Family Vacation - We Did It - HANA

Nearly 30 years had passed since I had felt this wonderful breeze and smelt the air that most suntan lotions try to imitate in their scent. The Kahului airport had an open air concept, so upon exiting your aircraft you are greeted by the tropical elements. Our car rental people picked us up and within the hour we were turning the key in our condo door. The walk down the corridor to our oceanfront unit brought a flood of foggy childhood memories - all wonderful thoughts. I don't think Zol really knew what we were coming to and as subtle as it was, I could see on his face that he was impressed with my/our choice of heading to Maui. We stripped Graye down to her skivvies and each cracked a Pacifico, kicking back on the lounge chairs out front. The ocean was 20 feet away and we basked in the sound of crashing waves. The bubbly foam came just a few feet away as the waves swelled in and out.

A few days passed. Pure relaxation. Beer at 10am (time change people!!!) walk on the beach, simple lunch, maybe a trip to the store, BBQ dinner, cocktails... We finally got out the map of the island. No sorry let me rephrase that - we drove ALL OVER THE PLACE trying to find an actual MAP of the island that had road names on it, not just 'points of interest'. We could time Graye's nap for her to fall asleep in the car while we drove somewhere and hopefully she would be OK on the drive home after running around for a while at our destination. Sooooo... where-should-we-go...? Hana?

Hana looked amazing on all of the tourist pamphlets we'd picked up in our endless search for a real map. Jungles, black lava rock, thatched huts - hellz! one of the parks was called 'The Garden of Eden'. We HAD to go! The road on the map looked a little crazy though. Maybe a one hour drive? So we jumped in the car with map in hand and headed on our way. Graye fell asleep within 20 minutes of being on the road.

Some couples suck at giving directions to each other. Some are horrible backseat drivers. Some couples are both. That would be Zol and I in a CITY setting. Put us in a rural area and we are perfectly civil and nice. We actually get to said destination with smiles on our faces. Sorry, we actually get to said destination with smiles on our faces unless one particular thing isn't taken care of beforehand. I'll let you know what that 'thing' is in a minute.

20 minutes into our ride the small towns and villages petered away as we headed up the breathtaking North coast of Maui. The road began to curve and twist and twist and turn like no other road I had ever been on. The video doesn't do it justice...







We were following a small tourist bus that drove ridiculously slow and even slower when it came the crest of every hill or up alongside a waterfall. I nonchalantly turned my eyes to the left and looked at the gas gauge. It was below 1/4 of a tank full. "Ummm... how are we for gas sweety??" "Fine. We'll get some in Hana." Being in charge of the map I waited 'til the next point of interest came along and checked how far away we were from Hana. Not even a quarter of the way there. "Zol, we're not going to get there for a LONG time. Maybe there's a gas station coming up. If there is we HAVE to get gas!" "Yup umhmm." I felt a panic fall all over me. I have a serious mental problem when it comes to the possibility of running out of gas. Maybe it's due to the fact that I drove a van that had a broken gas gauge for 2 years. I have run out of gas no less then 15 times and every one of them has been unforgettable. Before we had left the question was asked... "Do we need gas?" "Nope we're good".

Another hour of driving the curvy roads passed. I took videos and pictures and tried to have a nice time while Graye still slept in her car seat behind me but my mind was overrun with horrible running out of gas scenarios. We were now pulled to a stop in a long long lineup of cars... all winding down into a deep ravine with a beautiful waterfall at the base of it. And dump trucks. And tractors. And pylons. And people standing outside of their cars because they had been their for so long. ROAD WORK. Fuck me. Zol turned off the car and we sat quietly. After 2 minutes Graye awoke, sweaty and with a wtf? cry. As soon as I cracked the door open I regretted it. A wave of soggy heat flooded the car and we might as well have been in an Native American sweat tent. - 2 hours in and dying to get out. We all got out of the stuffy car and Zol held Graye up to look down the ravine at all of the road work. First chance I got I found somebody to ask about getting gas. Turns out he needed gas as well but the only station was in Hana which was still an hour away. We wilted in the sun as turning the car on for AC meant burning our precious gasoline. 20 minutes later the line of cars began to move. My stomach was not only in a knot from the thoughts of our gas running out, but was now also STARVING. Temped to eat Graye's snack food I refrained and instead channeled my hungry anger into how I felt about possibly being stranded on the side of the road. "You know? You know what? NEXT TIME? Cause there WILL be a next time. I don't CARE if you THINK whatever the hell is in the tank is going to get us to a place that we've never even BEEN TO before - WE ARE GETTING GAS FIRST BECAUSE I CAN'T HANDLE THIS!!"

The scenery changed and houses started to show up on the sides of the road... Hana was close, sort of. The car made a chugging sound and lurched a little as we pulled out of a corner. I wasn't sure if this was due to the fact that it was a well used 2003 Nissan Sentra or the fact that we were running out gas. The gauge had sunk well below the red line and that meant EMPTY.

My stomach tight and my fingers clenched as the car chugged forward. Where the HELL was HANA!??

to be continued...