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Hawaii
The Lodge at Koele on the island
of Lanai was the perfect place to conclude our great adventure.
It is very different from what one would expect for a hotel
in Hawaii. It is on the side of a mountain (large hill) and
looks and feels more like Aspen. It was decorated for Christmas
from one end to the other. It was just what we ordered. We
had successfully avoided the Christmas hype and now with just
three days to go before Christmas day, it's Christmas.
The only thing missing was our family but, at least, we knew
they would be all together in Colorado with our daughter Paige
and her husband Chris.
Until the late 1980's, the island
was the home of the largest pineapple plantation in the world.
They closed it down because they couldn't compete with the
cost of labor in the Philippines and Central America. Now
it is the home for two wonderful resorts, the Lodge and Manele
Bay. Manele Bay is located on the beach and has a completely
different climate. The lodge is much cooler with more cloud
cover while the Bay is very sunny and warm. Both have golf
courses and we, of course, played them both.
Our first day of golf, Ashley
and I met a lovely woman from Napa, California. Her name is
Mary Lou, Hicks. She was traveling with her husband, Phil,
and three others, Bob Vener, his lovely wife, Lauren Coyne,
and Gary Verwer. We all played golf at Manele Bay and had
a wonderful dinner at the Lodge the night after Christmas.
We hope to have them visit us in Desert Mountain for more
golf continued good times. The day we played at Manele Bay
we ran into our friends Luther and Cheray Hodges from Carefree,
Arizona. We had an enjoyable dinner and Luther and I managed
to avoid discussing politics making the evening particularly
pleasant. Luther and I have a history of lively political
debate.
On Christmas day, we took a tour
of the islands of Hawaii and Maui in our airplane. We flew
over the volcanoes (Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea) on the Big Island
and watched the steam rise from the ocean as the hot lava
met the cold Pacific Ocean. We then flew to Maui and landed
at the Hana airport on the east end of the island. It is quite
isolated from the more populated west end where most of the
resorts are located. We met two nice ladies working at the
airport and one of them called for a courtesy car to take
us to the Hotel Hana-Maui for Christmas lunch. It was a beautiful
spot and the lunch was excellent. I had two Maiti's before
the meal so we all decided that I couldn't fly the airplane
back to Lanai. Afterwards, we were driven back to the airport
in a red 1932 Packard bus.
After takeoff, we circled the
island of Molokai, once the home of a large leper colony,
before returning to Lanai. We had dinner that evening at the
lodge and were seated next to a young navy couple. It was
her birthday and they were obviously having a wonderful time
together. It was an opportunity for us to thank them for serving
our country and protecting us from the bad guys.
We check out of the Lodge at
Koele on December 28, our last day before leaving for the
mainland. Prior to flying to Honolulu for our departure the
next day, we took another island tour in the airplane. This
time we went to Kauai and had lunch at the Princeville Resort.
The view from there was one of the most picturesque of the
entire trip. We were seated on the veranda looking across
a bay toward a beautiful green mountain. Since we were on
the north side of the island, the surf was quite heavy. If
you ever decide to go there, be sure and take a helicopter
from the airport to Princeville. We rented a Firebird convertible
that was not designed for four adults. The traffic on the
only road on the island was so bad that we thought we would
have to amputate our legs before we got back.
Our flight to Honolulu was filled
with melancholy. I had spent the better part of two years
planning every detail of the trip and it was about to be over.
The experience had exceeded every expectation but as with
all great experiences, there was a sadness that it was almost
concluded.
It was to be our last flight
on N982GA before leaving for the mainland. We had not found
anyone that would commit to installing the extra fuel (ferry)
tanks on the airplane before the middle of January. We had
no choice but to go home on a commercial airliner and come
back later. Leaving the airplane behind in Hawaii was going
to be a bitter pill to swallow. She had carried us safely
for over 30,000 miles and had become our trusted friend. Upon
arrival in Honolulu, the four of us exchanged hugs, shared
our mutual appreciation for the companionship of the last
three months, and left for our respective hotels. We wouldn't
see each other again until we reached Scottsdale.
That night we stayed at the Royal
Hawaiian Hotel on Waikiki Beach in Honolulu. It is a beautiful
hotel but we didn't see much of it. We arrived at about 7:00
PM and had to set our alarm clock for 4:00 AM the next morning
so that we could make our flight to San Francisco and then
home. As is the tradition in Hawaii, we were adorned with
a lei of flowers when we registered. Ashley suggested that
we wear them to the airport the next morning so we did.
Our flight left on time and we
were soon on our way to the mainland in a United Airlines
Boeing 767. About an hour out of Hawaii, I asked the flight
attendant if she would find out from the pilot if we had a
tail wind. She came back in about a minute and told me that
we were flying at 31,000 feet and that the wind was quartering
off the tail at 115 knots with a tail component of 91 knots.
Our King Air 200 will fly at 31,000 feet with an air speed
of 260 knots. Add 90 knots on the tail and our ground speed
would be 350 knots. It is 2,012 miles from Hilo, Hawaii to
San Francisco. Including climb out, it would take us about
six hours to make the passage with a ground speed of 350 knots.
We have enough fuel to fly for a little over seven hours.
N982GA could have made it without extra fuel with an hour
to spare! (Well, assuming the winds maintained the same
level for the entire passage, we could have made it.)
We landed in San Francisco in
time for me to watch the second half of the Texas Tech vs.
Iowa football game in a bar across from our gate. As most
of you know, I am a Texas Tech graduate (1964) and I was excited
to hopefully cheer my team to victory. There was a couple
sitting next to me cheering for Iowa. She was Iowa's swim
coach. I was still wearing the flowers around my neck that
we had been given the night before. When Tech lost by a field
goal in the waning moments of the game, I gave her my flowers.
The flight out of San Francisco
was also on time and we arrived at our gate in Phoenix early.
By the time we got home, it was 9:30 PM and our daughter,
Robin, was there to greet us. We were home but the trip was
not over. We still have to get N982GA back from Hawaii. Stay
tuned.
One final comment, we cannot
tell you all how much we appreciate your reading these journals.
We have been receiving over 200 hits per day! That probably
means that at least 500 people have been keeping up with us.
Your comments on the Guest Page and your Emails have been
wonderful. You made us feel that we were never alone. Thanks
again. There will be at least one more episode but it will
probably not be written for a couple of weeks.
Till next time,
Pat and Ashley
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