Road to Costco

Since the greater majority of Covid-19 cases have been traced to visitors, the state of Hawaii is operating full throttle to keep the virus, and visitors, out.

Mayor of Kauai Derek Kawakami has ordered all vacation rentals to close. The mayor has also ordered all current vacation renters to leave the island when their rental period ends.

The mayor said that some vacation rentals were being advertised as Covid-19 sheltering places. In other words, come to Kauai to shelter!  Maybe bring the virus with you!

Very few flights are going in and out of Hawaii. We were scheduled to depart on April 15, but our flight back to the Mainland was canceled. We have re-booked a departure for mid-May.

Meanwhile, the caseload of Covid-19 in Hawaii increases every day. Today's report indicated 19 cases on Kauai.

Yesterday we made our second trip across the island to Costco because our supplies, especially foodstuffs, were running low.

Troopers from the National Guard have joined Kauai Police to set up check-points at different times and places on the island. Only "essential" trips are allowed.

The Kuhio Hwy is essentially the only route from the north shore to Costco in Lihue.  We had traveled only a few miles before we were held up. The delay turned out to be a lane closure on the two-lane road.

The lane was closed because of a dangerous mud slide above the road. At least 20 workers were cutting down trees and chopping timber to prevent trees from falling on the road. There is an art to maintaining roads on a garden island rife with flora sprouting on wet, red volcanic earth that is as slick as a water slide.

New roads are good for about 10 years which means every day,  somewhere on the island,  a crew is working. Mud slides are part of the deal.

After the delay, traffic was light. During normal times, the little town of Kapaa is invariably a bottleneck. Many locals take a bypass route to avoid Kapaa.

Yesterday the town was dead, save for a single market and a couple of food trucks. The empty sight of typically lively streets and sidewalks was eerie.

Thursday's Costco Stock

Based on Costco standards, even the cavernous big box was dead. We were met with empty aisles that made social distancing easy. We wore masks and gloves. The Costco crew were kept busy sanitizing the handles of shopping carts, handing carts to shoppers, eliminating the fear of grabbing an infected one.

They also handled all the products, lifting some from the cart, leaving many in the basket. We needed only to touch our credit card. But that can hurt, too.

We brought a small ice chest with ice in it, and an insulated bag, to carry frozen and refrigerated items home.

The experience was impressive and fairly simple. Yet many cleaning products were not in stock, including the most popular product of 2020 -- toilet paper. Remember throwing rolls of TP on someone's front-yard? We didn't know we were unraveling and wasting pure gold.

It's all relative. What will be next year's gold? Savvy shoppers want to know.

We did not see a check-point going to or coming back from Lihue.

Our most recent conversation with granddaughter Viva happened during her trip home from Costco with her mama and little bro.

"What did you get at Costco?" asked Barbara.

Viva rattled off a list of things including toilet paper.

"You got toilet paper!" exclaimed Barbara.

"Yes. We have plenty of toilet paper. You don't need to get any. We have plenty."

She's so cute. Just hearing her young, straightforward, articulate voice is pure joy.

































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