Drive in the Clouds

We have mentioned in previous posts that you plan your day around the weather. Often, we choose to use rainy days for errands, which may seem backwards.  Our thinking is that we would not be outside in the rain if we were home, so why not run errands.

Such was the case yesterday, when we found a lovely queen sized mattress for our ohana -- all the way up to Waimea, but the price was right, and it was a perfect day for a ride (round trip would be four hours.)

Anyway, as we left, both Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa were blanketed with rain clouds, and even though we could not see either of the 13,000+ peaks, we thoroughly enjoyed the dynamic light show on the lower elevations.  Fortunately, we always travel with rope and plastic in case of sudden showers.

We chose to ride of the "saddle" between these two spectacular volcanic peaks, and on the way home, the clouds were at the ground level and visibility was limited, dropping our driving speed from 65 down to 35 for safety.


We wanted you all to know that not every day on the Big Island offers blue skies!  The weather is changing every hour.   Below is a map that shows the FIVE volcanoes on our island.  Mauna Loa erupted in the 1980's for a while, but lava has been flowing constantly from Kilauea's Pu'u O'o crater since 1983!

And, we can't forget our newest volcano, Loili, who is currently underwater of the south coast.