We go to Hawaii

Going to Hawaii was actually a brilliant idea on Thomas' part. We decided we were going to Maui, where our ex roommate had talked so much about. He said to go to the Hana side.

We hitchhiked down to the San Francisco area to go. Somebody had told us that we could hitch hike a sailboat outside of Sausilito. We actually went down there and tried to get a ride. We actually did in about 20 minutes, no joke. I guess people need crews, and you help out. They said sure, but they weren't leaving for two weeks. We didn't want to wait that long, as we had no where to stay while we waited, so we decided to go for the more conventional plane.

I need to make mention of something here. During this whole time, from when I was a freshman in college till now, I was almost 23, I was a big pothead. I smoked pot all the time, and that was a big part of my relationship with Thomas as well. I also was taking LSD now and then. I figured out I took LSD 35 times, before I quit. I was still taking it, when we went to Hawaii. Again, I want to say, I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS TO ANYONE! THIS WAS FOOLISHNESS ON MY PART!!

So back to the story. Remember Joe?? I came out west with him in his van to San Francisco. Well, we stayed in touch, and he still lived in the area. So, we decided to go see him, the night before we flew out to Hawaii. We had a bunch of pot, and we didn't want to throw it away. I might mention that this was 1976, and pot was still either brown Mexican, or leaves, or shake for the most part. Nothing very strong, but we had a little baggie of the stuff, and we were attached to it. So what do we do. We decide to make marijuana muffins out of it, to take to Hawaii. NEVER eat marijuana muffins on an airplane. BIG MISTAKE!!

We got to the airport, bought our tickets to Honolulu, got on the plane. It is a 6 hour flight. We decide at some point soon after, we are going to eat our muffins. So we ate some, and everything is fine, until I need to go to the bathroom. When I got out of the bathroom, it just hit me, as I was walking back to my seat. I was so wrecked. It was bad. Everything became so exaggerated. What I am talking about, is the part about being so high above the earth, in a little pressurized cabin. I realized all the kept me from outside and dying, was those little windows between us. Even now as I write this, I am getting a little freaked out, because I am supposed to go to Hawaii in a few weeks. Anyway, I was way too stoned, and I was way too freaked out about being in the plane, way too stoned. Thomas was alright. He basically had to rub my feet the whole rest of the flight, to keep me calm enough to be on there. I was kind of in a state of panic. All I could think of was how I would kiss the earth, when I finally got out of there.

The flight finally ended, and I think I was more normal by then. We were in Honolulu, and still had to get to Maui. We had to fly, yet another plane. We went to the ticket counter, and told the guy we wanted to go to Hana. He said we should take this one company, that we would love it. He said the pilot would meet us, when it was time to go. I couldn't figure out, why a pilot would meet us on a plane. Well the time came, and here was the pilot. It turned out the plane was a little 6 seater. It was amazing! We flew really close to the water, with the windows open. To get to Maui, you have to pass the island of Molokai. We flew all along the Na Pali coast of the island of Molokai. It was so beautiful! The big cliffs along the ocean, and waterfalls into the sea.

We landed on a tiny airstrip on the Hana side of Maui. It was early evening, and it had just rained. Basically the airport, was an airstrip in the lush tropical forest. Nothing was there. We got out, and just started walking down the road, to find a campground. We had decided to each only take 15 pounds of possessions with us in a back pack, so we would be unencumbered. So there we were, walking down the road, in Hana, Maui. It was so quiet there, and so beautiful. I never saw such big leaves on plants, and there was wild fruit everywhere, just like our friend in Oregon had told us about. We found Guavas right away. We were in awe.

We were walking down the road, and a truck stopped with a bunch of hippies in it. They picked us up, and took us to a campground a little ways away. It was beautiful, and the beach was black sand. The campground was a hippie camp. A baby even was born there that night. It was amazing. But guess what, it got closed down in a few days, just like Kirk Creek. So we headed out, to explore Maui.

Maui was beautiful, but too many Jet Setters. Our friend in Oregon, had told us there were all these places you could live for free on Maui, and just live on free fruit, but we weren't finding them. Maui seemed too built up and fast land for us. So we started telling people what our friend had said, and asked them where we could go to live close to the land, for free, with other people. We were told to go to Kauai, and go to Valley House, and we did.

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