One rainy night...

Winter on Kauai means rainy season. We were usually there in winter.

Mornings were lovely, with glorious sunrises over the golf course. But clouds are what make it glorious. Occasionally, we would urge guests at the breakfast table to step over to the windows to see a double rainbow over the ocean... which meant that a rain shower had just passed through. And usually, it cleared off between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m..

But the winter of '95 took us by surprise. It was socked in with gray, pouring rain for two days without let up. 9 inches of rain the first day, and 13 inches the next. We had guests in all but one room. (One couple ordered pizza in, delivered. Smart people).

We heard that Hanalei was flooded. We had to go to the grocery store at Princeville Center, so drove on over to the lookout (the photo above), and all we could see was muddy water coming down from those mountains, and flowing over the roadbed of the one-lane bridge to Hanalei Valley.

Up on the highway, not far from the Center, there's a heavy metal gate beside the road that the police pull closed, so that traffic cannot go on down to Hanalei at times like this. Now, it was closed.

When we got back to the house, there was a phonecall from a couple looking for a room for the night. (We rent the rooms for a minimum of three nights, usually).

Leif and Sylvia were from the Mainland, visiting their parents who live in Hanalei. They had driven up to the Center, to get groceries, in particular chickens for barbecuing. But now, the gate was closed and they couldn't get back. They needed to get the chickens into a refrigerator. Just because it's raining doesn't mean it's cold. It was probably 84 degrees out.

They had asked around at the Center, and someone knew there was a B&B in Princeville, which might have a room available. We told them that guests had just vacated the room that morning, and we still had to clean it, but if they'd give us time, we'd have it ready by 6 p.m. (Bob even charged them $10 extra for the rush.. which they didn't mind a bit.)

They came, soaked to the bone, hair dripping wet, looking desperate, and packed their big load of chickens into the tiny room refrigerator, and put the rest of their perishables in the main kitchen fridge. Then they went out to buy some clothes, and toothbrushes and combs, and to have some supper. When they got back the room was ready.

We hardly recognized them at breakfast the next morning. Hot showers and shampoo had done wonders for this handsome guy and his beautiful blonde wife. When we asked the blessing at the table, they were delighted to find out we were Christians. And the conversation came easily, as they felt led to Hale 'Aha, the House of Gathering and refuge.

The high school kids in Princeville didn't have to go to school that day, because the bus couldn't get through. So, here they came up our street, in their bikinis, flip flops and trunks, carrying their boogie boards. Up on the golf course, the rain water was coursing down toward the culvert which led to the ocean. The culvert was overflowing. The kids took turns catching the "wave" and riding it down the golf course, swerving down the banks of the culvert and riding the water as far as they could go, and up the sides to return to the starting point again. Where else in the world can kids ride their boogie boards on a golf course? Only on Kauai!!!