PRIDE OF AMERICA: Big Island...Hilo to Kona

First, guns.  What is the matter with the USA?  The Texas massacre was only yet another for many more to come...unless the U.S. Congress acts.

• The New York Times this morning chimed in:

By now, the story of American gun violence is unsurprising. Mass shootings happen frequently. The list from just the past decade includes supermarkets in Buffalo and in Boulder, Colo.; a rail yard in San Jose, Calif.; a birthday party in Colorado Springs; a convenience store in Springfield, Mo.; a synagogue in Pittsburgh; churches in Sutherland Springs, Texas, and in Charleston, S.C.; a Walmart in El Paso; a FedEx warehouse in Indianapolis; a music festival in Las Vegas; massage parlors in the Atlanta area; a Waffle House in Nashville; a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla.; and a movie theater in Aurora, Colo. 

Even school shootings happen often enough that we know some of the names: Sandy Hook Elementary School, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Oxford High School, Santa Fe High School, Columbine High School. Robb Elementary School in Uvalde has joined this horrific list

• Every day 123 more Americans are killed with guns.  EVERY DAY!!!
• The darker the blue, the higher the gun ownership rate.

• We are doing something awfully wrong:

• Worse, gun violence has surged even higher since the pandemic.
• Guns killed 45,000 Americans last year.
• Texas, incidentally, has among the least-restrictive gun laws, with nearly anyone over 21 able to carry a gun without a license.

From Wikipedia...guns/person:

• #1      USA  1.2
• #2      Falkland Islands  0.6
• #3      Yemen  0.5
• #7      Canada  0.4
• #17    Norway  0.3
• #26    France  0.2
• #50    Thailand  0.15
• #68    Russia  0.12
• #100  Ghana  0.08
• #106  Iran  0.07
• #139  China  0.04
• #172  Cuba  0.02
• #219  Japan 0.003
• #220  North Korea  0.003
• #224  South Korea  0.002
• #230  Taiwan  0

Well, enough about that.  In Hilo, no tours for us.  I looked at the Pride of American list of things to do onboard, and found nothing of interest.  So I gazed out at Hilo / Mauna Kea, and reminisced.

• In my junior year at Stanford, President John Kennedy announced his plans for the Peace Corps.  For some reason, a lot of my close friends decided that was what they would be joining upon graduation.  $90/month and assignment to some depressed portion of the world, perhaps even risking their life.  
• So I had to do something at least somewhat humanitarian.  I knew that the Hawaiian sugar industry was in trouble, so why don't I go home and save them?  I inquired with the oldest company there, C. Brewer, about a summer job, the purpose being to work for them after graduation.
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  Surely enough, I was accepted, so in the summer of '61, 61 years ago, spent a couple of months in Hilo, working in a lab.  A couple of years ago, one of my postings said the following.

The second phase occurred in the summer of 1961 when I had a summer job with C. Brewer in Hilo.  I was housed in the Boy's Club.  The Hilo American League team played there, went on to beat Oahu's Pearl City team, then Japan, to become the Pacific-Asia representative to South Williamsport.  In their first game, Russell Arikawa (I think this is him today, now in real estate) had a grand slam home run, the first such feat in the then 15-year history of the competition.  Said Arikawa, "I just closed my eyes and swung the bat." 

I recall that summer walking in the rain, smelling the fragrance of a shrubbery flower I can still recall.  My first loco moco, which was invented in this town.

Then the following year,I  found myself at C. Brewer's Hutchinson Sugar Company of Naalehu, where I bought a spiffy Triumph TR-3, the best car I've ever had.  British racing green with leather seats.  Met a nurse in the next town of Pahala and we got married later in 1962.  She was originally from Hilo, and we would have celebrated our 60th anniversary later this year, except that she passed away in 2009.

The ship departed from Hilo at 6PM.

At the end of the day, we watched a magician act.

Then to the Skyline main restaurant for dinner, starting with Shanghai dumplings with Johnny Walker Black Label Scotch and Conundrum wine.

The main entré was New York Steak.

A special trifle dessert.

Our dinner table was at the very back of the ship where we could see the wake of the propellers.  Unexpectedly, the window in this photo reflected the whole room, which was mostly empty.

Then, dance time!

Arrived in Kona this morning.  Breakfast.

We need to catch the tender boat to ferry us to shore, for there is no port in this city,

Later today, we leave for Kauai.

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