Dave and Jada's Maui Honeymoon Travellogue:

Day 5 - August 8, 2000

                We arose at 1.30am to meet up with the Mountain Riders van in the Kahului Kmart parking lot at 2.45am.  They took us to their main office for a safety video viewing at which point, we found out much to our dismay that Jada was not allowed to do the ride down Haleakala because of a health precaution.  She was very disappointed.  I offered to take her home, but she soldiered on knowing that she'd have to ride down in the van. 

                We got to the summit around 4.30am or so, and still had over an hour before the sky would even start to brighten a little bit in preparation for the arrival of the sun.  The star of the show, so to speak.  In the meantime, we were served muffins, juice, and coffee.  I had a half a muffin and a sip of Jada's juice.  Then we waited on the rim of the valley for the sun to rise in the wind and cold.  It was probably in the upper 30's there.   It came breaking through just after 6am.  It was wonderful to see the colors, and the valley floor cinder cones slowly reveal themselves as the sun climbed into the sky.  Then it was back to the van for a final safety reminder and passing out the bikes.

                We rode down the mountain at roughly 22mph on 45lb Worksman cruisers.  They were not exactly agile, but they were very stable, and practically turned themselves.  They had front and rear drum brakes to stop them.  Most of the people in the group were regular cyclists, except for one guy who insisted on braking hard around every hairpin and then pedaling the single-speed bike like mad in a vain attempt to catch up to the rest of the group.  I was stuck behind him, unfortunately, so I spent way too much time braking and not enough time bombing the hairpins.  We had a wonderful breakfast in Makawao at Polli's where we had eaten dinner the night before.  Then an easy coast to Paia.  I think Jada still had fun and probably found out more about the scenery than the rest of us from the guy driving the support van.

                Then it was home to rest for a couple hours.  Regrettably, the place we're staying is adding another rental unit just down the drive, so we were awakened 1.5 hours later by pounding hammers and pneumatic nail guns. 

                Finally it was off to the Old Lahaina Luau in Lahaina.  It is considered the best on the island.  It was a great show with terrific food.  The roasted pig was fantastic.  We were greeted at the entrance with Lei's and Mai Tai's (Jada and I both took the non-alcoholic juice offering).  Then it was off to take a couple quick pictures, and then to our seats on the grass just off stage left.  We had some time to mill about and see some of the local artists there with their crafts.  Present were basket weavers, necklace makers, a guy making Poi out of the Taro root, the pit where the pig was being roasted, and a guy carving tiki gods.  I ended up buying a tiki (though I was trepidatious at first because of Greg Brady's problems) and a turtle that is to bring happiness and good fortune.

                Then it was time to dig the pig out of the pit.  They stuff the pig with hot lava rocks, wrap it in chicken wire, wrap that with banana leaves, cover it in a wet sheet, and then bury it in the sand to steam all day.  This way it cooks from the inside out and steams the meat.  It then just falls off the bone when they pour it into the tray...all 180 lbs of it.  Man it was tasty!  We had a buffet style dinner with open bar.  I tried everything on the buffet that wasn't fish, and it was all good.  The person who came to release us to the line told us not to bother with the salad since we can get that anywhere.  The poi that they used here was more of a paste and served cold.  It is the Hawaiian version of mashed potatoes.  It was good with the pig...just like mashed potatoes.

                Then they performed a show that took us through the evolution of the Hula as a means of celebration and story telling down through the ages, and how it changed through the years.  It was very interesting and entertaining.  I don't think I can move my hips like that if my back bone were actually removed.

               The sunset was another winner, and then we drove home with the top down under the starry night.