to SFO 26 July 2021

Waiting at the gate: all checked in

From Aloft to the safe side of TSA: 45 minutes. Time out for (expensive!  but yummy) croissants and café lattes, and then quick Hawaiian health clearance. Suitably wrist banded so we skip the check-in at Keahole, we await the call for our group number. We watch the lines for Hawaiian Health pre-clearance explode, and hope all's going smoothly for the rest of our family. 

Guess you gotta have brutal architecture for a modren airport.

A couple of nice sausage croissants and lattes, then quickly through pre-clearance for Hawaii Health, a short wait, and then on the plane, another short wait while it mostly fills, and then roll back and the long ride out to the westbound runway...

Have we indeed come a long way, baby? Here we have an inflight magazine ad for shrunken camel dicks, no, cigars. Sorry.

In-flight lunch was pretty good – real cloth napkins and proper flatware, and a tender piece of beef made up for the questionable hot pot brisket (mostly connective tissue) from the night before.

Nearly five hours in the air, and then our first view of North Kohala, just west of Hawi. Out over the blue, blue ocean, then black lava fields and a smooth landing at Keahole.

 Wrist banded, we were out through checkin immediately, and had our luggage directly. A bit of a shit show to get the shuttle to car rental. The driver said they were hiring, couldn't find enough agents to man all three car companies, so they were managing though just the one. Our van wasn't quite ready, and it was hot and thirsty waiting for it, but finally we were in, air conditioning running full blast, and relaxing.

Another difficult travel day...

Easy ride through two rain showers to Puako, where we arrived a little early. Hawaiian kin' popsicles from the Puako General Store, a quick look at the beach park up the road, and now we're home. Wiped out, some of us in testy moods ...but we're here.

Michael tidepooling at Holoholokai Beach: first look at our“ ocean.

Not an easy place to make a living... 

11:21pm Hawaiian time, 4:21am CDT, 2:21am PDT: Miraculously, everyone who's supposed to be here is here!