Sunday, March 13 – transit from Hilo to Kona

I’m heading to Kona today, to finish out my trip there. I’ll be turning in my rental car today too. The route to Kona will be via the north coast, and I plan on making a few stops as I make my way to the airport. By going in this direction I will have completed a full loop of the island by traversing the belt road that is called the Māmalahoa Highway.

Travel Note: Daylight Savings Time (DST) began this morning in most of the country. However, Hawaii is one of two states (along with Arizona) that do not observe DST. Hallelujah! I won’t be losing an hour of the precious remaining time I have left on the islands.

My main point of interest this morning is the Pololu Valley, which is the most northern of the valleys that are carved into the Kohala volcano. It is a 2 hour drive from my hotel. There is an overlook to the valley and a hike that goes from the overlook down to a black sand beach. I was hoping to do the hike, but I had a deadline to get my car back to the airport, so ended up just viewing the valley from the overlook.

Located close to the valley is Keokea Beach Park. It’s kind of off-the-beaten-path – which you know I like! A perfect place to have a snack and take a break.

On my way to Kona, I’ll be passing through the little town of Kapaau, which is the birthplace of King Kamehameha I (KKI). To commemorate this, a statue was erected there of him in front of the historic county courthouse.

You may recall that I previously posted of photo of a KKI statue located in front of the the Aliʻiōlani Hale government building in Honolulu. You may further recall that the statue in Honolulu looks strikingly similar to this one. Well, it’s not a coincidence, and there’s an interesting story as to why…

The statue here in Kapaau has its origins in 1878 when it was commissioned to commemorate the 100 year arrival of Captain Cook to the Hawaiian Islands. An artist in Europe was chosen to create the statue. The finished brass sculpture was shipped from Germany in 1880 en route to Hawaii, but after encountering a storm in the south Atlantic, a fire broke out on deck and the ship sank near the Falkland Islands. Its entire cargo, including the sculpture, was presumed lost. When news of the shipwreck reached Honolulu, officials decided to commission a second cast using the insurance funds collected after the loss of the original. Ironically, and unbeknownst to Honolulu officials, fishermen managed to recover the sunken statue, which was recognized and bought by a British ship captain who then sold it in 1882 to the Hawaiian government. Now in possession of two identical statues, government officials decided to place the second cast, in considerably better condition than the original that had been damaged in the shipwreck, in the location originally intended to receive the statue, Honolulu. After some debate, the original was installed near Kamehameha I’s birthplace in North Kohala. Due to the shipwreck, neither statue was on-hand in Hawaii to fulfill the original plan of celebrating the 100th anniversary of Cook’s arrival to the islands.

After dropping off the rental car at the Kona airport, I headed to my accomodation in nearby Keauhou for the next two nights (via Uber: 25 minute drive, $35).

Travel Note: As predicted, the larger rental car I had here couldn’t match the milage I achieved with the smaller vehicles on the other two islands: 36 mpg (not as bad as I thought it’d be though!).

Travel Note: Distances that I drove on each island:

• Oahu: 0 miles
• Kauai: 298 miles
• Maui: 474 miles
• Big Island: 779 miles

Monday, March 14 – Keauhou

I have to admit, I am beat today. Kind of hit the wall. It’s probably partly a mental thing too, as I know this is my trip’s last day. After taking it easy for a couple hours though, I’m ready to explore a little bit of Kona.

The condo complex where I’m staying is located on Alii Drive, the main road in Kona along the coast. And there’s a trolley service that runs an hourly loop along the route, so my plan is take the trolley from the south end (where I’m located) up to its finish in the north and then walk back.

I finished the day by chillin’ out at the condo’s pool. Ahhh…

Tuesday, March 15 & Wednesday, March 16 – Transit from Kona to Madison

Sadly, after a little over 9 weeks, my time in Hawaii has come to an end.

My journey back to Madison begins early – a 5:30am Uber pickup ($35; 20 minutes) to get me to the airport for my 7:30am flight to Las Vegas.

My return itinerary isn’t pretty, but I really can’t complain after this great trip!

• Kona to Las Vegas; 5 hour flight
• Four hour layover in Las Vegas, which turns into 5 1/2 hours as departure is delayed (not that big of a deal though – I have to wait for the bus in Milwaukee anyway!)
• Three hour flight to Milwaukee; arrive at 2:30am
• Take the bus from Milwaukee to Madison; departs at 6:20am, arrives at 8:30am ($23)
• Ride home from Lake Street bus stop – thanks Chuck!

Trip Comments

Spending 9 weeks in Hawaii was amazing. I had a wonderful time! And how lucky did I get with the weather? Unbelievable! No rainouts throughout. Incredible!

I guess the only negative of the trip would be the disappointment of some Covid-related closures; specifically the Keck Observatory and Kalaupapa National Historic Park.

I have now visited 33 of the 51 states (incl Washington, DC). I’ve also been to two of the five U.S. Territories (Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico). Sadly, my country count has been on hold at 70 for the past two years, but hopefully that will change soon!

I remain thankful that I have been blessed with the time, funds and health to allow me to experience so much of the world!

Steps Update: I ended up averaging 16.2k steps per day for the trip (66 days). I was curious how this compared to my other winter escapes:

• 2019 South America: 14.4k per day (75 days)
• 2020 Europe: 16.1k per day (33 days)
• 2020 South America: 14.5k per day (30 days)

My friend John asked me a good question: With all of the walking that you did, how much weight did you lose? The answer: 4 pounds. He was rather surprised that it was so low! Understandable. I have a couple theories though: a) I was already rather light when I departed in January (160 pounds), and b) I have to admit I wasn’t eating the healthiest when I was staying in the hotels! (and my hunch is that weight loss is probably 80% due to diet, with the remaining 20% a result of exercise)

When I determined that I’d be spending my entire time in Hawaii I figured that a reasonable budget would be $300/day. I ended up coming in much lower than that though; mainly due to my extended stay in Oahu (long-term Airbnb and no rental car).

Thank you to everyone for following along, and for your feedback and comments. I enjoy working on these Journal Entries, and it means a lot to me that you are interested in its content. And it’s wonderful hearing from you as I travel solo on these long escapes.

And a big thanks to those of you who provided me with the awesome Hawaii travel tips and inside information: X & Linda, Ed, Kathy & Ray, Karen, Chuck, Debbie & Ron, Georgina, and John’s (de facto) sister-in-law Joyce.

Until next time, Mahalo and Aloha!