Biking in Hilo and Surprise

December 7
Hilo, Hawaii Day 4

Today, my roommate, one of my other friends, and I went on a bike ride. We left the ship and took the shuttle to Wal-Mart. We walked 10 minutes to Mid-Pacific Wheels bike shop and rented mountain bikes. We asked the 2 guys there for road recommendations and they suggested riding along the coast for a bit and then taking a scenic route. We rode out of town and along the coastal highway. We stopped briefly to look across the bay at our ship and then moved on. We crossed a bridge with a river under it that flowed to the ocean and to our left we could see an older bridge and a high, prominent bunch of pine trees that looked really cool and out of place. We decided to try and make our way over to the bridge and the forest if we could, though we had no idea how. We started out by making the first left possible which took us into a neighborhood. We turned left again towards what we thought was the general direction. After a few minutes we came across a promising sign that said “Narrow Road”. We continued on and found ourselves leaving the neighborhood and entering a forest and heading downhill. As the road turned we saw the old bridge we had wanted to get to ahead. We stopped for a while and looked around and then rode a little further up. There was another bridge but this one we got off our bikes and looked underneath. There was another river that flowed under it that ended with a tall waterfall. There were also a lot of spiders and slippery rocks. We went back on top of the bridge and spotted a rusty gate that had a grass-covered road leading uphill. We took our bikes up a little ways and hid them behind some bushes and climbed up the hill (there were no ‘No Trespassing’ signs or anything). When we reached the top of the hill we realized we were in some sort of grove of nut trees (we though maybe macadamia nuts). We thought we might be on private property so we left for back down the hill.
We grabbed our bikes, got back on the road, and rode further. We rode under the original bridge we had been on and then turned a corner and got an even better view of the coast. Below we saw surfers in a little cove outside of where the river emptied into the oceans. We followed the road up and it took us back to the main road. We continued on up the main road and passed a large cemetery with what looked like a Japanese name. The guys back at the bike shop told us there wasn’t much along the road except houses and stuff until we got a convenience store called “Pinky’s”. Around there was supposedly a place where we could get lunch. After riding 2 or 3 more miles we came across Pinky’s and found a place across the street called “Baker Tom’s”. It was a roadside store that was run by an elderly couple. They served a popular Hawaiian food called malasada which is pretty much a larger donut but with various fillings such as Canadian bacon w/ cheese, pepperoni and cheese, raspberry, etc. For lunch we stopped here and I had 2 pepperoni pizza malasadas. They were really good and later I found out that they had them on the other islands as well. I decided to ask the owners couple a really random question. The last time my family and I were in Hawaii, we also went on a bike ride and at the base of one of the hills was a roadside stand called “Puka Dogs”. The concept was pretty much a hot dog/sausage put into a French roll that had been baked on the inside. Anyway, I asked the couple if they knew anything about the business and whether it took off. They said they had no idea. After saying goodbye to the elderly couple we crossed the street to Pinky’s and got some more water. We then went further down the road where after a few minutes we came across a sign for the scenic route. We turned on to it and it became a downhill road with a dense canopy above. We enjoyed the downhill while it lasted and after riding through the forest emerged at an overlook that had a kind of trailhead. We then rode down the trail and found that it split into a botanical garden that you had to pay to get into. We just walked further and found a small, abandoned cove that we hung around at for a while. We found a coconut and set about trying to de-husk it (which took a while) and then finally broke it open and drank the coconut milk inside which was really fresh. After chilling here for a while we grabbed our bikes and walked them back up the trail. We then road back through the forest area and got back on the main road.
We biked back the whole seven miles to town fairly quick. When we got back into town we found a shaved ice place and bought some shaved ice. We ran across a lot of fellow SASers and talked to them for a while. We then rode back to the bike rental, dropped our bikes off, and started to walk back to the Walmart to catch the shuttle. While walking I started talking to my roommate about the game Dungeons and Dragons, which he plays back home with his friends. The more he described it, the more I wanted to play it. When I get back home I was thinking about trying to force my friends to play, so we’ll see how that goes. We got back to the Walmart just in time for the shuttle and took that back to the ship. By this time it was about 3 or 4 and on-ship time was 6pm. I just stayed on board and hung out till dinner. As it turned out, dinner was a Hawaiian BBQ which was really good. During dinner, there was an announcement that we would have an important meeting later that night in the union. I didn’t pay much attention to what it could be. There is a storm between us and San Diego so I thought we might stay off the island for a day before going on. During the meeting, it was announced that we were going to let the storm pass before we continue on. As a result we would go back to Honolulu. What’s more is that they are going to let us get off the ship again for the day. So now I am planning on hiking all day tomorrow when we get back to Honolulu on Oahu. This completely blew my mind and I thought it was really cool that they were doing this. So now there is going to be a Hawaii Day 5 which I’ll have to write about. What luck!