Social Distancing Big Island Style!

I did a little more research and found that Hawaii Island has the lowest population density of the 4 counties of the state. On the island, people from other parts of the island say the north end is the "rural" part of the island. I think that's because until the late 1960's there was only one road in or out of the area and it was a narrow, winding road with big cane trucks barreling by so very few people went there. Here is the view from the end of the road that is closer to the more populated parts of the island.

If it was clear you would be able to see Mauna Kea & Mauna Loa.

It has been an interesting day; which started out with me doing my final packing. We left for the airport about 2 hours before my plane was to leave; traffic was extremely light. We got there and found I had forgotten my backpack! I had set it down on the table outside the back door when I went to unplug the Crosstrek and forgot to pick it up again. So we raced back to the house; good thing traffic was light. We returned to the airport about 30 minutes later; I breezed through check-in and bag drop, then headed for the gate. The terminal was pretty deserted and so was the gate; I double checked to make sure I was at the right gate.

It rained on the way to the airport. The first time.

It stopped raining before we got to the exit.

This is usually where the TSA line ends, about 30 minutes away from getting through TSA. Deserted.

We headed back home.

And it was lightly drizzling near home.

Had no trouble getting through TSA.

It was like an apocalypse movie or The Twilight Zone.

Here's the waiting area for my flight.

When I went to board the gate agent told me I had been assigned a new seat, 2F; in First Class! It turns out there were only 2 passengers on the flight; the other guy was given 1A. They were practicing social distancing but also keeping passengers in a smaller area to make disinfecting the plane easier. I still used my hand sanitizer after I got buckled in; they say the seat buckle is one of the germiest places on the plane.

All passengers have boarded the flight.

My upgraded ticket (top) and my original ticket.

Have hand sanitizer will travel.

It was an interesting flight. When the plane took off the engines didn't sound like they were working as hard as usual and lift off was in a shorter distance than usual. While in the air the plane seemed to bounce a little more. Landing seemed pretty normal, I didn't notice any differences. Except deplaning was extremely fast! There was a lot of equipment parked at the edges of the tarmac; walking through the terminal was quick and easy. And picking up my suitcase was a breeze!

This part is usually packed with people headed to the car rental shuttles.

The car rental agencies are now sharing shuttles and check-in facilities because there are so few people renting cars. There were lots of cars on the lot and in the overflow parking areas. They were also going to give me an upgrade from an economy car to a Charger at no cost; I went with the Sentra for better gas mileage.

The drive to Waimea was unbelievable. Since I moved back the only time I do not see a lot of cars on the road is when I come in late at night, then I am almost the only one on the road and its pitch black. Today the traffic was like 20 years ago with very few tourists.  

During daylight hours I always stop in Waimea on my way to the house; there are no stores between the airport & Waimea when you are heading north. Usually I am only going to Healthways to get items that I can't get at Takata, like sugar alternatives such as stevia & xylitol. I also checked their hand sanitizer & disinfectant wipes section; nada. They were doing social distancing at the register at Healthways; for most of the rest of the store you could avoid an aisle were someone else was getting something off the shelf.

I stopped at Village Burger to pick up lunch; they're located at the Parker Ranch Mall which has a large food court. But today all the tables and chairs in the food court were gone and the area was deserted. Village Burger is at the outer edge of the food court and is directly accessible from the parking lot so they were still open; all the other food places were closed. They had overturned stools that prevented customers from getting too close to the workers & food prep area and blue tape on the floor to let you know how far apart to stand.

The Parker Ranch Mall food court.

The Village Burger order counter is to the left.

I got the Double D Ranch Big Island Veal Burger; then I was asked if I wanted fries. I said, "No, I'm on a low carb diet." So the wait person said they could do the burger without a bun. Winner! No wasted food! They have really good bread products so I am glad someone else can benefit from my low carb diet. The burger was great even without the bun!

Bunless burger.

I also stopped at KTA Store; I had heard on the news a few days ago that they still had supplies like toilet paper & hand sanitizer. But by the time I got there they did not have hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes; though they still had toilet paper. But I have toilet paper so I didn't get any.

