Lens-Artists Challenge #100 – The Long and Winding Road
Tina introduced a thoughtful theme this week in reflection of The Long and Winding Road we have traveled the last several months. It happened to be the theme she chose for the Lens-Artists Challenge this week. Please visit her to enjoy her photography and her thoughts.
The challenge this week reminds me of one of the multiple trips we took to Maui. We always rent a Jeep to drive around. My husband loves to go on the Road to Hana. The previously drives were enjoyable. He doesn’t mind driving through the narrow unpaved part of the Road with the cliff on one side. Somehow during this one trip, the drive turned out to be different.
We started out in a sunny afternoon right after lunch, enjoyed the ocean and the cliff scene.
When the road turned narrower with thick trees, it started pouring rain. The rain was so heavy that the windshield wiper didn’t go fast enough to show a view of the road. The waterfalls looked as though the dam was broken. We knew that we had not yet passed the most twisting and winding point with single lane and no visibility of the oncoming cars. Drivers use honking, and caution driving to get through. Sometimes one car must find a tiny shoulder to stop and let the other car go by. We worried about the safety to go through that part of the road in the rain. I looked at the map and tried to estimate the distance behind us and how much further we would have to go. It looked like we were in the middle. Turning around was as hard as going forward. We knew that the hardest part of driving was coming up; there should be a town after that. My husband decided to keep going. I was sitting tight, praying for safety.
Fortunately, we passed the “no visibility” point before dark. Then we drove in the dark until we got back to the condo. As soon as we saw the smoke from the sugar cane factory, we knew our condo was very near (the sugar cane factory photo was taken during the day).
The drive was supposed to be six and a half hours. We didn’t get back to the condo at Kihei until almost nine hours later.
Lens-Artists Challenge #100 – The Long and Winding Road
The Showers of Blessings 
Beautiful!
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Thank you!
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Wow! You got some great photos of the scenery, but what a way to get them! When it comes to driving in a deluge, I have to pull over and try to wait it out.
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There was a long stretch with no shoulder, and no light except the headlight from the car. We didn’t want to get into a situation whether we or another car had to move with no visibility when one side is a sharp drop of the cliff. It was a hard decision to make. Hubby has good memory of the road so I went with his decision to keep going.
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In a situation like that, I’m okay is my husband is driving.
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My husband is a good driver. He used to ride dirtbike and he could back out a car straight for more than 1000 feet. So when he wanted to continue, I went along.
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What an incredible adventure! As J.R.R. Tolkien once wrote in LOTR, “It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”
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Tolkien has profound words. It’s true that there’s no knowing from one moment to the next even when in a familiar environment doing our daily routine.
I’m retired. When I was working, I told myself to plan as if I’d be on my job forever, yet do it the best I could for someone to pick it up if I didn’t return the next day.
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Well said!!
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🙂 🙂
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Beautiful skies, Miriam. I think I liked that best. It looks so warm and sunny. The day seemed to get a little treacherous as it wore on. I’m glad you made it back safely. 🙂
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Thank you, Diana. It was quite an adventure. At several points, I looked on the side of the cliff to tell Hubby how much room he had to maneuver. He had worse experience than that and was not worried at all. 🙂
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Taking the road to Hana is one of our favorite memories of Maui. But I’m sorry it was a harrowing experience for you. The scenery, however, was quite special!!!
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Thank you, Rusha. I like the scenery on that road. We just had an unexpected weather that day.
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Thank you so much Miriam for this wonderful virtual tour and what fantastic roads, though there was a scary road and turn. Awesome photographs. Beauty at its best.
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It was a little scary, Kamal. We do like to go to Maui. We’ve been there at least four times.
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Wow awesome 👍👍 Miriam so nice to be enjoying like this.
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Exactly, Kamal.
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😊😊😊😊❤️❤️❤️❤️
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Miriam I asked my son, he said right now there is no one that he knows who could help you but he will surely try asking his colleagues.
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It’s okay now, Kamal. The illustrator responded and said he was working on it.
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Oh that’s great Miriam 😊👍😊👍 all the best of luck. God bless 🙏🙏🙏
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Thank you, Kamal. 😊😊
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Welcome Miriam 😊😊😊
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Beautiful scenery
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Thank you, Susie.
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Your welcome
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That’s a lot of water coming down there!
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Thank you for reading, Peter. Here’s a link on how to publish on KDP. Harmony mas made 10 posts and will continue to post on this topic.
https://storyempirecom.wordpress.com/2020/06/08/how-to-publish-with-kdp-part-ten/
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Thank you Miriam.
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You’re welcome, Peter,
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Wow. Full circle! That is a LONG and winding road. Well done! I’ve done down and back from Kahului a couple of times.
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Yes, we usually take one day going east, one day west, and another day go to the volcano.
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Beautiful scenery through this long and winding road. With minimum visibility, you guys made it, incredible! Great photos, Miriam!
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The scenery is beautiful, Amy! We usually make many stops along the road. That was an unusual drive.
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Wow, Miriam! A beautiful and challenging drive! Glad you came back safely.
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Thank you, Patti! My husband didn’t mind at all. It was just me cared to death.
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That road is incredibly beautiful but I cannot imagine trying to drive it with limited visibility Miriam! I’d have been scared to death! Thanks for the beautiful images and the fond memory
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I don’t know what happened to the weather that day. It only happened once. We had a good time before and after!
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Lovely gallery of long and winding roads Miriam 😀
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Thank you, Brian. It was the most winding road I’ve been on. Hubby loves driving on it. He anticipated every twist and turn, almost like he turned the steering wheel before the turn comes up. 🙂
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HI Miriam. It sounds like quite a scary drive in all the rain, but with a mysterious beauty as well, according to your photos.
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Yes, Kim. That was the only time having such bad weather. Otherwise, Maui is beautiful.
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A student and now a friend is from Hawaii. He cooks and appreciates the homeland. Excellent.
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