On the Road Again!

Just can't wait to get on that road again... Ooops.. Hi all!! Yep, I was just 
singing away to that ol' Willie Nelson tune... yessiree, I'm back on the road 
again! For those of you that are new to this email "blog", welcome! For those of 
you that were along for my ride thru China, this trip will be a lot different. 
First of all, Happy New Year to everyone that I haven't seen recently! Hope 
everyone has had a good 2012 so far (OK, where the heck did January go??) I had 
a really nice holiday and got lots of time to spend with friends and family but 
I needed another travel fix so I decided to stay within the US this time but 
still venture to a place I've never been, so I chose Hawaii. My plan is to spend 
10 days on Maui but I may decide to island hop to another island but we'll see. 
 
I know, some of you keep saying, but Jeff, why are you traveling all over the 
world when you have the beautiful town of Gastonia right there in your backyard! 
LOL. Heck, even my good friend Leanne won't go there and yes, she lives in 
Belmont, not Gastonia! I guess the reason I travel is because "it's there"! Oh 
yes, and also that I'm lucky enough to have a nice corporate giant paying for my 
sabattical... and heck, I don't even have to write a thesis! 
 
Well, today was mostly flying. Heck, it felt almost like a trip to China! I had 
to fly thru Phoenix to get to Maui but all in all, ol' US Airways took good care 
of me and got me here safely. I left Charlotte at 7:30 AM and arrived in Maui at 
3:30 PM but with the 5 hour time difference (I'm 5 hours behind the East Coast), 
it really felt like 8:30 PM. I got my rental car and got settled into my hostel. 
Yep, I found a hostel in Hawaii! Great rates and nice place with really cool 
staff. Since I'll be literally on the go from morning until night, I figured I'd 
save the bucks and put it towards fun stuff like whale watching tours and gas!! 
(Things definitely aren't as cheap here as there were in China!!) 
 
My place was not too far from the airport so it was easy to navigate. Again, so 
different than China, I can actually read the road signs here! After I got 
settled in, I took a little drive over to the west side of Maui to catch a cool 
sunset. That's one of the pictures I attached. It also shows the other Hawaiin 
island of Molokani in the distance. When we flew in, the plane circled over the 
bay and I actually saw 2 whales in the water. Too cool! This is humpback whale 
season and they say they come right in close to the coast and you can see the 
from shore. The other picture is a volcano right ip the street from where I'm 
staying. Very cool. Well, I'm going to crash early since I plan on getting up 
extra early to go see the sunrise on the top of the volcano! It's supposed to be 
breath taking (and cold since it's at 10,000+ feet! Yikes!) 
 
I hope everyone is having a good week and is ready to tour Maui for the next 10 
days! 
 
Aloha!! 
 
Jeff