They also had Filipino style spaghetti sauce!

I headed to the house via the mountain road; its my favorite drive. But I turned off on the Hawi Road so I could go by Takata Store where I do the majority of my grocery shopping; I want to give them my business in exchange for the convenience of having them present in the community. And I found out they now have a bunch more sugar alternatives! They still have Parm Crisps, but it is the Basil Pesto flavor not the Original. They were out of hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes; they were all out of bleach as well. I picked up the basics for making the Pizza Topping Casserole: eggs, cheese, cream, pepperoni, & bacon. I brought sun-dried tomatoes with me.


I stopped at the post office to get my mail which had been piling up since I had skipped 2 trips in order to go to Washington to help Kai. When I arrived the postal worker was putting mail in the boxes in the lobby; her back was right up against my box. So I waited outside, reading all the community notices on the bulletin board. Several events had been canceled. And the Hawaii Wildlife Center needed some emergency volunteers; I'll check in tomorrow to see what's happening.

Grey was at the house when I arrived; we almost hugged but stopped ourselves. He needs to stay COVID-free. In November, Grey & 6 other international sailors boarded a sailboat in Barcelona, where he now lives, and sailed across the Atlantic; while they were at sea the coronavirus was incubating in Spain. To make a long story short, they have managed to stay ahead of the coronavirus until Mexico; where Grey was dropped off so he could get provisions and order spare parts for the rest of their journey. Grey minimized contact while in Mexico but their plans changed when the Marshall Islands closed their port off to anyone, including residents, from landing. Heading for Hilo was the alternative since Grey needed to get to US soil downwind of the sailboat before international travel was stopped. Since he arrived on the 19th Grey has been trying to minimize contact; I am the only person he has seen since then. At this point they are not a threat to the health of residents, the residents pose more of a danger to them. Essentially they will have been in a 30 day quarantine when they arrive. If any of them should come down with COVID-19 it could be life-threatening since they are on a sailing vessel in an area where the nearest land could be very far away, not to mention specialized medical services needed in critical cases of COVID-19!

After we caught up on what's been happening these past couple of decades, Grey went for a walk to get some exercise and I started a Pizza Topping Casserole. Problem is Grey is a pescatarian and there are no seasonings at the house beyond salt, pepper, & shoyu! So I made a very basic casserole (egg, cheese, cream) and seasoned it with chopped salted limes! It was actually good for having so few ingredients! After dinner Grey had half a papaya for dessert and I made a chocolate mug cake; I had brought most of the ingredients with me.

The official number of COVID-19 cases is now at 106, with 3 appearing to not be travel-related though they are still under investigation. Apparently 7 people have been hospitalized and 6 of those have since been released from the hospital. It was reported that overall 5,000 people have been tested and further tests on negative flu samples have been done resulting in no new COVID-19 cases. The 14-day mandatory quarantine started this morning and it was reported that arrivals are down by 87% compared to last year or down to about 4000 people arriving per day. Lt. Governor Green, who is an emergency room doctor went through the statistics of what medical resources are available. On a daily basis about 1500 hospital beds are available with 324 ICU beds and 204 in negative pressure rooms. He stressed that the stay-at-home order is meant to flatten the curve of people getting sick so that the 1500 bed capacity is not overwhelmed. Dr. Anderson reported that the 11 new cases reported 8 are on O'ahu, 1 is on Maui, and 2 are on the Grand Princess; over 80% of cases that have occurred are in residents who traveled out of state. The 14-day mandatory quarantine for all people coming in to the state is the 1st in the nation. There will be coordination between the state and hotels with random phone calls to check for the quarantine. Nearly all people returning this morning were residents coming back from travel. The US Army Corps of Engineers has been examining other venues that could be quickly converted to a medical facility and has examined the Hawai'i Convention Center & Blaisdell Center. They will also look at a few outer island venues. 

I weighed myself this morning before I started my day, even though its not Friday; I was the same as last week. I like to see how much I gain when I take a trip and can't stick to a regimen like when I am at home. I am thinking it might be better this time since I won't be driving around visiting people. We shall see what happens.


Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Brian & Todd!