Surviving Haleakala and other adventures

Can you believe this is us?

Yes, Dad and I blazed down the road to the volcano on Maui!! We were picked up at our hotel at 3 am and rode to the summit of the volcano to observe the sunrise. It was a crunchy 45 degrees with a wind chill of about 30. After waiting an hour for the spectacle, we rode in the van partway down to just outside the national park boundary where we got our helmets and bikes. (Federal law prohibits the ride operators from starting at the summit because of the dangerous conditions and liability issues.)

We started at 6500 feet and coasted 21 miles down to sea level at the town of Pa'ia where we had breakfast and climbed back in the van for the return to the hotel. It was screaming fun!!! I was right behind the guide all the way down and Dad was back in the line of our 8 companions on this adventure. Clearly we were the oldest (65 is the age limit), but we were not the most cautious or the twitchiest. Dad said I was the best of the women because I let it out and stayed at my assigned distance behind the guide (25 feet) the whole way. I often had to ride my brakes to keep from overtaking him. The other women were strung out behind me since we had to ride single file down the two-lane switchback road. They all seemed to stretch the distance between bikes and the leader and I had to slow down for them to catch up. I had a ball and would do it again in a heartbeat. The curves were awesome and the few straightaways allowed me to live up to my high school nickname of "Parnelli".