What did today have in store? Ah... well we got up at 2:09 am and drove for an hour to a pick up point. We then got on a shuttle and drove to the top of Haleakala Mountain - from its base in the ocean it stands in full height was one of the top three tallest - higher (in total) than Everest. We got to the top of the mountain at 5:30am - ish - it was about 9 miles before we got to the top that our drive announced where we were riding from. We were riding bikes down the mountain side. Get this... he says - ok - so here is the check point where you will get your bikes - from here back to base it is 23 miles... yes, my friends - that's 48 km and it is by-far the longest I've ever been on a bike. So what happened - well when the sun rose a woman sang and then she yelled at another Canadian for walking it the wrong spot - it was great - I wished he wasn't wearing a canucks hat.. oh and did I mention that it was 24.3 F (that's minus four - yes, and it was still in Hawaii) and the wind was blowing... there is such little water at the top that when it is cold like this the ground water actually points up out of the ground.
The view was spectacular... then the decent... well initially I was scared because I was braking a lot - but about 10 miles in I eased up and got into it. It was a very easy ride with very few spots where you had to actual try to pedal - gravity took care of us most of the way.
Alright - so we finish biking - we've been up for 7 hours - we haven't eaten - so we go to this great town 20 minutes away and it is here that I enjoy the best cup of coffee that I've ever had. Yes, it was sooo good that I took a picture of it. I want to drive there tomorrow just to experience the coffee all over again... and we might - there were enough coffee drinkers there that we might just cause a mutiny if we don't go tomorrow... (if you look really closely you might also see that there was something extra special about my cup of coffee... - you'll need to really really look)
We did other stuff today but I actually haven't been to sleep yet and didn't nap this afternoon and I'm pretty much running on that coffee from this morning... Tomorrow is my last full day here - then I fly back to Van on Saturday afternoon.
Hugs and kisses to everyone... likely more photos tomorrow :)
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