Thumb Fishing

I wasn't able to take a picture during my second hitch hiking experience so here's a picture of my first.
Too many flat tires makes for a long day on the way to the Grand Canyon. Barry threw thumbs (Barry has really big thumbs) and in no time we were moving really fast without having to peddle. What a treat.
Hitch hiking in Hawaii is a bit more commonplace but for a kid holding a bag of raw fish on the side of the road, I can see why it wasn't so easy.
I stepped off the boat after a day of spear fishing (I'll blog about that later, but so you know, I still have water in my ears.) and figured I would try and make my way back to Hilo to save my buddy the trouble. I waited on the corner of a main road and looked for cars with their right blinkers on that were Hilo bound. Then I thought I would just start walking on the main road in order to increase my chances. I walked for 20 minutes with my thumb out trying extra hard to target any female drivers. Hey, I'm just strategizing here. Anyway, at this point I had started toying with the idea of walking all the way back to Hilo. Based on my calculations it probably would have taken 4 hours at which point my fish would have expired and the sun would most definitely be down. Yet in a way, I felt like I was on Bike & Build again. A bit disoriented with my Camelbak and safety triangle secured to my back, in the shoulder of a busy road chasing sunlight to get to my host. All I needed was a bike. Well I guess the fish probably wouldn't have been in the equation either but let's not discuss semantics.
Before I could think too much longer on the subject an old Subaru pulled over a few yards in front of me and I rushed to the passenger door as to not make my savior have to wait around. The driver put her cat in the back seat so I knew I was sitting shotgun. "Aloha" said the driver. "Aloha" I replied. "I've got a bag of fish with me" I quickly stated as a disclaimer. "Oh that's alright. What kind of fish?" "Kolè fish and a few others," I replied. "Oh Kolè fish are my favorite."
After that I knew this situation was diffused. Two strangers had common ground to fuel a conversation for a few miles. I have since forgotten the drivers name and I'm still unsure if the driver was a male or female but, because I got picked up, I'm going to assume she was a female. A sweetheart none the less and I was thankful for the ride. She went out of her way to drop me at the university and I offered her a couple of Kolè to take home which she respectfully declined. We parted ways and, as they say, that was that.