Aloha,

Well, I am finally here after a year of waiting to return. Everything here is as it should be, 83 degree days, 73 degree nights, clear skies and beautiful blue water. I am only here for 3 weeks which is not enough time to do all that I want to do. My 2 bedroom condo is beautiful and conveniently located within a 1 mile walk to town. This is nice since I will not have a car except for the first day to shop foe food. My transportation is going to be walking, running, swimming and biking.  

Day 1: I arrived in Kona Thursday 11/1 at 11:40 AM. I had my bicycle box and a 50 lb duffle bag with my diving gear and I didn't want to hassle it to the shuttle to get a rental car. I decided to take a taxi to the condo, as they were right in front of the baggage claim. At the condo I unpacked and put my bike together, then rode it 4.5 miles to Keahou shopping center where I bought a few necessary supplies, like beer, steak, potatoes and pineapple. Now that I had dinner in hand I took a nap.

Day 2: Awake at 3:00 AM - 6:00 at home- I futzed around, did email and talked to Paula. AT 6:30 it was light enough to jog 2.5 miles to the pool for a swim. Alas, the pool was closed on 11/2 for some maintenance. I jogged back to the Kailua pier and swam 1/2 mile in the bay - glad I did because this was better than the pool. I then jogged back to the condo had some pineapple for breakfast - that's all I had- and got on my bike and rode 10 mile to the airport to pick up a rental car. I headed for Costco and bought out the store - I spent less than last year. Then I came home and put it all away. By then it 12:30, so I went to the pool and cooled off. after a short nap, I went to the Keahou market again and picked up a few things like butter, mayo, mustard, that I didn't want to buy at Costco, then to Longs to get Paula's Mr. & Mrs T Mai Tai mix. Then I went to the dive shop and scheduled a couple of dives, and dropped off my equipment - they will put it on the boat for me and store it while I am here- Came home took a nap and fixed dinner.

 Day 3, today: Up again at 3:00 am, jogged 2 miles to pier for a 3/4 mile swim, then jogged home. Had breakfast and headed back to the airport with my car and bike. Dropped the car and started on my bike home. On the way to the airport I saw a young gal (30ish) jogging with a stroller just before the airport. I though wow, that's 10 miles from Kona. As I am biking back I catch her and ask how far she is running and she said 20 mikes, as she is training for the Honolulu marathon next month. I wished her well and went on my way. about 3 miles later I turned into the Honokohua Boat Harbor to look around. When I came back out and onto the road she was there with a flat tire (inflatable) on the stroller. I asked her if she needed any help and she said she would be okay, but I stayed to make sure. She was grateful and did have some problems getting the tire and tube out so I did it for her and got is pumped back up. As I was finishing, one of her friends came up on a bicycle, and we chatted. I turns out that her husband is the manager of "Bike Works", the biggest bike shop in Kona. She (Brooke) said for me to go by there and tell him what I did and he would give me something - I said how about a new triathlon bike - we all good a good laugh and went on our way.

 So now I am tired and ready to have dinner. Scuba diving tomorrow. I am looking forward to giving my legs a rest.  Its hard to get my clock reset because I am so tired in the early evening that I just want to eat dinner and go to sleep, which is by 7:30 PM - of course I wake up at 3:00 AM. I don't nap well in the day, so I can live with this schedule, not much going on for me after it gets dark anyway.