Day 17: Lapahoehoe to Honokaa: Paradise Lost, or just changed.

December 3, 2014

We are in Honokaa, happily ensconced in a B&B, with a soft bed and a good reading light!

Stay tuned for the story and photos of how we got here.

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Our highly illegal camping spot - no permit and in a forbidden shelter!

Lapahoehoe Beach Park has lots of nice pavilions, but each is heavily emblazoned with no No Camping and even No Overnight Use signs. Presumably, if you happen to have a camping permit, you put your tent anywhere else on the grounds. There is certainly nothing like a "Welcome Campers - Place your tent here" sign. They just take your $42 over the internet and good luck.

Since our permit for the night was for Kolekole and not Laupahoehoe, we were already outlaws. So did that mean we should go into a pavilion - in for a penny, in for a pound? Dodie's answer was yes. When Dodie sees a covered pavilion she goes berserk. She just loves a covered pavilion, and despises a wet tent. As it happened, it rained in the night, so she was really happy. Actually, she was not all that happy, since lying in the tent seemed to glitch her back. It had the dubious benefit of overshadowing the knees for a time. Dodie is having a hard trip.

Leaving Lapahehoe involved climbing 2 km straight up. At one point our climb was enlivened by a wild sow running across the road. She was followed by two mid-sized babies. They were all black, and unlike our domestic pigs were not stretched out in profile, but rather seemed quite compressed. The image below, found in a bus shelter, gives a quite accurate idea. The climb out of Lapahoehoe was followed by a fairly large gulch, which was the introduction to 10 km of just generally uphill travel. The image of Hawaii as a gentle place to go for a rest comes from the marketing of beach holidays, in Kona or Waikiki. People who know the whole of the Island, like Ironman competitors, know that is is often quite tough.

The 10 km of upward road gained us 1000 feet of elevation. With this change, we lost the jungle. What had been mostly banana and vines and palms gave way to Eucalyptus plantations, on former sugar cane lands. I like Eucalyptus!, but though pleasant, it does not qualify as official "paradise" foliage. On the other hand, I think we also left most mosquitoes behind.

Look down, and see the small but typical Hawaiian waterfall.

Since we only have a very little bit of fuel left, and have decided to avoid the weight of carrying more, we only ate tuna salad and crackers for breakfast. So when we saw what looked to be a store coming up, we got quite excited. Not wanted to be too disappointed if it was not a store, I suggested we might be looking in the distance at a "Watch for falling rocks" sign, and Dodie said maybe just a house with a coloured roof. As we drew alongside we saw that while indeed there was a house with a coloured roof, beside it was ... a bakery! This was not a full fledged bakery, now. That is, no pains aux chocolat or erdbeeren schnitte. Rather it was a small cookie factory - Donna's Cookies, and featuring free samples!

Donna's certainly gave us the oomph to push on into Honokaa. As we had read, this is a historic town, with slightly wild west looking buildings. Our objective was to find some real food. Remembering Pahoa, we held out until we had traversed the whole place, so we could see all that was on offer. We chose a place at the far end - Gramma's Kitchen - and definitely hit the jackpot. Gramma's is named for the two Portugese grammas of the owner. Although the menu seems to use Portugese terms, there is nothing actually Portugese on it. However, what the place does have is high quality simple food. My burger, for example, used a big patty of locally grown grass fed beef. Dodie's mashed potatoes were potatoes, mashed. It was just what we needed.

Our waitress at Gramma's was interesting. It was she that made the point that Hawaii is not necessarily an easy place to vacation in, without a car. She is a distance runner, and she said she can not find a level place to train. While running hills might seem an advantage, she said when she comes to a race in a level place, like Honolulu, she is at a disadvantage. Her muscles are not used to the strain of the flats!

Next to Grammas is a large supermarket, and we found it well stocked, including a lot of "Hawaiian" foods. I snapped a photo of one item - a Spam based bento tray. Hmmm. Just for balance, I also photographed some of the "real" stuff: Friskies. Just from the names, I am guessing Friskies would give us more push for the hills.

Our bed and breakfast is called Waipio Wayside Inn - 2 miles down the road toward the famous Waipio Valley. The house is an elegant 1938 construction, with hardwood floors and solid wood furniture. The owner, Jacqueline, has it in immaculate condition, and we love it. Dodie found a title of the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency that she had not read. With this, a nice bed and good light, you have another form of paradise.

There are a lot of other books placed around. One which caught our attention is a biography of Iz - Israel Kamakawiwo'ole. We first ran into Iz when we picked up a CD of his on our last visit here. We loved his sweet voice and Hawaiian lyrics. Later we learned of his struggle with his weight, and read how he knew he would soon die from its effects. Iz died in 1997, aged 38, probably the most famous Hawaiian singer of his time.

We admot we do not really know what sugar cane looks like. This seems very thin, but is it cane growing thin and wild, by the roadside. Half of our day today had this by the roadside.

In Gramma's restaurant, these books helped clue us in to where we had arrived at. The high school annuals are from the 60's. We note that most of the students are of Japanese, Chinese, or Hawaiian origin.

The story of Grammas. It's a nice tribute to the two grammas, but in fact none of their food can be found on the menu.

This bento offering is not really cheap. We can think of a more economical alternative - next photo.For a further look at Musubi, check Robert Ewing's article

Seems like it could be packed with hill climbing power.

Very large Eucalyptus plantations could be seen all along our route today.

IZ - a sweet voice we have enjoyed for many years.

Today's ride: 32 km (20 miles)
Total: 518 km (322 miles)

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