Mammoth doesn't go to Hawaii

Monday 8/8/2022

This is not a tale of Travels with Mammoth Motorhome--in fact, poor Mammoth doesn't figure into it at all. We left it all behind.

We're in the airport waiting for the plane. Not crowded at all when we arrived--at 8:30 or so--but now it's getting awfully busy.  The flight boards at 11:05 and leaves at 11:50.

This trip was long anticipated, but at many times during the last week I was ready to call it all off. Leaving the house with malfunctioning air conditioning, for one, the dogs in boarding hell, for another. And the cats and the kids and the noise...oh, wait. Leaving the noise is a bonus.

LATER

Very long day. The plane trips were relatively painless, with a fearful few moments when we arrived in Honolulu with no idea where our gate was and no boarding passes to get on the plane. Ed finally ducked in a "Hawaiian's club" where some nice person looked up the gate and printed the passes. Very kind of them, and especially useful because our flight number had changed from what was issued with the tickets.  I don't know how they figured that out.

Didn't go here, but should have -->

We shouldn't have been so worried--the airport isn't all that large--but none of the ticket counters seemed manned. Maybe if we'd walked all the way to the security entrance we would have seen the kiosks and been able to self-serve.

But our car reservation was a pain. I'd originally expected to pick it up at about 5:30 so I'd reserved it for 5. With the flight change, we didn't get there in time. Picking up our luggage was remarkably fast, but by the time we got to the car rental it was after 6 and Avis, Budget, and some other rental companies had combined their "after hours" service into one, very overloaded, service counter. There were only two people working there for a line of 25 customers. Many of whom appeared not to have a reservation.

By the time we waited in line--interminably--got our car and got on the road, we started looking for fast food places to get dinner in. Passing up a Burger Kind near the airport, we headed to Princeville. Princeville, where our condo was, and fast food...well...there aren't any. There were two Subways, both of which closed at 8:00 or earlier. It was 8:30 and the whole town had pretty much rolled up its sidewalks and gone to bed.

There was absolutely NO food to be had.  It was either (a) drive back to the airport, about 30 minutes away, for McDonalds or Burger King, or (b) stop at the Foodland Grocery and see what they had left in their deli case.  We chose (b). They actually had a good bit of food there. The fried chicken looked old and the poke, sushi and fresh salads in the counter looked scary, but they had a good assortment of pre-packaged sandwiches to choose from. I had a vegan salad bowl with grain and some chunks of brown stuff; Ed had a roast beef sub. And chips. Sprite for Ed; water for me. And that made a meal.

When we finally got done eating and headed for bed, it was after 2am to our bodies' notion of time, but only 9 or 10pm in Hawaii time. No matter--my body was ready for bed.

There was no air conditioning and so neither of us slept well.

The condo, however, was gorgeous. Will rave about it tomorrow.

Might even be a good movie

 Where the Crawdads Sing
by Delia Owens

An audiobook that left me speechless. It's just so freaking beautiful!

Sad stuff happens, of course. A lot of it. And good stuff happens. And magical, wonderful stuff.  Wings fly through every page--and waves, and rustling marsh grasses in the wind, and frogs, salamanders, snakes and grass flowers and always the gulls overhead and the salt slough beneath. It made me want to plan a camping trip to South Carolina (or was it North?) immediately. But I wouldn't see what she saw.

Funny...I took a quick look at Goodreads to try and figure out where it was set and ran into a reviewer who diss'ed it severely. The reviewer had a few of what I'd call legitimate beefs--leaden dialog (I never noticed it), flat characters (yeah, but I let that pass). But then he or she bellyached that "even though it was set in the south during the civil rights era, it never touched on that subject." So? This is a work of <i>fiction</i>, not a textbook!   Civil rights didn't happen to fit into the story she was telling, but somehow she was supposed to cram some in just to make the book historically relevant?  Was it her job to tell the whole complete story of the Southern United States during the 1950s, or just a sweet little story about a young girl growing up in a swamp?  Was she supposed to bring in the Sputnik Launch--even though the girl didn't have a TV?  Maybe the author could have had her wander down the street and overhear it on a radio broadcast.

