A BEAUTIFUL NIGHT

IN A LOT OF WAYS


Any night that starts with a Moon-rise as beautiful as this can't be all bad.

Sat around for about 40 minutes before I had my first fare. A trip to Sansei, out of Wailea, with an older Filipino couple. As I cleared, I was assigned a pickup just 4 doors away, at Hirohatchi, back to Wailea. A young couple from Japan. Thats what we call a "bounce back". Basically a roundtrip but composed of two separate fares.

Then we all just sat for another hour. Going nowhere very fast. Thats "Maui Jim" (#17) to the left. Off-camera, to the right, Kimo (#22) was parked and PrimaDonna (#18) was behind me.

I had a "special" about 9:15pm, bringing my first fare back from Sansei. About 45 minutes later , run #4 took me from Sarentos to the Four Seasons, A foursome from SoCal and Phoenix.

Then things started improving, a little. Sent to Lulu's, with no further info. A guy hops in and off we go to the harbor in Kahului. A crew member of Pride Of Hawaii

Then nothing, for almost 2 hours.

The "Triangle" was a ghosttown.

Next assignment was at 1:30am. 2 people going into Wailea. Pulled up and 4 people immediately get in ONE-NINE.

"Where are we headed?"
"The ship."

Not the run I was assigned but I had no intention of kicking them out. Advised dispatch to send another unit. TMR picked up the Wailea folks. Two runs in less than 2 minutes from one bar caused Kimo to cruise through that area of the "Triangle". Sure enough, he snagged a "flag" to the harbor also.

As I cleared the ship, I was sent over to Maui Memorial Medical Center, "triple em cee". A lady needing to get back to central Kihei. Another "bounceback"!

The phone never rang once during the "dog watch".

Flor was the first day cab in at 4:30am

My final fare was a sweet young lady from San Francisco, on her first visit to Mau'i. Took her to KBR (Kihei Boat Ramp). She was going diving at Molokini.

The Moon was approaching the western horizon as I cleared.

About 2/3rds of the way down the right side of the pic you can see some lights on the horizon
I cropped and enlarged that portion and you can see a cruise ship. I have no idea which one.

***

Van, my friend who owns Maui Action Photos, dropped these in my "in-box" a couple of days back.


Mahalo, Van!

***

Found another "Barber's Pole".

Outside of Star Market.

I forgot there is a barber shop there.

***

While I only had 9 runs the entire shift, 5 were very good, 3 were great and 1 was a pupu. Unlike Tuesday night, everyone was extremely generous in their gratuities.

***

Thank you for coming by.

Its nice to know that someone, besides me, reads this.

I'll be back tomorrow. I hope you will be too.

Mahalo

Aloha

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THE PICTURE GALLERY

MOLOKA'I

***

"Let's all be careful out there!"

MAY DAY

IS LEI DAY


The northern hemisphere celebration of the 1st of May has its own special twist in Hawai'i. Here it is called "Lei Day". Everyone adorns themselves in beautiful flower garlands.

***

A gorgeous "full" Moon rise last night

***

I mentioned on Monday's post, that Tina and I had spent the first 90 minutes of Sunday's shift chatting.


We are both "into" digital photography. She had brought her new camera with her and was having fun playing with it.

She took these shots of me and ONE-NINE while we sat at the Wailea Lookout

***

A mixed night. Started very slow, one run between 7:00pm and 10:00pm, and then we were all hopping for the next hour. Then it died. Very few bar close runs. Only 2 fares during my solo hours. The last run was the shift's longest, from Star Market to the "baseyard" in Pu'unene (almost to Kahului). It was also the only fare of the night that totally stiffed me on a tip. The fare was $26 and thats exactly what he paid. Actually, tips were below average the entire night. A very high percentage were "passport tourists".

Finally got home about 5:45am.

***

This is asinine!

At these prices you think twice about any trip across the island.
You know how this hurts the cab biz.


Tesoro is bucking the trend a little bit.

The Chevron and Tesoro sit right next to each other.

Not much of a "gas war"

***

In less than an hour, our friend "Jeepgirl", the wonderful RN from Thoughts From The Night Shift is tying the knot with "Her Cop".

Congratulations to both of them.

***

I would like to take a moment and pay tribute to 2 wonderful performers who "passed" over the past couple of days.

Tommy Newsom







Tom Poston

***

As always, thank you for checking in and I'll be back tomorrow.

Mahalo

Aloha

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THE PICTURE GALLERY

LANA'I

***

"Let's all be careful out there!"

A PEACEFUL EVENING

AN EXCITING SHOW

Woke up before 11:00am. Thats extremely early for me. Moped about the house, trying to decide if I really wanted to be out of bed or not. Decided "what the hell, I'll just stay up and take a nap later". Fooled with the web, visiting all the blog links on the sidebar. Took the nap about 2:00pm and was at Judy's house by 6:00pm.

HEROES was very good. It dealt with a possible (alternative) future to the storyline, if the HEROES fail in their saga. Alternative universes, or time-lines, is straight up the SciFi alley. This episode was very well written and presented. This type of plot is best served on "the darkside". Good examples are the movies "BladeRunner" and the Donna Reed/Jimmie Stewart classic "Its A Wonderful Life" and the book/play/movie(s) "Scrooge". I know that every version of the Star Trek TV series had at least one alternative universe story.

Hmmmmm

What if there are alternate universes and ours is the one considered as "The Darkside"?

I know that this is one of those subjects that people with IQs way beyond mine like to contemplate. From what I have read, the general consensus is:

If one universe was formed,
then there should be others.

I think thats a logical presumption. But it can't be proven, yet.

***

MAUI COUNTY ORDINANCE: 10.48.110 All night parking

No person shall park a vehicle on any roadway for a period of time longer than sixty minutes between the hours of two a.m. and six a.m. of any day; subject, however, to the exceptions granted authorized emergency vehicles, pursuant to this title. (Ord. 413 § 10-13.9, 1965)

Yeah. Right.

***

Everyone have a fantastic day.

I'll be back after work, Wednesday morning.

See ya then

Mahalo

Aloha

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THE PICTURE GALLERY

"BIG ISLAND"

A Kona Park
Preserving Hawai'ian Culture

Lava Flow

An Outrigger Canoe

Volcanic Flow Landscape

Where Lava Flowed Around A Tree Which Then Burned Out

***

"Let's all be careful out there!"

THE PRINCE WAS A FROG

AND THE COACH WAS A PUMPKIN


A dismal "Cinderella" shift.

NOW! I remember why I quit working on Sundays and Mondays.

Put $20 in my pocket at the end of the shift.

I left at 11:00pm.

There is going to be some drama later. Hardin, who was dispatching when I left, plans to end his shift around midnight. That will leave just Kimo and TMR. Whomever Hardin gives the phone to will also be the one having to do the overnight.

Believe me. Neither one is going to volunteer for it.

***

For those of you who are still accessing
PARADISE DRIVER via
http://wilkyle.blogspot.com
This will be the final posting to that URL.

Please change your bookmarks/favorites and/or newsreaders to the new URL:
http://paradisedriver.blogspot.com

***

6:00pm to 11:00pm
No runs the first 90 minutes.
No runs the last 90 minutes.
Squeezed 2 pupus, one moderate fare and an OGG into the middle 2 hours.

Tina (#05) and I spent that first 90 minutes chatting about photography.

I am off, today. Artichokes with Judy tonight. The latest episode of HEROES, a rerun of Friends and some pleasant company and conversation.

Sounds boring, huh?

Mahalo

Aloha

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THE PICTURE GALLERY

A Hawai'ian Luau

***

"Let's all be careful out there!"