We wen decide to stay and wala‘au wit Nolemana’s ‘ohana even doe we knew it meant we were going get into commute traffic. Cuz we neva know when we going see dem again, and ‘ohana is ‘ohana. If we had known wat was going happen, den we woulda stayed chru dinnah. But u know wat dey say about hindsight.

Pau leave da hale, we wen get onto Ygnacio Valley Road; and up ahead we wen spock dis Comcast van unlike any odda Comcast van I eva wen see befoa. Musubi stay so excited he almost wen jump chru da windshield!

Was so dang nani!! Dis undawatah scene painted all ova da whole van! We wen get lucky and hit one red light right next to da van, and I wen roll down my window and wen call out, “Eh! Love da painting on yoa van, brah!” He wen gimme one shaka and wen tell me, “Eh, looks just like Maui, yeah?” Big smiles alla way around anden da light wen turn green. Dat brief exchange wen put dis huge warm feeling insai my heart.

Hea we stay, leaving Walnut Creek. Get traffic.

Get bambucha hale up on da hill. Why would anybody build one hale lidis wit a view of freeway? I no get it.

Highway 680. Get plenny traffic. TryLook wen tell us get one “severe” traffic delay ahead. She like us foa take one off-ramp foa avoid um. But eh! Try look wat u stay telling us… “get off da freeway aftah da accident”. Wassup wit dat?

Traffic going da odda way stay even moa worse!

Take me back to Oregon wea nomo dis kine traffic!

Try look da eucaplyptus trees. I must admit, I miss dem.

Adunno wat’s wit TryLook. Maybe she get PMS oa someting. We wen follow her advice just foa see wat she like do. One experiment. So she wen direct us to da off-ramp. We wen follow her advice. Came to one stop at da bottom of da off-ramp. U know wat she wen tell us den? “Eh Moki… try get back on da freeway!” Sheesh.

So we wen do dat. Den, instead of staying on Highway 680 like I woulda normally done, TryLook wen tell us go down to Interstate 80. Um… why? But since we still experimenting wit her, we wen doyem. Shoulda known moa bettah. Cuz on da way chru da Mission District, ho da traffic! Was almost at one standstill! We wen creep along. Traffic going da odda way almost stopped. Den we wen see plenny fire engines and police cars… anden we see dis burning tree!

And u know wat? Dea I was, complaining about alla traffic, da heat, and how long stay taking us foa get to Los Gatos. And when I wen see dat burning tree, I wen tell ke Akua, “Eh, I stay so sorry foa da huge traffic jam foa us guys as well as da peeps going da odda way who stay da ones really affected by da fire, but mahalo foa reminding me dat even hea You speak to me, even hea u stay present. I knew dat, of course, but mahalo foa da reminda.” (And yeah, ke Akua undastands pidgin!)

Finally we wen make it into San Jose, and just as we wen go by da airport, one jet wen come in, almost ovahead.

By dis time we had been on da freeway foa almost two hours! One drive dat shoulda taken us just an hour stay taking us much, much longah. We wen get onto Highway 17, and wen run into even moa traffic! Just chree miles from Los Gatos, TryLook wen tell us get one accident up ahead. And traffic wen slow to one nodda crawl. Sheesh. Nuttin to do but take photos of da nani oleanders on da divider.

And dey were nani. Poisonous, but nani. I nomo plans foa eat um anyway.

We finally wen make it to Los Gatos. Wen stop at da hale and wala‘au wit my sistah, have dinnah, put da two casseroles I wen bring wit us in da fridge. Stuff lidat. Den we wen head ova to our hotel.

Dis da place wea my dottah and I wen stay lass time. I love dis place! Usually we stay in motels, but da oni motel in Los Gatos was awful. Leilani and I wen spend one night in it da month befoa, and wen get outa dea as wikiwiki as possible. I neva wen stay in one reeyo hotel befoa, but Leilani does alla time foa her job. Her company puts her up in dem alla time cuz she one vice-president.

I tell u, I could get used to dis! Leilani and her hubby get dis saying: “Luxury, once experienced, becomes necessity!” Heh heh.

Dis hotel became our place of refuge during da next ten days. Somebody foa make da bed every day, fresh towels if we like (we wen live green and oni wen change um every few days), and awesome front desk service. Wi-Fi, fresh cookies every night, bathrobes, slippahs, one balcony wea I wen watch da moon every night, and da most comfy bed in da world. Yeah, wen cost moa… but wit wat we stay doing, was worth it. My braddah and sistah dem wen stay in our maddah’s hale, so dey wen give us kokua wit da hotel bill.

Da next days stay filled wit packing up stuffs, going chru da hale, da memorial service, ‘ohana time, moa packing, etc. Wen mean long, tiring days. But everybody wen get along and we wen get stuffs done. Nolemana stay amazing packing up da car; I neva thought I was going take home so much stuffs! But like my sistah and braddah dem, we wen keep finding stuffs dat wen remind us of our maddah. Ova da weekend, our two dottahs and son-in-law wen drive down; was so good to see dem. Dey wen arrive late Friday night and wen hele on home early Sunday in da kakahiaka.

Moa photos coming in Chaptah Six. First I gotta unpack some stuffs but.

*** Alla stuffs hea on my blog stay copyrighted. Dat means photos, words, typos, hamajangs of any kine. If u kakaroach [steal] um, den I going hunt you down and give you da giant slippah and whack u wit um until u promise u nevah going do dat again. And eh! I whack hard and I get plenny menehunes can track u down. Copyright © 2008. The content on this blog is the sole property of the author. Dat would be ME! ***