Thunder in Waipio Valley

We trekked through Waimea, where some of the guys were lucky enough to dine at Hawaiian Style Cafe. The wait was long, so the rest of us headed to Tex Drive Inn in Honokaa. Then it was on to Waipio Valley. The view was incredible, never gets old.

But when Micah said he wanted to get down to the beach (black sand!), I was intrigued. Then Felcris and Josh said they wanted to go, too. So we went. The rest of the guys headed back shortly after. Tani ran and caught up to us (yes, he ran downhill), so it was five of us. Felcris made it part way down, then turned around and headed back due to urgent business (nature calling). We made it down the long hill, from an elevation of about 1,000 or 2,000 feet.

Then was a good walk through a muddy road to the beach.

Getting there was fun. On the way down, near the bottom, we saw a truck coming own. Chris and Gabriel hitched a ride. At the beach, they jumped in. After being in pools that had sun-cooked warm water, Tani finally got a place that had cold water.

After about 45 minutes or so, we headed back up the hill. About 1/10th of the way back up, I started to realize that this was complete stupidity. And I also realized that all the senior citizens we'd seen going up the hill earlier are incredible athletes. None of them were breathing hard. Me?

By the halfway point, I had to stop every 2 or 3 minutes just to catch my breath. Then it was every 1 or 2 minutes. Walking up a hill at an incline of about 40 degrees is absolute suffering. But I made it up. I had a head start on the kids, knowing they walk faster than me. But Tani still caught me and was long gone out of sight. After I got back to the top, Josh followed. Then Micah and Gabriel. Finally, Chris.

I don't remember the first time going up the hill around 30 years ago being hard at all. But this was my second and final time going up the Waipio Valley hill. If anybody can run from the bottom to the top one day, it might be Tani. At least a mile or maybe two at an insane incline. Could be him. Maybe Kapaa.

After some shakes and malasadas at Tex's, we picked up some snacks and Powerade at Longs Drugs in Waimea, stopped at Pizza Hut in Kailua-Kona to bring dinner home. The boys are playing cards in this awesome air-conditioned condo now. We're getting spoiled by this place.

Quiet R&R before lights out. All is good.

Next: Sunday, 11:45 am - H1 Thunder vs. Bay Area Renegades (WYBT 14U).
Sunday, 7:15 pm - H1 Thunder vs. Islanders (Kona) (WYBT 14U)
Monday, 4:00 pm - H1 Thunder vs. Hanakila (Kauai) (WYBT 14U)
Monday, 7:15 pm (revised 7/25) - H1 Thunder vs. Kona Stingrays (WYBT 14U)
Tuesday, 10:30 am - H1 Thunder vs. LA Titans (WYBT 14U)