I got a lot done yesterday, although I hadn't really intended to ahead of time. When I checked my email in the morning, I had a message from George with a link to a used van for sale on Craigslist. George isn't shipping a vehicle over here, planning instead to get a useful old beater to haul all kinds of things around in - dogs, kayaks, coolers, furniture, and all the boxes of stuff he's been mailing over here since I left. So when he sent me the link to the Craigslist ad, I decided to go check it out. It was being offered for sale at a used car dealer in Kahului. I have no interest in or aptitude for car shopping - really a car dealer's dream. So after I drove it around a little and decided it looked and sounded okay, I plunked down the $2,600 and it was a done deal - a 2000 Chevy Astro with 142,000 miles on it.
The dealer was accomodating enough to accompany me to the airport where I returned my rental car, and they'll store the van for a couple of weeks after my own car arrives from the mainland until George gets here at the end of the month.
Although I claim to be the cartoon expert in the family, it was my sister Judy who reminded me that Astro was the name of the dog on the Jetsons. (And we can't forget that Judy was the stylish teenage Jetson sister!)
I drove off the car lot in plenty of time to make my 2:00 pm appointment to put down the deposit on our new home (at least for the next few months). We ended up going with the 2-bedroom place in upcountry Makawao (maka-wow), after the owners came back and decided that they really could wait until November 1st to rent it to us. I handed over the check and left with a welcome gift of two avocados, a graprefruit, two lemons, and eight tangerines from the owners' fruit trees. I think we're going to like this place.
My other accomplishment for the day was to join the Maui YMCA. It's within walking distance of school (a rare and happy feature) so I will be able to get back on a regular exercise schedule again, and get away from my desk for a while every day.
For as small as this island is, I'm amazed how car-dependent you have to be to live here. There's a bus system, but from what I've heard, the stops are infrequent and not conveniently located. There is no place I can walk to from the studio I'm staying in right now in Paia - no markets, restaurants or parks within walking distance. As I've been writing this post over the last hour, the next door neighbors have come and gone three separate times in their car. And the roads are not very bike-friendly. No bike lane or even a narrow shoulder where you could feel safe riding with traffic whizzing by (usually at least 10 miles per hour over the posted speed limits). The other day I was horrified to see a young woman out jogging, talking on her cell phone, with her back to traffic on a narrow winding two-lane road with blind curves and no shoulder. Thus, the necessity of purchasing Astro and maintaining a car-dependent lifestyle. Though with gas prices at a dollar a gallon higher than mainland prices, I think we'll be motivated to limit our driving as much as possible. Judy said that our new van Astro reminded her of a Flintstones car. Now that could be a gas-saving modification - the Jetsons meet the Flintstones?
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