A Million Little Pieces Of My Mind

Even though I spent three weeks in Kauai with my daughter Jenny and the grandkids just last month, when Rob—the guy who bought Jenny's property—texted me that he had found a box of my photos I would probably want, I couldn't resist. Of course, it would have been far cheaper for me to send him money to take the box to the airport than for me to come and get it. But with my upcoming hip replacement surgery, I thought, Who knows when I'll even be able to visit Hawaii again, if ever? So I hopped on a plane—correction, was wheeled onto a plane—and the next thing I knew, I was flying once more to Kahului Airport and my favorite island.

The reason for the hip replacement is that I can hardly walk, which is why I had to request wheelchair service. As I may have mentioned in a previous post, this was my second attempt at scheduling the hip replacement. I needed it badly in June, and my mobility has only decreased since then. So I didn't plan this to be a hiking adventure. Nor did I plan to stay long, as of course I am on a Social Security budget. I did not make any arrangements for accommodations, because I intended to sleep in my rental car.

They also wheeled me from my arrival gate to baggage claim. The wheelchair guy offered to wait with me, but I didn't think it would be necessary. I was wrong, and the baggage department had no place to sit while waiting for my bag to come out.

I had made arrangements to rent my vehicle from Cruisin' Maui Car Rentals, which is located off the actual airport, which may be why their prices were so reasonable. They pick you up at the airport, which is the good news; the bad news is that the airport requires rental car and Uber pickups to be done a bit of a stroll to get to. (Nothing that would ever have bothered me when my hip and I got along better.)

While I'm talking about them, I should mention they were very nice and very helpful, and even loaned me a mattress for the SUV I rented, as well as a blanket and pillow!

So here's a map of Maui, showing my route from Kahului to Camp Olowalu. This is a place I camped at more than once, when I lived here and the pandemic was winding down. Back then, though, I mostly overnighted at Papalaua Beach Park. But I've heard they've kind of cracked down on that since then. Anyway, I also wanted a nice bathroom (Papalaua has Porta-Potties) and shower, and Camp Olowalu offers those.

It's not glitzy and it's certainly no luxury resort, like the Hyatt, Hilton, and Westin chains do (and just a few miles away)! But a night at the Hyatt would run $532, while Oluwalu is just $50.

By the way, "Oluwalu" is correctly pronounced with a V sound replacing the W. The first attempts to transcribe the Hawaiian language using the Latin alphabet were made by British explorer James Cook and his crew during their visit to the Hawaiian Islands in 1778. They recorded the island name as "Owhyhee" or "Owhyee," which phonetically resembles "Hawaii". This early transcription effort laid the groundwork for future linguists and missionaries who arrived in the early 19th century. The missionaries, particularly those from the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM), worked with native Hawaiian scholars to develop a standardized written form of the language. By 1826, they had established a 12-letter alphabet consisting of five vowels (a, e, i, o, u) and seven consonants (h, k, l, m, n, p, w), using the Latin pronunciation of those letters. This system allowed for the accurate representation of Hawaiian sounds, resulting in spellings like "Hawaii" (Hav eye ee) and "Oluwalu" (Oh loo vahl oo)—if you happen to be a 17th century, Latin-oriented missionary. None of us are, so today mostly tourists pronounce the Ws, while the locals know better.

Back in 2021, car camping at Olowalu meant just parking in a lot and going to sleep. But it's much nicer now! They have a special area for car camping, with privacy bushes between parking spaces, a nice picnic table, and of course the aforementioned nearby flush toilets and showers.

Taking a quick tour of the grounds while heading for the showers, I spotted the new glamping cabins. In retrospect, that might have been more comfortable than the SUV. But, of course, also more expensive.

From pretty much anywhere on the grounds, if you look North you can see the hills of the West Maui mountains.

And in the other direction, there's the shore! They don't really have a proper beach; it's pretty rocky and narrow. But it's awesome for sitting on a tree branch or picnic table and just enjoying the ocean, sounds, smells and sights.

One of my favorite things about Maui is all the flowering trees. And they've planted (or worked around) some beauties!

Then of course there are the feral chickens that inhabit the island. The feral chickens on Maui have an interesting history. Their origins can be traced back to the original Polynesian settlers who brought the Red Junglefowl, a tropical bird in the pheasant family, to the islands centuries ago. Red Junglefowl, after much breeding, became the ancestor of today's domesticated chicken. Over time, these chickens escaped and interbred further with native birds. Additionally, hurricanes like Iwa in 1982 and Iniki in 1992 caused damage to chicken coops, allowing more domesticated chickens to escape into the wild.

Maui lacks significant predators that could effectively control the chicken population. True, locals often kill and eat feral chickens but not even Colonel Sanders could keep up. This absence of natural predation, along with abundant food sources and lenient regulations, has allowed the feral chicken population to thrive.

Besides, they eat bugs and are endearing to watch.

Remembering that Hawaii is 3 hours behind Phoenix, and I'd just been on a six-and-a-half hour flight, and then driven to Oluwalu and checked out—well, as you might imagine I was exhausted and definitely ready to turn in for the night. I managed to keep awake through most of the sunset, reflected off the West Maui Mountains.

Tomorrow I'll give Rob a call and see when he wants to get together for the picture box transfer. First, though, it's definitely time for sleep!