My buddy, Rob of The V-Pub invited me to a 5 day challenge to join the Five Photos, Five Stories Challenge: “Post a photo each day for five consecutive days and attach a story to the photo. It can be fiction or non-fiction, a poem or a short paragraph and each day nominate another blogger for the challenge”.
Here’s my go at it!
This particular picture cracks me up. Grayheart and I honeymooned in Hawaii and did the Road to Hana in Maui. We rented a Jeep and began our adventure searching for waterfalls. We saw some of the most gorgeous natural pools, waterfalls and vegetation I’d ever seen in my life.
In one of the stops, we dove into a body of water and enjoyed the refreshing swim. We got back into our vehicle only to realize we couldn’t find the keys to start it! (We’d left the doors unlocked, which you think we would’ve been smart enough to just leave the keys hidden in there somewhere….) We finally figured – after an exhaustive search of the area – that the keys fell out of his swim trunks when we went for our swim.
This was back in 2005, so we didn’t have a cell phone that we traveled with so we then took an hour and a half long walk into the next town to find a payphone. This is a pretty remote destination so it’s not like there were restaurants or hangout spots to easily find a phone. We manage to call the rental car company, which advised that the quickest they could get a spare set to us (due to how far into the highway we were) would be about 4-5 hours. That meant we had to walk our honeymooning arses back to the Jeep and wait outside the car (as night would begin to fall) until the rental company arrived.
We must have look like a dejected pathetic mess of a couple walking this desolate road because as we were trekking through our return to the car, a school bus passed us, stopped and reversed to ask if we were ok! The bus driver kindly offered us a ride back to our spot since it was along the way. We were flabbergasted! The bus was filled with 7-8 year old kids! We graciously accepted the offer and the kids were thrilled to have us as passengers with them! We played games and sang along with these kids and truly felt blessed to have been able to have this unique experience. We were dropped off (which looked really funny, I’m sure to the few tourists that were at the waterfall we came back to) and received the greatest hugs and goodbyes ever! We then sat back in the natural setting and laughed the entire time we were there waiting for our relief. We were eaten alive by mosquitoes but,truthfully, the whole thing was so bizarre and fun, we didn’t care.
Hawaii remains one of my favorite destinations. If you are adventurous and ever get an opportunity, the Road to Hana is as close to hidden paradise as you can find. Just make sure you properly care for your keys!
So, now I’m to nominate someone to take on this challenge… I nominate Gary of Skipah’s Realm. One of the coolest, humble and supportive men/dads around. Gary, I hope you accept!
Thanks, Rob of the V-Pub, for inviting me to do this!!
Divorce With Me 