So today I'm feeling rather bloated from over eating and drinking, a common syndrome and habit around the holidays. In a moment of resolve I get on my bicycle to shed a few pounds. Down the highway from Wailea area in Maui to the "Y" where North Kihei Road meets the road to go to Lahaina. I had planned to go to Lahaina a good 55 mile loop and a nice ride on a cool Winter day in Maui...if there really is a cool day! So by now I have logged about 9.85 miles by time I reach the "Y". The uneasy feeling I had in my muscles and stomach is starting to go away but once I turn left I'm committed to another 35 miles! So instead, in a moment of indecision and weakness, I turn right and head to Kahului. I figure that will add on 7 - 8 miles, even If I loop back home 'cause I'm not feeling all that great, 25 miles is a respectable ride for a short day. At Kahului I change again and decide to keep going down the Hana Highway toward Paia, but at highway 37, in what can only be a fit of reckless abandonment, I head up Haleakula Mountain toward Pukalani. Now I've more than double the miles committed plus a 2000 foot climb but I'll get the thrill ride down Baldwin Ave at speeds up to 40 MPH or faster in some places if I don't break often on the way down.
Making the ride more fun is the constant thinking and planning I can never seem make go away. All this time I'm contemplating the horrible presentation and mockery I made of myself at the land use committee meeting yesterday as they took public testimony. A real Dog and Pony show too, as this is the second reading of the Makana Project ( only about 25 -30 years in planning now) and it passed the first time, so chances are if your speaking against it your wasting time. My conscience demands that I speak. I'm not for or against any development on the island. I am against all development until the City Council has a scientific produced sustainability report showing that the island can handle the extra people, the resources to do so, and a public mandate to increase the population. We've been under drought conditions for almost 2 years and our area has a recommended voluntary cutback in water usage of 10% almost daily and other places are under mandatory cutbacks. South Maui has no potable water to drill, and everyone knows this but they still keep approving thousands of new homes ! Worse the councils of the past have entitled now almost 20 thousand homes for the future with no resources either! Further complicating that is the fact that no one will acknowledge this! Instead they are worried about job losses in construction and want this fast tracked to get people working. ( It represents private investment Vs. public of course). With all this on my mind as a SMALL sample of the inner workings of my brain I have an epiphany of sorts....I do my best thinking on the bicycle.
WHY CAN'T ALL SIDES OF THE DEVELOPMENTAL ISSUES GET TOGETHER! WAY CAN'T THE DEVELOPERS GO TO THE COUNCIL AND ASK THAT THEY FIND A SUSTAINABLE NUMBER OR WHAT I CALL A CARRYING CAPACITY FOR THE ISLAND? WOULD THEY AND THE PLANNERS LISTEN IF BOTH SIDES CAME TO THEM ?
The real bonus would be that the sides fighting could resolve the issues before the developments are proposed. The council and planners would have not only have clear urban boundaries, but would already made compromising talks with the population, with the knowledge that everyone knows what the total build out will be. Logic assumes that the island, like Earth is finite. Further even, if we could sustain and feed so many people, do we want to on this island? What kind of life style are we bequeathing to the future generations and at what point will the visitor experience be marginal enough so they stop coming ? I'm not going to espouse my thoughts, I think it is an island wide thought process. Clearly the elected representatives, as a whole, are avoiding this. ( Some are not but they are a very small minority of one maybe two of nine ) There are hints now we are getting close to that point even if we can support more!
So that will be the new direction, try and contact people on both sides of the fence as they actually both care. It is not all about greed and money in development nor are the environmentalists as a rule wanting to tun the clock back to subsistence farming and a stone age culture of the ancient Hawaiians. Judging by all the influential people I met yesterday I came away with that one positive thought. Even as I was called out of order by the chair at the end of my talk...and I had crossed a line...I really felt like hey this whole process is out of order, but just felt horrible for the people who deserves better and the island that really gets no respect in this. It's almost like a Rodney Dangerfield comic routine.
So what does all this have to do with meeting a celebrity and movie star ? Almost nothing. My mind however has been going like a locomotion and moving as fast as my legs. I'm almost 40 miles down the road now, having crossed the highway from Pukalani to Makawao, and done with the thrill ride to Paia. I clocked 41.5 MPH once but with strong crosswinds on the road, it gets stupid to push it. It's time for a break. One of my favorite stores on island is Mana Foods. Great people, all types of organic foods and drinks, and better they have a full assortment of my favorite road snack, Cliff Bars!
So when I get my Organic Lemonade out, and start munching a cliff bar, in all my stinky, sweaty self, I notice a nice Mercedes 320 E Diesel parked in front of me as I sit, Indian fashion with crossed legs, eating and drinking. Oddly enough it says ..BIO DIESEL not just DIESEL. Better is a sticker that says " Runs on Bio diesel, war no required," . I grin, thinking this is very cool as Maui had one of the very first commercial bio diesel plants in the country and....
Then the lady starts loading her groceries. I jump up and in the moment asked an innocent inquisitive question, " Excuse me Mame, did you have to modify the car to run on Bio Diesel or can it run it straight from a stock purchase.?" ( I've owned several Mercedes over the years including a 300 E Diesel many years ago. )
She politely retorts back, " You don't have to modify anything, not since the 1993 models. " That's cool I'm thinking. Just about then I have to get out of the way, as her husband now appears and wants to climb in the passenger side.
As I look , I see the scraggly beard and sly smile of...
" Hey, your Willie !"
"Yep That's me all right"
"Hi I'm Al Wallace"
So I just extend my hand , he shakes it , gets in the car, and they drive away!
When I saw him I flashed back to all the work he had done in promoting Bio Diesel both here ( Partnering with Bob and Kelly King to build Pacific Bio Diesel) and in the states, all the volunteer work and charity work on the island and around the world and of course his inspiring music.
Yes, it was just "Hey your Willie" that came out of my mouth, and not even a "have Merry Christmas" as they left. One of the bright spots about Maui is you can pretty much do what you want, most people will give you space.
I saw, but didn't meet him years ago at the world premiere first showing on Maui of " Wag the Dog" at an afternoon matinee at the Kukui Mall with about 10 other people in the theater and Willie's entourage. They were a dead giveaway. When he first shows up on screen the entourage all scream and clap, our friend from Oregon says, " Yeah like Willie is in the audience".
We had a laugh over that one too. But that is Maui at it's best. The famous and the not so famous, the wealthy and the not so wealthy, all mingling and enjoying the island !
If I had the time I could have told him stories about one of my old customers, Mrs Trueblood ( her married name) who told me stories in the 1980's about how wild a rascal Willie was as a boy...She was his Babysitter.......Oh Well.....Maybe next time.
Merry Christmas Annie and Willie Nelson !
