Good Bye, Mrs. Ohta!

Today was Mrs. Ohta's memorial service. I got there about half way through the visitation but they were already out of programs so I don't have a good photo to post. The Kohala Senior Center Club Ukulele Band was performing during the visitation. After the service there was a lunch in the social hall. When I went to leave Joy asked me to look at an old photo they found for the photo collage of her mother; she said they thought that I might be one of the kids in the photo. It turns out I was!

Seated, L to R: me, Fran, Mrs. Ohta, Susan; standing: Wayne.

On the ride to the airport this morning Curtis said he didn't really remember all the Ohta kids or Mr. & Mrs. Ohta. He said he thought it was because he was younger than me so he couldn't remember as much. I thought it was because of the year & a half that I lived at Halawa Camp. I asked Joy how much they remembered of us; she said they could remember me, Steve, & Fran very well but not much about Curtis & Susan. I know that Alton couldn't remember me; he was Uncle Kenneth's best buddy so I reminded him that I was his niece. I think the last time I saw Alton was when he and Uncle Ken were inducted in to the Army in 1962.

Because of the Ironman Championships causing road closures, in order to get to the service on time, I decided to take a very early flight around 5 am. Curtis got me to the airport about 3:20; the security guard said things would open up at 3:45 so we went to breakfast at McDonald's. We got back around 4; I had printed my boarding pass at home so I headed to the TSA Pre-check line. And found out that TSA doesn't open until 4:15! It was about 4:25 when I got to the gate; no one was there! But it left on time.


Frank, the Alamo shuttle van driver, gave us a bunch of information about the road closures. He said even though the handouts say that the highway closures would begin at 6:30 am, that is the time that the race begins with the swim and they actually keep the highway open until the bikes actually get on the road. He said it would be 30 minutes to an hour after the start of the swim before the first bikes would be getting on the road. I had no problem getting to Hawi.


I picked up the rental car so early I was able to see  the sun beginning to come up over Mauna Loa as I left the airport.


I can see why they choose to close the entire highway once the bikers are on the road. They have a lot of relief stations along the way. And although they are set up on the shoulders, the bikers would be in the travel lanes which would make it dangerous if there were vehicles on the road as well. (Earlier in the week one of the competitors was training on his bike and got hit by a truck; he was seriously injured.)


I made it to the house in an hour, which is the usual time when going via the Queen Ka'ahumanu Highway (SR 19) & Akoni Pule Highway (SR 270). I walked around, taking photos of all the changes and found that there was a dragonfruit, unfortunately it is now overripe and composting itself.
 

I also took a "before" photo of the garage; Chris has started working on it. By the end of the year he will have replaced the roof with one that can support solar panels. He is also replacing all the termite-damaged wood and upgrading the electrical wiring. The garage will also be dry.


I saw Lem at Mrs. Ohta's memorial; later I went to visit Uncle Kazu. I told both of them that we have plans to take Dad to Kohala next weekend. They are looking forward to his visit. When I pulled up to visit Uncle Kazu I saw him rolling himself around the parking lot. After I left he continued with his exercising.

Uncle Kazu in my side view mirror.

Because the Akoni Pule Highway is closed south of Hawi and the Queen Ka'ahumanu Highway is closed between the junction with Akoni Pule to Kailua-Kona everyone was having to use the Kohala Mountain Road. Usually I only see about a dozen cars between Kapa'au and Waimea; today I saw 134 vehicles, including 3 semis. 

On the Kohala Mountain Road near Pu'u Mamo Drive.

In Waimea, I had to take the Mamalahoa Highway. It runs along the plains of Mauna Kea & Mauna Loa. It lot of the area is grazing land for cattle. Parker Ranch is located here.


The Waimea Airport is off the Mamalahoa Highway. After commercial airlines switched from propeller-driven planes to jets, they could no longer use the Upolu Airport in North Kohala. So we had to fly in to the Waimea Airport; I remember it frequently being fogged in. As jets got larger, the new Kona Airport with longer runways was built to handle them.

At Waimea Airport, August 1961. Front row L to R: Susan, me, & Curtis; back row Dad & Mom.

Using the Kohala Mountain Road & Mamalahoa Highway took me 1 & 1/2 hours to get to the airport. There was a short section where I had to drive on the Queen Ka'ahumanu Highway; I passed a bunch of bikers who were on their way back to Kona. At the turn we had to wait for the police officer to wave us through between groups of bikers. On the news tonight they said the first person finished in about 8 hours, the first woman finished in just under 9 hours; so they finished about 2:30 and about 3:30. I was passing through here about 2:45 pm.

The signal lights in the distance are at the turn to the airport; the palms to the left lead down to the airport.

Ricardo the rooster was on the front lawn at the Alamo car rental place again. I dropped the car off just before 3, my plane was scheduled to leave at 4:08. There were more people at the gate this time than earlier this morning. 


I stopped at the restaurant in the airport to get something to drink. This 16.9 fl oz coconut water was $7.29! I can normally get a 33.8 fl oz coconut water at Longs for $6.19; when its on sale I can get two of them for $5.

After we got back, we let Pepper out so she could mingle with the other cats. It was really interesting watching her; she almost walked in to Shiro twice and both times she hissed at him. He just watched her. She never warmed up to them tonight, she just walked around meowing.


Happy Birthday to Fran & Zab!