Called Kia to check on how to ensure a safe trip to Hilo. "Drive it in the hybrid mode from the start." I also called the Hilo Police before I left to check again if I could fill in the ORI number on their fingerprint forms.
The trip there went without a hitch. Although I found myself watching the bars on the electric meter drop. I had 10 blue bars left at the point the descent into Hilo started. By the time I reached the KTA so I could visit their bathroom, I had twenty bars. I was good. I figured I'd use ten bars traveling around Hilo and then have plenty to make my way back home.
To get to the police station, I had to backtrack up the hill. I had some trouble finding the correct room to get my fingerprints. I wandered around for a while, looking for directions. When I came back to the starting place, a police officer was sitting there to direct people. He must have been on a bathroom break. Well, I got more steps in. The fingerprinting procedure went off without a hitch. Their forms were blank. I could fill in the ORI number myself by hand. Yes, I could have left with the form in hand without the ORI number filled in.
I told the clerk that their policy was very different from that of the Kona Police department. Kona and Hilo are under the same jurisdiction. The chief of police sits in Hilo, the capital of the country. Why should these two departments, under the same administration, have such different policies. The clerk told me to write a letter to the chief of police.
I headed to Reuben's for a plate of nachos afterward. The restaurant was up and functioning. My guess the cleanliness was questionable—the woman behind the bar who makes the drinks had a mask that kept slipping off her face. I ordered my nachos to go, knowing that I would never finish a full serving. The rest I took home for dinner. I did a pit stop before I left.
I checked the gas gauge. I had a little less than a quarter of a tank. I had only used one bar traveling over from Kona. I would have had enough; I just wanted to make sure. I didn't check the electric gauge. By the time I had climbed to the entrance of Saddle Road, I only had three bars left. I was shocked.
Sure enough, the car gave out along the way. But I knew what to do; I made a U-turn, got on the shoulder of the road, put on my emergency blinkers, put my cruise control on the lowest speed, and cruised down a steep hill until I had at least one bar. Then I turned around and climbed again.
I did no more than 45 mph on the ascending hills for the rest of the trip, pulling over if someone was coming up behind me at 60 mph or more. On the descending side of the hills, I pulled over onto the shoulder, put on my emergency lights, put the car into cruise at the lowest speed possible, and cruised down that hill picking up electric bars. I did that for fifty miles.
As you climb up the mountain here in Hawaii, there are stretches of ascent, moments of flat driving, and moments of descent. These mountains were formed by lava flow. Think of melting ice cream.
As I was doing it, I thought, this is going to take forever. I'm sure it took longer. However, at one point, I looked up, and there was a sign, "Check brakes. Dangerous decline." Huh? I only remember seeing that sign for the final descent on Saddle Road going into Kona. I didn't remember there being another one. What do you know? It was the final descent. The time passed so quickly because I was engaged in navigating that car. When I got to Mamalahoa Highway, I had seven turquoise bars on the electric gauge. I was going to make it home with ease.
I decided to go into town to mail the four boxes I had in the back of the car for the seminary and the Step Up Program's fingerprint form. I arrived shortly before 4:30. Did you know the post office closed at 4 pm.?
I asked Elijah to pull up the plumbago rooted in my two-foot pathway by my neighbor's fence when I got home.
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Musings:
The immediate political situation is very confusing. So is the larger picture.
The democrats want to provide free services for all. The Republicans want capitalism to flourish and for each man to make his own good fortune.
The very rich and many of the poor support Trump. They don't want guaranteed goods and services. They want jobs. They want a chance to compete in the free market.
Guaranteed education and health care are provided in most advanced nations at this point. Yet, Americans see it as a death knell.
The Republicans I know sincerely believe that everyone has an equal chance at any achievement. Really? Women have the same chances as men? Do people of color have the same chances as white people? The handicapped have the same chance at jobs they are equally qualified for as the able? Are they sure? It's the American myth. It's our story: anyone can become President of the United States.
There is some truth to our social flexibility, but the myth outruns the truth. In the meantime, we have poor schnooks who are willing to drink the cool-aid, hoping that the myth is true. Meantime, the rich get much, much richer.
I feel that other advanced countries have managed a more balanced approach between capitalism and social services.
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