1980: The Hawaii Rental Story

A story about a well timed breakdown.

1980: HAWAII RENTAL STORY
     Well, flew in to Hawaii for a holiday, from L.A.. Was a fairly smooth flight, cept about a ½ hr before reaching Honolulu, the plane all of a sudden goes quiet and we drop about 30 feet in about 5 seconds and then it starts up again, sort of stopped my heart in the process as well but such is the nature of air flight I guess.
     We, me and a girlfriend, arrive in Honolulu and are greeted by the fresh, warm, moist scented Pacific air and the Hula dancers who give us a lai flower necklace, nice touch.
We stay there a couple of days and mostly shop but have a nice brunch one morning, on an open air restaurant in a high rise blg.. Nice concept. No walls and you look out to the vista.
     Well we fly on then, to Maui and pick up da da, the culprit. A nondescript kind of no name white little compact of some sort, just to get us around, nothing fancy.
So we check into our nice place with pool by the beach and I recall it seemed to face the south ocean on the south central side of the Island. Here we cooked our expensive steaks on the barbi The meat and potatoes weren't not so good cause of the heat I figure, but the best watermelon and pineapple in the world. We have a visitor though in the form of a green lizard or Gecko, that can magically climb walls and ceilings.
     Well the next day we start exploring and we go north and then East and go to the park and waterfall on that side of the island and see some magnificent rugged high coast lines and some spectacular colorful rare flowers. One time too, we pick up this couple hitchhiking, that had sailed to the island from LA..
     One day we make it up the health hazard high volcano at the center of the island. Then go on and venture back down south and west and find these wonderful black sand beaches, where we body surf and duke it out with the ocean waves. Now that's a workout. At least on Maui shopping isn't so prevalent as the main island in the 1980s.
     One day we head east from our place towards the golf course and get a massage at this place, which only seemed to put my back out, yikes, which the warm pool later helped ease. Don't recall golfing. Then later we head to the west side of the island, where they had this artist market and restaurant under this big kind of umbrella tree. I think we danced at the disco there one night.
All and all, so far an okay trip.
     Bout the third or fourth day or so I'm getting kinda curious, as having glanced off and on at the cars gas gauge, it hadn't budged from full, since we had picked up the rental and I start wondering what gives here? It can't be getting that good mileage? as I figured we had put on about 200 km or so. So finally I say, well hold on, this can't be right, so I pull or try to pull into this gas station in the middle of no where and just before we get on the lot, the car dies, So now I wonder, well what the heck now, but hopin and prayin saying “its the gas, its the gas” So we push it, the car, the last 12 meters up to the pump and fill it up and it takes a fair bit of gas and pay and then gingerly turn it over and yippee, it starts almost right away. And so you wonder, well it don't get much closer than that now. But I guess after having driven a few years, we all get a feel for these sorts of things, luckily it seems.
Well I would still maybe, like to make it to Kauai one day.