Sheez, what a doofus reviewer.  Please, people, keep your comments fair and review a book on what it's really about, not what you think it could have been about.

Aw, series over.

 Life, Revealed
Isabelle's Story

by SW Hubbard

Last, for now, of the Friendship Fiction series. This was better that the last in several ways. She gave a backstory to Isabelle, the real estate wizard. Apparently she grew up in a very broken and disfunctional home, and her brother ended up in prison at an early age. And stayed there for a lot of years. Now he's out and dealing with all that's changed, and she's there in the thick of it.

Her character become very interesting, but also her brother's. And of course the other women friends get to go on living their lives. But I found him the most interesting of them all. I wish she'd write a sequel from his life in the future--I'd read it in a snap. Of course...that's true of all her books.

A little RVing inspiration

Camper Chronicles Open Road
by Tracy Perkins

Heartfelt and honest story of a woman starting her RV full-timing adventure. Her biggest problem seemed to be herself, and she's honest about that. As I read on and on, and as she got closer and closer to giving up her job and taking the plunge into full-time RVing supported by Workcamping stints, I found myself wondering why she chose the lifestyle to begin with. She totally identified with her career. And she really didn't want to give up the security and self-fulfillment of the full time job. Time and again in this narrative, she was pulled back into work and left her husband to pick up the dream.

I'm not completely sure she ever fully gave up the thoughts of going back to work full time. I should sympathize--two years after retirement, I still find myself missing the daily grind. A little, and in limited ways. But still....

Ms. Perkins was much influenced and helped by the RV Dreams couple, whose blog I've been reading for three years. I found it cool to see Howard and Linda from the perspective of the people they influenced.  If you're not an RV Dreamer already, this book may make you become one.

Gardening In My Roots, Fall Begins

 Planted lettuce, spinach, broccoli, carrots, radishes, daikon radishes, and turnips.  More to come!

Life, At Last: Madalyn's Story
by SW Hubbard

If you've ever been inside the head of a woman who stays with a cheating husband, this is a good book to bring you out of it. She's past those days, but still stuck in a life that's all about helping other people, never herself. One of her kids is gone, but still so emotionally needy she might as well be right next door. One is stuck at home and unable to face the reality of growing up--job, self-sufficiency, and all that. And another is pretty functional on the autism spectrum, but after all those years of waiting and caring, Madalyn can't seem to back off and let her grow up.

I loved this book as much as I had the two before. And I had no complaints about the ending. On to the next.

More in the women's friendship series

 Life, Upended
by S W Hubbard

Continuing the them from Life, Part 2 and entering into the life of another character, SW Hubbard has done it again! She didn't exactly abandon Lydia, from the last book, but centered this one around her good friend Roz. Roz is a college professor who teaches English composition, and she really enjoys her job...until she gets saddled with a student and a situation that threatens to end it all.

I can't tell much more, except for a warning: the ending stunk. It was abrupt and pat and tied up all the loose ends into a airtight, unsatisfying package.  I wouldn't skip reading the book on account of the ending--the book was great--but don't expect a "smile of delight" finish.

A new series!

 Life, Part 2: Lydia's Story--The Second Chance


I picked this up because I liked the Another Man's Treasure estate sale mysteries so much, and this was a new series by the same author. It wasn't because of the mysteries that I liked them--those were just so-so, but the personalities and the storyline had kept me enthralled for all of the series so far. (I hope she's not ending it.)

But she branched out from the mystery genre into something that they label "women's friendship fiction."  She took a few of the side characters from Another Man's Treasure and started writing stories centered on them, and not mysteries at all. Just really good stories.

Especially this one. I was hooked from page one--what happens when a woman is newly widowed and trying to make a life for herself, only to discover so many forgotten hopes and dreams that she'd forgotten while making a life for her wealthy and much older husband.  This is a story of woman's discovery...of herself!