On the Road Again ... & Again & Again

The wild ride with Sarah had a serene end. Not. We went to pick up Evan & Sarah at about 1 pm but only Evan was at the retreat center; Sarah was somewhere in town. It took a short while, but Evan was able to find her & get her to go back to the house with us to pack up their things. I had helped Kaia pack up her things in the morning before we went to the Hawaiʻi Wildlife Center, so she was ready to go; I just needed to help her change in to the clothes she had chosen for traveling. While Evan packed, Sarah went out "to say good bye to the ancestors" as she walked around the back yard; she did not help with any of the packing. We finally got everyone in the car by 2 pm which would give us just enough time to get to the airport 2 hours before their flight was scheduled to depart.

As we were on the highway on the other side of Hāwī, Sarah said we had to go back to town because she needed to get the soursop juice that Kawika had for her. When I declined since that would make us late, Sarah said we had failed in the quest for the soursop juice. She then explained to us that life was a video game & we are all being tested by the Dungeon Master; she gave each of the others a piece of coral, saying it was a key for the next quest. Later, as we drove through Kawaihae, she asked to stop at the Blue Dragon Restaurant to eat lunch; I said if she wanted to miss the plane we could stop for lunch, but I kept on driving. I got them there with 3 minutes to spare. As Evan unloaded the luggage, and I unloaded Kaia, Sarah said she needed to fill up her water bottle & started to wander off; we sent Kai to tail her to make sure she came back. Filling up your water bottle before you go through TSA made no sense to me, I thought it was a delaying tactic like her earlier requests but Kai said not to assign realistic reasons to actions done by someone while in a manic state. We finally got them all headed to the line to check in with no further problems, so Kai & I left.

Kai was immediately thirsty & hungry after we dropped them off, so we headed to the nearest convenience store about a mile up the road on the other side of the airport. We spent about 30 minutes in the parking lot eating sandwiches & drinking tea & coffee before we started to head back to the house. Since we had received no calls from Evan, we drove back feeling relieved that Sarah would be getting on the plane & heading back home to where she would be under the care of her therapist. We were still on the road, about 5 minutes away from turning in to the driveway, when Evan called; they had missed the plane because Sarah had left the waiting area & had not come back in time! Auē! She was apparently outside dancing near the agriculture inspection line. Evan said the airport security folks wanted us to return because they needed to talk to us.

Before we headed back to the airport, we used the bathroom, filled up water bottles, & grabbed a bunch of food. We also called Jessie to let her know what was happening & that we might be coming in late so she would not worry if she heard activity or saw a car coming in late at night. 

When we got to the airport we parked in the pay lot & headed towards the United Airlines check-in desk while we searched for the security office. Kai called Evan to let him know we were at the airport; Evan asked us to wait where we were & the airport security would come to us. Evan said they would be looking for the Takatani family. As the airport security guy approached us, he asked which one of us was Takatani, so I explained the relationship. It turns out it was my cousin Craig whom I had not seen in about 50 years! He is the youngest son of Aunty Eiko & Uncle Sakae! And since I was a couple years older than his oldest brothers Wade & Wayne who are 9 years older than him, he did not really remember me; I remembered him as their pesky little kid brother. (According to genealogists, Craig is my 2nd cousin & Aunty Eiko is my 1st cousin once removed. My grandfather was Craig's grandmother's oldest brother.) We explained to Craig what the situation was with Sarah & her mental health condition & that Evan was trying to get her back home so that she could get the medical help that she needed. As part of his job, Craig needed to confirm that there was no domestic abuse or kidnapping that was going on. He thanked us for coming back (he had been to the Kohala house many times before so he knew how far a drive it was) & asked us to wait in the cell phone lot until Evan & Sarah's new flight left at around 8:30 pm. He said he and the manager for the airline would be standing by to make sure Sarah got on the plane.

So we moved from the paid parking lot to the cell phone lot. We did a lot of stress eating, loading up on andagi that Jessie had brought for the pie & ice cream night & jiggle jello that Arlene had also brought for that night. We drank all the water while we waited. Kai was also listening to the air traffic control tower transmissions through LiveATC.net. We watched the plane take off but waited for about 15 minutes before we left the cell phone lot; we figured if Sarah was going to have a major problem it would most likely be in the beginning while they were taking off. Kai monitored the transmissions during the whole drive back to the house. He also listened for another couple of hours until the flight was handed over to the air traffic controllers on the west coast; if anything happened after that point they would be landing somewhere on the west coast and Sarah would not be returning to Kona or Honolulu. At that point we would not be able to help with anything.

In cell phone lot at 7:09 p.m. to begin waiting.

The morning started out normal, with birdrise coming 16 minutes before sunrise. It is very peaceful at that time in the morning.

Birdrise at 5:37 a.m.

Leslie from Cullins Plumbing had returned my call first thing in the morning & said she would be at the house about mid-morning to fix the malfunctioning toilet fill unit. She arrived just before we had to leave the house. By the time we returned from the airport (the 1st time) the toilet leak was fixed. Hulō! I am fortunate I have found people I can trust to work on the house when I am not around.

Kaia helped me put the salted limes out at the end of the ramp to sit in the sun. She has been doing this every morning since I packed them in to the jars. We have labeled them with her name so she knows which ones they are on her return trip. 

Once we were done with putting the salted limes out, Kaia had her favorite breakfast of toast with jam & peanut butter. 

Removing the remnants of breakfast.

Then we moved on to packing up her things for her trip home this evening. This time we made sure Brother Mouse & Sister Mouse made it in to the basket for the ride home! She also decided what she wanted to wear on the trip home; we put those things aside for later. 

We found Brother Mouse hanging out by the window.

We went to Takata Store to pick up the chips, salsa, & guacamole for lunch at the Hawaiʻi Wildlife Center; it's a tradition we started a couple years ago when I come to pick up empty carriers to take back with me.  Kaia got a little cold while we were walking through the refrigerated section selecting the salsa & guacamole; Kai loaned her his vest. She wore it with style! 

At the Hawaiʻi Wildlife Center, rehab manager Heidi showed Kaia a young bird someone had just brought in. It was a non-native bird, most likely a Saffron Finch. The HWC does not rehabilitate non-native species; it concentrates its limited resources on native species, especially endangered birds & bats. We walked around while we waited; Kaia got to peek through the slats at some of the birds in the flight cages & check out the native plant garden. But it turned out to be a fairly small lunch, Dr. Juan & one of the other volunteers was busy doing surgery on an injured bird; Linda & Marie were off today, another volunteer had to leave before lunch, & Heidi's son Oliver was at home, so it was only Heidi and us. Since they were leaving today, we had to leave HWC by 1 to pick up Evan & Sarah at the retreat center to stay on schedule. I hope Kaia remembers this fun part of today more than the other things that happened at the airport.

Checking to see what cousin Kai is so focused on.

Heidi shows Kaia the baby bird that just came in.

Heidi let Kaia pick a native hibiscus flower in HWC's native plant garden.

She got pollen all over her nose while smelling it!

There is no COVID-19 data tonight; there was too much going on today. I did not feel like staying up any later to collect all the information from the various sources. You'll just have to be content with looking at tomorrow's information.

Somewhere along the Kohala coast road at 9:19 p.m. (Photo by Kai)

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Susie, Leanna, & Seyda! FYI I did not get my birthday wish ... 🙄