Walking to Kona

I met an interesting guy today. His name is Horace. He showed up at Lapakahi State Historical Park today, asking if we had a water fountain. I told him no, but we did have a water dispenser that he could fill his water bottle up at; but Horace did not have a water bottle. I had seen him earlier walking along the road as I was on my way to Lapakahi; I was wondering where he was going since he was in a stretch with no nearby houses. After a short conversation I found out Horace lived in Hāwī & was walking to Kona! He shattered the screen of his phone & was headed to the Verizon store to buy a new one. And he had missed the bus so he was walking. FYI there is only 1 bus in the morning that goes to Kona & 1 in the evening that comes back from Kona; it is a commuter bus for resort workers. 

So Horace was walking. I found out he has only lived in Kohala for a month so I explained to him that it was a really long walk to Kona, but he was undeterred. So I closed up the visitor center & drove him to Kawaihae; which would have taken him 4 hours if he had walked! His wife & the friend that usually drives them around, all work in Kawaihae. I hope he realized he would not make it to Kona by walking & went back home to Hāwī with his wife & friend at the end of the day. But just in case he decided to continue walking to Kona, I gave him the water bottle I use to carry water to Lapakahi for the birds; he really should not be walking along this coast without water.

Horace would arrive well after closing time at Verizon.

I took him to Kawaihae; a 14-minute drive.

He still would not make it to Verizon by closing.

When I arrived at Lapakahi, I noticed the goats have been eating the bark off the kukui tree by the staff parking lot. I think the one branch is going to die since they have removed the bark around the entire girth of the branch for several feet. They also grazed on the pohinahina that Terraformations planted alongside the building without any goat exclusion devices; they said goats did not eat pohinahina. Not. Forgot to get a photo of the munched on pohinahina, will do that on Tuesday.

The window for the next episode of the eruption at Kīlauea has been narrowed down a little. It is now expected to occur between the 24th & the 27th.

 Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Tom & Bruddah Ace!