the adventure escalated to monsoon proportions, wind whipped the palms, and rain pounded down in sheets.

 

Mike rode 35 miles in this storm while I hunkered at the B&B

 

Mike had to lean into the wind or fall over, grateful for the exceptionally wide bike lanes along the highway designed to accommodate Hawaiian Ironman competitors. The rain was so heavy that a flat roadkill mongoose that was becoming part of the road surface, rinsed loose and was flushed into the ditch as Mike rode past. He made it to the airport in just over 2 hours, totally soaked. Standing at the reservation counter, a puddle forming at his feet, he stated that he needed a car. The agent took one look at him and replied, "I can see that". Mike said he’d take anything with a roof and windows. A few hours later, he was back with a Dodge Neon.

 

I was glad to escape being cooped up indoors, so as soon as Mike could clean up and dry off, we took off in the car to explore the quaint towns of Hawi and Kapaau to our north. Then it was back on the highway south to Kona to retrieve one of our bike boxes (all that would fit in the Neon), and have dinner at a Mexican restaurant on Alii Drive. We returned to our B&B in N. Kohala for our last night in Hawaii, and spent it  packing one of the bikes into the box and hoping for a little bit of sun for beach time in the morning. Tomorrow PM we fly back home.

 

Shopping and gallery hopping in the rain in Hawi

 

When the clouds lifted, we could see Maui in the distance

 

Stormy weather over our Mexican dinner in Kona

 

 

March 28 - North Kohala to Kona then home

 

The sun returned for our last day in Hawaii, as we had hoped! We packed up everything in the tiny Dodge Neon, checked out of Hale Ho'onanea, and headed down the highway to Kona. The Neon had to be returned to the airport, and we had to pick up a different car, a convertible, reserved earlier. It would have cost us much more if we had kept the same car for 2 days. Go figure, but we needed the convertible to get both bike boxes back to the airport. 

 

Heading south on the highway, we could see that the recent storm had deposited fresh snow on the peaks of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. 

 

Generous bike lanes, as wide as a car lane, line the highway along Hawaii's Ironman Triathlon route.

There is also frequent signage warming motorists to "Yield to Bicycles", "Share the Road". This makes for the best higway biking conditions we have ever seen. We were told that before these upgrades were made to this highway specifically for cyclists, there were threats to move the Ironman competition to another island where the roads were in better condition.

 

At Bikeworks in Kona, we picked up the second bike box. Mike loaded the second bike in the box while I shopped for triathlon wear, then we returned to the airport with both boxed bikes and both cars. After we returned the Neon and checked in our boxes at the airport for our 11:00 PM flight, we had the whole day to enjoy the coast with the rented convertible. 

 

   

Exploring a black sand beach N. of Kona.... A sea turtle hauls out to rest.

 

Feeling relaxed

  

 

We snorkeled at this Historic Marine Preserve in the N. Kohala area

 

By late afternoon, we decided to visit the grounds of the expensive Mauna Kea Resort, but were turned away at the gate with the excuse that all parking was full. So we went down the road about a mile to Hapuna Beach and walked the public beach access trail back to the resort to check out how we could have a much more expensive experience in Hawaii then we did. By this time it was getting dark and storm clouds were forming again, blocking the sunset but adding drama to the beautiful white sand beach at Mauna Kea. It was even darker on the way back to Hapuna and difficult to see our footing on the rough trail, but we made it just before they closed the Park gates. Then back to Kona for a late dinner, off to the airport, and onto the plane, our hair still salty from the snorkeling. 

 

Another great Hawaiian vacation had come to an end.