Arrival on the Big Island

Youll find it hard to believe that I am writing this
from a Starbucks location in Kailua-Kona. Ive got a
venti green tea and Ive got a couple of hours until I
can check into the hotel, so this should take care of
some of that time.

The trip over went fine. Even though this was not my
first inter-island trip, it still surprises me how
little time it takes to get between the islands. I
almost spent more time waiting at the airport in
Honolulu than it took to get to Kona.

I dropped my bike off at the bike shop and they said
it should be done by about 3 PM. I figure I will while
away the time in town here while waiting for the bike
instead of making multiple trips between here and the
hotel, which is something like 30 miles up the coast.
Gasoline here is expensive! The service stations I saw
here in town have low-test unleaded (87 octane fuel)
for $3.59/gallon. Yikes!

I got lunch at the Kona Brewing Company, a
(no-kidding, right) brew pub here in town. Barb, you
will recall that we went to the sister location of
this establishment in Hawaii Kai a while back. Quite
honestly, I think that the Oahu location is superior.
After all, its right on the water. The one here (the
original, mind you) is land-locked and pretty hard to
get to. You have to go down a bunch of side streets
and then park in a back alley here.

The food was good, though, and so was the beer. Beer -
what am I, crazy! Drinking beer the day before the day
before a big race! Arent I going to ruin all my hard
preparatory work? In a word, no. I had a mere 24 oz.
of brew, liberally interspersed with water. And I ate
a 10 inch pizza with it. Its carb loading! Seriously!

So there are a few things that I already know that I
didnt pack and should have. First, water bottles for
my bike. And CDs to play in my rental car (or some
kind of adapter cable that would allow me to plug in
my iPod). Im sure I will discover more items later.

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