[NewJerseyJoe]

When I was in the Navy and stationed on a ship at Pearl Harbor in the late 1980s, I took a few days and went over to Mau'i. I'd read about the road to Hana and said, "Oh, I'm definitely doing that" (with my rental car). It was one of the worst things I ever did. The drive was maddening. I remember one point, where I drove around a bend, and there was a LOGGING TRUCK coming from the other direction and taking up the entire road. To this day, I don't remember how we managed to pass each other.

When I got to the halfway point, where there was some room to maneuver, I decided I'd had enough -- no way I was going to drive the other half and then STILL have to drive all the rest of the way back. I turned around, got out as quickly as possible, and visited Iao Valley instead, which was beautiful.

[crosdaddy]

Well, I drove the whole dang thing, if I remember correctly, it took over 8 hours. What made it even worse, was 6 weeks prior my girlfriend and I were forced out of Isle Marada (sp) spent 8 1/2,hrs just on the Fla turnpike (123mi) and took us 23 1/2 hrs to Atlanta airport. Horrible, after the Road to Hanna we didn’t want to drive anywhere. Oh yea, hurricane Fran was what forced us from the keys.

[freedumb2003]

>> no way I was going to drive the other half and then STILL have to drive all the rest of the way back. <<

I broke the rental car rules (which they CIRCLE) about not driving on unpaved roads and took the “back way” back to the hotel. This was the 90s — some of it was rough but I made it through by following what appeared to be tire trails from hay trucks or somesuch — drove through farmland with cows and the like.