Day 23: Honokaa to Waimea

February 2, 2016

We collected a photo of Annelle and Jory, behind the counter at the Hotel Club Honokaa. That counter, by the way, is made from a single branch of a Monkey Pod tree. Our stay had been more like a B and B, and we did much appreciate the personal touch. Annelle sent us off with some bananas picked by Jory that morning, plus a nice bag of chewy dried bananas prepared by a friend of hers.

Annelle and Jory of the Honokaa Club Hotel

Using the research we had done yesterday, we headed directly up toward Tex DriveIn, cutting a few km off the route. It did mean that we started climbing right away, and we had to keep climbing for at least 10 km. There is no real way to cheat on elevation. Waimea is 1,676 feet higher than Honokaa, so that is the minimum climb.

We decided to take the Old Mamalahoa Highway right at Tex. Annelle had warned that it has no shoulder and some traffic, so we were ready to bail out on it if necessary. However, it turned out to be one of the most pleasant rides of this tour. The traffic was very minimal and the drivers all polite. Meanwhile the road passed first by houses with lots of tropical foliage and flowers. I particularly love the banana trees, which look so tropical, and give the opportunity to assess the readiness for harvest of any bunches of bananas. Of course you also have to keep driving lines from Day-O out of your mind: " A beautiful bunch of ripe banana - Hide the deadly black tarantula"

The quiet beauty of the road is known to other cyclists, we saw, as about a half dozen eventually came down from the Waimea direction, with most turning around a coming back up to pass by us a second time.

At some point the tropical feel of the place dropped away, and we quite suddenly found ourselves in an upland environment of eucalyptus trees and grass. It was cooler too. We felt we had jumped from Hawaii to Kamloops (an inland area of British Columbia). This of course is part of the magic of the Big Island. It has so many ecozones. And of course that has to mean you switch from one to another quickly, even on a bicycle.

There were oranges, tangerines, and guava galore along the way. The bananas here were picked this morning by Jory.

The first part of the road has all sorts of flowers. Here, one of our favourites, the bamboo orchid.

Most houses had an orange/tangerine tree like this. We did our picking from semi wild ones overhanging the road.

Eucalyptus dominated the surroundings after a while

Many guava trees by the roadside. They were not quite ripe, though

Many old lava tubes can be seen along the way. We understand it is possible to go quite far into them. No thanks.

The old highway eventually descended and joined 19, the main road. It does this at an intersection with Mud Lane, which is a route from Honokaa we considered using last year. We had been turned off by that "Mud" designation, so now we peered along it to try to see what it would have been like. Well, it looked like a narrow lane and we didn't see any mud, so maybe...

Very quickly from this point the road ran into the developed portion of Waimea. Waimea is sort of the least Hawaiian of the Hawaiian towns. It has lots of (three?) big grocery stores, plus maybe two sort of shopping malls, lots of churches, lots of banks, and even one (at least) traffic light.

Super important for us is the fact that it also has Mamane Bakery. We first learned of this bakery in our old guide book, which located it in Honokaa. But nope, we are Honokaa experts! Then I spotted one of their breads in the Malama in Honokaa, and the address on the bread was Kamuela (Waimea). So when we say a faded sign saying "Bakery", we were on it!

Mamane is in a large building set back from the road and behind a house. Inside we met the owner, Eliahu Ely Pessah, and we also met a rack of wonderful pastries and yes, a real rye bread. Behind Eliahu was a great open workspace, with large wood topped tables, best for working with bread. Eliahu listened patiently as I ranted about the poisonous Love's Bakery dreck sold everywhere. He pointed out that his bread is completely without preservatives. We loved the man and the place.

The nice welcome at Mamane was repeated as we pulled in to a fruit and veggie stand on the grounds of the Ke Ola Mau Loa church. The lady there was much interested in our tour, and also had some lovely ripe starfruit at the reasonable price of 3 for $2. On a table nearby, three people were trimming Ti leaves for use in a leaf wrapped steamed pork dish. We asked if we could take a photo of this traditional looking activity, but no, one of the ladies was camera shy. Everybody waved us on, though, and we headed deeper into town.

