The last time I was in Hawaii without a bicycle was a long, long time ago

I've been thinking back over my many trips to Hawaii. I started visiting the islands back in the late 1970s or early 1980s with a trip to the Big Island to hike at Volcanoes National Park. That was back in the days when travel agents were the mode of booking trips, and my travel agent was stunned when I told her that I wanted to book a trip to Hawaii but that I didn't want to go to the beach. I did stop in Honolulu on that trip because I wanted to see Pearl Harbor - but I spent the rest of the time hiking on the Big Island.

My last 3 trips were all cycling trips. The first trip in the series was an organized tour of the Big Island through Backroads. That was also the last trip when I tranported a full frame bicycle on a plane - I rode my beautiful purple Peter Mooney bicycle. That trip was also sandwiched between my switch from doing organized cycling tours to touring solo. The second trip in the series was a visit to Maui with my then new Bike Friday Pocket Rocket, a folding bike that is much less expensive to transport since it fits into a standard sized suitcase - no excess baggage charges. I used the bike for wandering during the day. That wasn't a tour - I simply did day rides, no weight on the bike except for me. The last of this series was in May of 2003, when I did a self-contained tour of the Big Island on my Bike Friday Air Glide.

This trip was supposed to be a repeat of last year's tour, but as you probably already know, this trip has morphed into a non-biking trip. I'm actually pretty excited about it since I plan to visit some places where I haven't been before. My last trip to Hawaii without a bicycle was a long time ago. That was the trip when my mom joined me, and we visited Kauai and Maui. I have good memories of that trip - both of the shared experience, and of the beautiful places that we saw. And I have good expectations of my upcoming trip too. Only two days away now...