Driving in Hawaii - Part II

I wasn't planning to write two blogs about driving in Hawaii back-to-back, but that changed after a string of funny sites today. I told a friend of mine last week that if I can't think of anything to write for my blog, all I have to do is leave the house and take a drive. And that's exactly what I did.

I ran errands today in preparation of my sister and her husband's visit. They are flying in tomorrow for a one-day excursion from their trip on Maui. I noticed that with today being Veteran's Day, traffic was heavier than normal for a Monday. But, that's not what I'm writing about - traffic. Nope, this time, it's all about what I witnessed while driving in traffic.

The first run of errands took place in Kailua. I came to a stop at one of the busiest stoplights in town and noticed the bumper sticker on the four-door in front of me. It said, "If you don't get off my back, I'll give you a rubba slippa whack". I checked the distance between us and I must have been safe as I was never confronted by a rubba slippa (that's flip-flops for you mainlanders).

After stopping for some park action (I promised Noah), we headed to the other side of the mountain - the leeward side. There must be something about the Kamehemaha Highway (The Kam, for short) in Kaneohe that brings out the saltiest of the nuts. Either that or they somehow know that I'm coming and they pull out all the stops.

In the past I've seen moving trucks with the back door open and a bunch of guys hanging out on the exercise equipment in the back. This time, it was another moving truck, but it's door was only open half-way. Inside were two people. One was sitting on the right side, and the other was sitting right in the middle - in a hammock that was hung by hooks from each side of the truck. That was a first for me. I don't think I've seen a guy in a hammock going down a highway before.

You know, I have to say that was one of those sites where you blink your eyes a few times and wonder if you truly are seeing what you think you are. Well, I blinked and that guy in the hammock was still there. He must have had his feet planted firmly on the ground because he wasn't even swinging. I don't know about you, but I would have been lying in the hammock.

Poor Tom had to take the bus to work today because our van was in the shop. I'm sure he could write a few things in the blog about what he sees when riding the bus. Oh, but I digress. When he got home we headed right out to pick up the van. We were laughing (again) about all the people in the back of pickups we were seeing. Then, lo and behold, another new and strange site.

We were the first car stopped at a light at a big intersection. A pickup turned onto the Likelike Highway right in front of us. That's lee-kay, lee-kay not like-like, unless you want to like beef (see blog "Pidgeon English Spoken Here"). In the back of the pickup were a couple of guys, one which was shirtless and strumming on his ukelele. Hmm...there go the stereotypes running through my head. Shame, shame.

This all leads me to think of an old poster from the '70s: When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade. My version of the poster would be: When Life Sends You to Hawaii, Write a Blog.