Waking up to this is a great way to start the day.
Day 3 of our Adventure In A Box starts with our travelers waking up in a cave in Maui. Noah heads off back to work and Ryan picks up the trip solo. There is also a bow and arrow involved in todays story…
Bikes rock, and they roll. That is so bad it’s almost funny. Wait, no it isn’t.
Packing up.
Noah.
Flats happen. I realized that I could have gotten away with just a fork and not another tire lever to fix flats with the way these beads seated. Live and learn.
Someone has put some time in.
Noah taking off, back to work for him.
Day Three
Day three started with Noah fixing another flat before making an early morning departure to leave the trip and go work. We had supplies to fix the tire but if you are ever in a really big bind, flatted out and have a pump but no tubes or patches one way that can work is to take the tube, cut it where the hole is, tie it in a good knot, and stretch it over the rim and re-inflate. I’ve once seen this work so well that the person rode it for three days.
The solar oven setup. Windshield reflector folded into a conical shape, with a pot sitting on three rocks (for hot air to circulate all the way around pot) inside an oven bag.
I really liked the area I was in, and planned on spending the morning enjoying it. I set up to cook my breakfast by placing the cook pot (painted black) on top of three rocks for air circulation, inside an oven bag and the windshield reflector I’d been sleeping on folded into a conical shape to reflect the sun. I’ve built solar ovens in the past but this one was an experiment. It ended up working very well, and breakfast was served!
Fun.
Shooting the bow with some tourist bike shots in for good measure.
While things were heating up with breakfast, I wanted to play around with shooting the bow I had with me but I needed a target. I ended up grabbing a pallet frame left over from the fire, finding an old tattered sheet that was laying around the area, stuffing that with tall grass I compacted inside the pallet frame to make an improvised hay bale and drawing a target on the sheet with a piece of charcoal from last nights fire. Spent some time working on my aim, and then snapped a couple tourist memory photos of the setting.
The acoustics of the waves crashing on these rocks was incredible.
Breakfast is served. The solar oven works!
After an ocean swim and filling up my water bottle, the remaining water was used for a solar shower with the perforated cap I brought.
The arrow quiver made by drilling out the end cap of the bike rack displayed without a bike tube tensioning the arrows.
What a day so far.
Looking back on a beautiful section of road, with a dirt patch compression to keep you (and your cargo!) honest.
After a quick swim in the ocean, I topped off my water bottle then switched out caps on the water bladder I’d brought to use the remaining water for a solar shower before getting back on the bike. Once on the road, the route transitioned to fresh pavement, almost zero traffic, and expansive vistas. You need to bad to appreciate the good, and after the road I was on last night, it felt great to be on smooth auto-pilot road conditions making it able to go fast and let your gaze wander at the same time.
In love with life this very moment. open road and gorgeous views. This is the way it goes, and goes, and…..
Scenics along the way, and a route in the background.
Opening it up and enjoying the ride.
Cruisin……
A bike, a bridge, and a hell of a canyon.
I don’t see any cops.
Yes please. If I’d ever worn chamois butter this would probably make me reach for a 5 gallon bucket of it.
That’s better. You know this is fun.
En route on the climb towards kula.
The Henry Fong store in Kula. Are we really moving forward?
The sign says so.
Recharge if needed.
The route begins a slow, steady, arduous climb thousands of feet towards Kula. Approaching Kula, the elevation gain affects the weather, and as things started to get greener as I approached Ulupalakua, It started to rain. After Kula heading towards Makawao it started to really rain, and before I know it I’m in a torrential rainstorm, the kind of storm that you’ve seen before but still makes you think “holy shit it’s raining hard.” Given the supplies I had with me, and the weather I decided to make a push as dusk was setting to lose as much elevation as I could before sleeping for the night. Made it just outside Paia in rain so hard there is no way a camera was coming out.
Jazzed on the ride. Thanks Ian Morris for the t-shirt. Moments before the rains came.
