THE BEST LAID...

AH, POPPYCOCK!!

I woke up a little past 4p. About an hour later I checked my phone and saw some missed calls and a V-Mail pending. It was George, ONE-NINE's "day" driver, Tuesday thru Friday. He had a special for me to pick up from the Old Lahaina Luau at 8:30p and return to Wailea. Thats about a $90 fare. I logged in at my normal time and "dropped tag" for the special at 7:22p. Its a 45 minute, or so, drive over and I wanted to be early. This would be a good start for the shift. I arrived at 8:10p and people were already exiting the luau. The show had just ended. George had given me the lady's cell number and I called. No answer. Called back at 8:20p and still no answer. Tried again at 8:30p. Nope. Called George, since he had made all the arrangements, and he tried to call the lady. Same results. Called our dispatch number and advised Tree about the situation, just in case she called that number. The end result was that I sat just outside the luau until 9:15p and never heard from the bitch woman. Made it back into Kihei about 10p, having missed 3 hours of dinner runs, with 58 unaccounted for miles on the odometer. It was just 'Crazy" Brian and TMR working and I was lucky enough to snag 4 pu-pus between then and 11p. The dinner runs had come and gone.

The few bars open were ghosttowns. The few drinkers we hauled were going from private residence to private residence.

I had taken over the phone duties at 9p and the 2 remaining day drivers were gone by 9:30p. I am headed back from Lahaina and having to send runs out to others. Missing my chance at what little money was available. Talk about "salt in the wound".

Just past midnight I get a $5 pu-pu. "Crazy" left at 12:30a and TMR was gone by 1:30a. I don't blame them. By that time the only things open were the gas stations and "stop'n'robs".

The dog-watch saved my ass. A south Kihei to north Kihei at 2:40a. A "regular" from Mulligans to Maui Meadows at 3:15a, who took pity on my situation and gave me $40 on a $12.20. I told him that it wasn't necessary and he told me that he knew that. Mahalo, Chris.

Finished the night with a Wailea to OGG scheduled at 4:30a for 1 person. It wasn't 1 but a family of 4. I didn't care. I wasn't going to lose the fare. I stuffed ONE-NINE's truck full with all their luggage and had to bounce my ass (about 100kgs) on the truck lid to get it to secure. When we arrived at OGG, I pressed the interior release button on the driver's door and the lid popped like a jack-in-the-box.

Finally turned ONE-NINE over to George at 5:40a and beat feet for home.

8 fares / 141 miles / 2nd quarter $100 bracket

TGIF!

MAHALO

ALOHA

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THE PICTURE GALLERY

Napili
Mau'i

The Pali
O'ahu

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"Let's all be careful out there!"