IToday was the day for Malcolm to achieve a milestone that few can claim--to have ridden a motorcycle in all 50 states! Visiting all states is a pretty rare accomplishment, but riding a motorcycle is even more rare.
We had made arrangements to finish this adventure with a ride on the island of Maui. So, we reserved a motorcycle, a 2015 Harley Softtail Heritage Classic.
We wanted to rent something other than a Harley, but due to where we were staying, and no transportation to and from a rental place, we agreed on a Harley.
We got up, got dressed in our riding gear (long sleeved tee shirts, blue jeans, and tennis shoes) and had another delicious breakfast in the hotel restaurant. While our riding gear was extremely light, it was just not possible to pack real gear for the trip. To make up for the lack of real riding gear, Malcolm agreed to ride like a grandma--slow and easy.
After breakfast, our shuttle pulled up and took us to the Harley dealership to get our bike. After signing many papers, we picked out our helmets (brain buckets said to be DOT approved. We both wanted our Schuberth.
At the bike, we were shown the essential things about its operation--starter button, on-off switch, fuel gauge, turn signals and horn.
To confirm that Malcolm did indeed know how to ride, they asked him to do a quick loop around the parking lot.
Then, we left the dealership and headed down the famed Road to Hana. The Road to Hana is a windy and narrow 50 mile long road that goes to the town of Hana. It has many one-line sections and has about 60 bridges (most of which are one-line wide). It basically hugs the coastline from Kahului to Hana. We were warned by numerous people that the road was very treacherous and, that there are places where Guava fruit would have fallen on the road and would be as slippery as snot!
The speed limit on the road was a crawling 35 much much of the way, with some sections at 10 and 15 mph. Slow it was! But beautiful beyond description.
Imagine a road through a lush tropical forest, vegetation dark green, flowers of yellow, orange, red, blue and other hues, tall trees growing over the road, a dark blue ocean, waterfalls and mountains.
Paradise it is. Mile after mile of incredible Vistas. Small shacks along the toad, selling trinkets, fruit, coconuts, or trinkets. The Road is a virtual tropical garden.
About 35 miles down the road, raindrops appeared on the windscreen of the bike. A few miles further, more drops. Then we spotted a shack we had read about, famous for its coconut candy. So, we stopped to check it out.
It had homemade ice cream of several flavors. Malcolm had coconut, and Janice had honey-academia nut. The coconut was best! Eating our ice cream, the rain intensified until it was a torrential downpour. And the wind started blowing the rain sideways.
While we were dry in the shack, the bike was getting drenched, and we had no real rain gear. We had packed lightweight jackets, but that was all.
So, we stayed under the shelter until the rain lightened up. We donned our jackets and took off down the road again. The rain was hard enough that water was running across the road and pending in low areas. Within a few miles, we were both pretty wet from our waists down. Tennis shoes do not repel water!
After a few more miles, we entered Hana, and confirmed what we had been told, that it was not much of a town. It did have gas, however. And it was only $5.09 per gallon for regular unleaded!!! With Hana so remote, they can charge whatever they want and users are happy to get it.
We decided to continue on the same road, knowing that the road continued along the shore for a long way, and then looped around the big crater and back to Kahului. We also knew that part of the road would become dirt and gravel, and many books advised people not to travel through those sections unless necessary.
What we learned as we rode along was that the road was not difficult, the dirt and gravel was not difficult, and that the views and Vistas were different, but beautiful. There was one section of the road that was the roughest paved road we had ever ridden. Riddled with filled potholes, it was ROUGH! Otherwise it was a piece of cake.
Nearing Kahului, we spotted a rainbow off to one side, and the rain started again. Not hard, but constant, chilling both of us until we reached our hotel.
It was a very good day, with Malcolm realizing another dream, us determining that there was a lot of hype about the Road to Hana, and that it does get chilly in Hawaii.
Tomorrow we return the bike and pack for the long trip home.
