Sunrise reflections are taken from what Tom referred to as the “birdhouse.”

We’re packed. The house is cleaned. After all the stuff we had here for the family get together, it was a bit more challenging than usual. But, now, the sheets and towels are in the laundry, our bags are in the entryway ready to go into the rental car.

This was one of my favorite photos, the chair where neighbor Yoko sits each day whale watching. The waves were huge that day.

Once the laundry is done and our post is uploaded, we’ll load the stuff into the car and take off to begin the painstaking drive on the highway through the construction zone. Expected transit time to Hilo, two hours, an otherwise 30-minute drive.

Our nighttime visit to Mount Kilauea.  Amazing! Another shot of Mount Kilauea as visitors overlooked the massive crater, at the mouth of the volcano.

Arriving in Hilo, we’ll stop at a computer recycle store to drop off my old laptop with the bad keyboard (and other issues), to be recycled. Then we’re off to the hotel where we’ll stay overnight getting up early in order to take our 10:33 am flight tomorrow morning to Kauai.

Where else but in Hawaii would one find such exquisite beauty of vegetation.

Hopefully, this short trip will be as seamless as had been our flights from Oahu to Maui, from Maui to the Big Island. Tom finally accepts the fact once we drop off the rental car, we don’t need to be at the airport more than an hour before our flight when flying inter-island in the Hawaiian Islands.

A Golden Day Gecko enjoying a rest on a flower.

Lava created bridge over the sea at a shoreline in the neighborhood.

With a 35 minute layover in Honolulu, we’ll later arrive at the Lihui airport in Kauai at 12:10. Upon arrival, we’ll pick up the new rental car at Dollar Rent-A-Car and off we go for the approximate 50-minute drive to the condo in Princeville.

A cave as we stood of the shore of an overlook area on the road to Hilo.

This relatively easy move didn’t prevent either of us from sleeping last night, knowing we’re moving out today, leaving tomorrow. It’s only those terribly long upcoming flights with a move from country to country, hard roads to the airport, and expected delays that cause us restless sleep the night before a travel day. We take it in our stride as a fact of traveling long distances at times.

Lava as it began to cross Apa a’ Road in Pahoa. (Not our photo).

Electric posts wrapped in lava proof material in Pahoa to minimize outages when the lava progresses.

This morning, I completed our expense report for the six weeks we’ve spent in Hawai’i, the Big Island.  Of course, included in this total is the time we spent here on our own which totals approximately 18 days, usually at an average expense of $200 per day, for an estimated total of $3600.

Tom’s exquisite sunrise shot.

The grand total for all of the expenses is as follows from December 1, 2014, to January 15, 2015:

Rent for both houses:                                                 $11,226.25   
Car rental:                                                                    2,147.62   
Airfare for us and 12 family members:                           15,924.49
Entertainment and misc.                                                   660.99
Dining out:                                                                      576.91
Groceries & household supplies                                       3,767.09           
Grand total                                                                $34,302.36              

We’d budgeted $40,000 for this period of time. The fact that the totals came in under $34,301.36 was in part based on the fact a few family members weren’t able to come due to illness and, overestimating on the balance.  Plus, we’d anticipated renting two cars for the family’s use, only renting one minivan when two of the families preferred to rent their own cars.

Tom captured this unusual moon shot.

Pac-man moon over the Big Island.

In all, it has worked out as planned. Now, with the four upcoming months in Kauai with the entire rental fee paid in full many moons ago, we have only our groceries and household supplies, car rental, fuel, and entertainment expenses (which we’ll keep to a minimum) as we start paying off two more cruises and future rentals with balances due in full by the end of the four-month period. 

Whale watching from the shore at the two houses we renter in Pahoa.

Tomorrow, we’ll be back with updates for our day in Hilo including the hotel, restaurant, and process of recycling the old computer.

We’d hope to get a full breach shot while whale watching. This is a close as we could get.

There is little wildlife in the Hawaiian Islands. Most animals we spotted were on farms.

Have a wonderful Wednesday. Back at you soon!

                                            Photo from one year ago today, January 14, 2014:

This young warthog found a shady place to rest in our yard in Marloth Park. The two families of two moms along with their seven babies visited so often that they’d become comfortable around us. For details of that date as we prepared for a mini holiday, please click here.