Monica Visits the Big Island #1

Bless their pea-picking little hearts, Monica and Eric were still smiling after a fourteen hour flight!

Leis on dashboard on the way home. Not pictured, Monica and Eric asleep in the back seat.

 Eric’s new longboard                                              Monica in the noni grove

 

Tiny baby gold dust gecko on Monica’s wrist.

Hi Jeff & Rebecca!

Yesterday I was riding on the back of our scooter with David piloting (yes, we finally got wheels!) and the phone rang. This in itself is a very odd sentence, but since the advent of go-phones I guess it’s not all that odd…just novel!

So, the phone rang, and it had a funny number in the display that started with 44. Hmm, I thought, 44…London? Yes, it was our friend Jeff from Terlingua calling us here in Hawai’i from London, where he and Rebecca are right now. Or were yesterday. From what I understand, they were then headed to France for Rebecca’s friend’s wedding; and then they’ll be house-sitting there for a bit.

The fact that I was on the phone on the back of a scooter in Hawai’i talking to someone in London was just this huge technology moment for me. Wow!  And that we had just concluded a few days’ internet work in a treehouse; four of us at one point lined up at Brent’s www.brent.fm uberdesk, hooked into satellite typing away…and that we were about to pull up into Jim & Colleen’s driveway for a visit and to help work on their up-coming podcast http://optimismisaskill.wordpress.com … it became an even huger technology moment, and I’m still standing amazed at the world in which we live.

So…hi Jeff & Rebecca! We miss you so much! And Mark & LBG too…and Ally…and Sandy… and Clay, Cassady, Carl, Stan, Mindy…there is a huge list of folks who need a “hello”. Know that we are both sitting in a treehouse in Hawai’i thinking of you, and that thought and prayer move at lightning speed, even faster than the internet. Once I invent teleportation, we can visit everybody a lot more often.

About the promised picture update:

I left all of the pix discs at home, where we have not been for well over a week.  You know the term “couch surfing”? Well, we haven’t been doing that exactly, because there is no couch up in the treehouse, and Jim & Colleen always lend us their guestroom. Haven’t had a change of clothes in about as long, either…whatever life is supposed to be exactly, we are sure living it vigorously. Odiferously, perhaps; but vigorously in any event!

We have SCOOTER

Aloha, Y’all!

Dave here. Haven’t posted anything lately, you know, so here I am with a terribly important update for everyone to see: WE HAVE SCOOTER.

Yup, it’s true. After hitchiking for about 3 weeks, Anna and I have acquired a little 49.5cc scooter to haul our happy arses around this side of the island. It’s red and in great shape and gets about 80mpg. No complaints here, I assure you.

And what have we done since picking it up yesterday? Well, first let me back up a day.

Our friends Jim and Colleen McLelland stepped up to the plate to provide us with a) transportation to Kona and back, b) delightful companionship and company these past several weeks (they’re SO sweet!), and a place to stay with such luxuries as hot and cold running water… the list goes on! Anyway, thank you Jim & Colleen for being such cool people and wonderful friends. We ROCK, yah? And we RULE, too!

Ok, so we have a scooter now, one with a Chockocat sticker right in front. Kinda’ looks like the ‘Bat Cycle’ without the ‘Bat Insignia’ on the front. Way cool! It’s got a little trunk on it, too, and storage under the seat.

So Anna and I loaded up this morning at Jim & Colleen’s house (where we stayed the night), rolled down the mountainside to the highway, and cruised into Keaau to buy veggies and healthy stuff, drove home, turned around and drove all the way to Mountain View, where we are now. We’re at Brent‘s treehouse, actually. Lovely place, three floors high set ‘way back in the trees. We’re gonna’ cook dinner and stay the night. It’s great, too, ’cause we work here and Brent’s great to hang with.

So I’m rambling a bit. It’s been a busy several weeks. We have a bunch of projects in the works and they’re all coming together very nicely. I’m happy.

There it is. Our lives rock, we have some awesome friends, and we have a scooter!

I’m outta’ here!

Dave