Our next stop was the Parker Ranch store and shopping area. Waimea is the centre of the Parker Ranch operation. Parker Ranch all started in 1793, when Captain George Vancouver gave a gift of long horned cattle to Kamehameha I. By 1815 wild herds of these were rampaging over the whole Kohala area. John Palmer Parker got the job of harvesting them. Parker kept the best ones as the foundation of a private herd, and managed to buy land to house them based on having married Kamehemeha's great granddaughter. The ranch eventually hit 225,000 acres - 9 percent of the island.

Our impression that we had arrived in Kamloops was not just a fleeting thing. Waimea really does trade the flowers and papaya image for jeans, leather boots, and cowboy hats. This change does hit home rather forcefully when you walk in to the Parker Ranch store.

Just opposite the store is another big indication that this is new territory. That is Village Burger. We were first alerted to it by Robert Ewing, in the Guestbook last year. We hope to join him there this time around. Village Burger features giant burgers made from the local beef. It is tremendously popular - a small place normally with a lineup - just like famous delis in Montreal or New York.

A stop at the post office was needed, because I managed to cycle out of Honokaa with the room key in my pocket. Parked outside the post office while Dodie did the mailing chore, I entertained three, yes three, rounds of Usual Questions. Because this is Hawaii, it turned in to a bit of a party, with people hanging around chatting not now with me (and soon, Dodie) but with each other.

Between the bakery, the fruit stand, the sales girl in the Parker store, the post office, and soon, the motel, we have felt tremendously welcomed in Waimea.

We reported to our accommodations here - Waimea Country Lodge, in the middle of downtown, with some misgivings. Yelp reviews had tended toward the negative, some violently so. But as mentioned the front desk staff were very welcoming, and the room is fine. In fact it is extremely large, has a tv and a fridge, real bath tub, nice view, matching furniture -no problem. Sometimes its hard to know what people writing reviews are going on about.

Shortly we will head out for this year's test of Village Burger. Stay tuned for that...

Back to the main highway (19) and its heavy traffic.

If you are not into bakeries so much, how about this (Dave!)

With the Mamane bakery around, we are less interested in this.

The food court by the Parker Ranch store has all furniture like this. Wow.

Murals at the Parker Ranch store illustrate well what this place is all about

Locals who met us and each other at the post office.

Robert Ewing and Village Burger

What a pleasure to meet Robert Ewing. People that you meet or follow on Crazyguyonabike (this blog site) can take on the glow of movie or tv stars. So meeting them in person is always a treat. Then of course there is so much in common that you can chat pretty much forever.

We first encountered Robert when he suggested in our Guestbook last year that we check out Village Burger in Waimea. We did that, and agreed that it is the best burger pretty much anywhere. So this year when the chance to get together came up, the place had to be Village Burger.

Village Burger uses only local grass fed beef. It has great flavour, and they make the burgers really big. We gave the rave reviews last year, and this time around was as good. Only thing, the fries seemed dry and crispy. It was interesting, but not totally satisfying.

We chatted with Robert for two hours. Unlike us, he has lived in Hawaii and has family in Waimea, Robert has lots of knowledge about the place, including non-tourist places to hike, cycle, or swim. He gave us the choice, and it seems we have chosen swim. Since we readily confessed to zero open ocean ability, we think (hope) he will take us to the kiddy pool equivalent. We are excited about the possible chance to see some fish with a snorkel.

For now we are happily watching the 24/7 TV coverage of the caucus stages of the US presidential election. It is quite good, kind of an action/thriller/horror story combination. Most theatre productions are about 2 hours, but this one is 12 months. Wow.

burger photos coming...

The Parker Ranch Centre. It is strangely modern and generic for a "ranch" thing. But that's the way with all of Waimea that we have seen so far - strangely modern and generic.

From the Parker Centre you see Mauna Kea. The Keck telescope visitor centre is here, so we will be going to check that out.

No, Dodie is not going to eat both! She is just figuring out which is the lamb and which is the beef burger.

Today's ride: 28 km (17 miles)
Total: 769 km (478 miles)

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