Paradise Driver: HOLY SHIT!

Sunday, January 06, 2008

HOLY SHIT!

ROCKS!!

Overall, it was a decent Saturday night. We stayed relatively active through the early hours and then, as is normal, it began to slow down after 11:00 PM.

Had a short pu-pu to start the shift, followed by a OGG. Then bar-run after bar run. I took over the phones at 9:00 PM with 6 available cabs. By 11:30 PM there were just 4 of us left. Just before bar-close, I start getting requests from various resorts to pick up guests from OGG. The United "red eye" had failed to depart. All four of us were able to get one run each. There weren't too many fares from that cancellation. The United Station crew couldn't/wouldn't find rooms for the stranded passengers and kept telling everyone there were no taxis available. That no cabs run on Mau'i after midnight. The people we were picking up had called the resorts and managed to find a room and the resorts had called us. Security allowed us to stage at baggage claim to wait and we were joined by at least 17 other cabs from all over the island. All 4 of us made our pick-ups but the majority of the others left empty handed. No room at the Inn. Probably 300 people stranded up stairs with no food, drink or bed.

During that period, the bars in Kihei started calling for the close. Had to turn them all down.

Just past 2:00 AM I get a call from my 2 ladies from OZ. The owner had taken them this afternoon to the Old Lahaina Luau and now they were at Spatz, the nightclub at the Hyatt, in Ka'anapali. Hightail it over to get them for the return to Kihei. Going around the Pali (Hawai'ian for: seacliffs) there is a minor rock fall. The roadway twists along the face of the cliffs with vertical walls and dropoffs into the ocean. Forward sight is limited to a short distance. Came around a curve and rocks, from basketball size on down, are in my lane. Swerve and miss all but one. About double the size of a softball, I caught just the edge of my left front wheel on the damn thing. The wheel cover goes sailing off towards the Pacific but everything seemed okay. When I reached the Hyatt, I noticed that the tire looked low on pressure, so I stopped at a gas station in Lahaina on the return to add some air. Cab handled nicely and when I dropped my loverly ladies back at their condo, the tire still looked low. Went to the Chevron Station and bought a can of "Fix-A-Flat". Pumped that in and in the bright lights of the station I could see that the wheel rim was bent inwards on one edge. That must have been where I actually struck the rock. The tire bead had been broken and I could hear air leaking. Used "Maggie" to pound it back a bit and refilled the tire. Seemed okay for the rest of the night but when I parked it, the tire looked low again. I am just happy there wasn't any body damage. Rock falls are common on the Pali. There is screening over the steep face to prevent large boulders from crashing down onto the road and cars but smaller rocks do get past that. I remember once when a tourist swerved to miss the rocks, lost control and slammed into the cliff face. That was a messy one.

Oh, the ladies leave today, back home to Sydney.

12 fares / 192 miles / 4th quarter $200 bracket

Today is 12th night. Time to take down the tree and extinquish the Christmas lights on the house.

Which begs the question: