Fear the Crab

Today was the horseback crater ride. We had to check into the ranch headquarters by 0915, and since it was a two hour drive from the airport, we left at 0700 without eating breakfast. We ended up arriving way early, like at 0830, and that was even after stopping to call for directions because we thought we had passed the headquarters (turned out that we were just down the road). Continued up the slope, stopping off at the small visitor’s center about halfway up. All during the drive it was nice and sunny, rather cool, so we felt we were in for a nice ride.

Then we got up to the top, and the cloud cover was so thick that everything was just a blur. There was a continual drizzle of rain surrounding us, and as we talked to the guide it seemed as though the ride was going to be canceled. However, the weather cleared a bit, so we all mounted up and took off.

Going down the slope, the scenery was picturesque. The landscape inside the crater is like being in another world, filled with features you don’t normally see on a day-to-day basis. In fact we saw this one flock of birds called chuckers (at least, that’s what the guide called them). Small birds, they run around the crater and glide off of ridges. I guess they’re so used to human activity that they even ran under our horses to get from one side of the trail to the other.

At the bottom of the crater we stopped for lunch, after a two-hour ride. Getting back to ground was rather wobbly, and our knees ached. Every so often during the ride the clouds would roll in and we’d get rained on, but it wasn’t anything bad.

We had spoken too soon, though, as the weather turned worse during the ride up. The clouds fell and the rain and wind came rushing in, making life pretty miserable. Thankfully we were given rain gear before we started the ride, so our clothes weren’t soaked. Much. The wind was so strong that rain came in horizontal, stinging our eyes and cheeks. The clouds were so thick that you couldn’t see the horse in front of you. The horses themselves felt as miserable as us, turning their heads away from the rain and sometimes having to walk sideways to get back up the trail. Maile and I got windburn.

When we got out of the crater, I discovered that the disposable camera we brought had been sitting in a small puddle in my pocket. Water drained out of it when I pulled it out, and we were really worried that the film had been damaged beyond recovery. I decided to try and develop the roll anyway, and hope for the best.

Butt and back sore, we ate dinner at Canoes, and contemplated the prospect of doing more “adventure” the next day, at the lava tube in Hana.

I have to say, though, that I really liked the horseback ride. Yes, the weather sucked, yes it was cold, but I think it would have been worse had it been hot and sunny. The sunburn would not have been bearable. And I felt like I was finally roughing it outdoors. All in all, I wouldn’t trade that ride in for any other.

I went to Costco and bought a spindle of 100 CD-Rs. It was uber cheap, considering the sheer amount of disks. I would have preferred CD-RW, the kind that you can rewrite to (I’m not entirely sure if you can erase, but it must be possible), but the only pack they had there was a 20-pack for about $25. It wouldn’t have mattered either way, because this time around I managed to burn two disks in three tries, and the wasted disk was only because I had forgotten that I only needed one disk burnt, not two. This time, on the advice of Kyrol, I set the recorder to a lower speed. It took longer, but the results far outweigh any time inconvenience. There were no problems this time, so I guess the speed of the recorder makes a big difference.

I washed my truck today. It hasn’t been a week yet, but today is pretty much the only day out of the week that I have a lot of free time. It was worth it, too, because at the same time I washed Maile’s car. We put Rain-X on both vehicles, too.

And because I washed my car, it rained. It’s still raining now. I must remember to buy a chamois cloth when next I get a chance. I searched for the one we had at home, but my dad informed me that it was pretty much deteriorated beyond help. While I’m at it, I may as well buy one of those sponge mitts that you put over your hand. I didn’t wax my car this time because it still has that factory wax, and people generally recommend I wax it once a month.

No cavities. I also had no return appointment for my next six-month checkup. I wonder if I’m supposed to call, or they will call me?

I found out what was wrong with all those spec codes on CheesyMUD. Seems I forgot one itty-bitty = sign and that threw off the entire thing. I guess it’s the same as what a little atom can do when it’s split in two.

However, now it seems as though none of the code I made before is working. I’m not sure if it’s another mistake I made, or if something else is happening. I’ll have to ask Kyrol about that.

I finally experienced the air conditioner I bought for Maile for her bedroom, and it came in really handy today. The only way to beat a hot muggy day is to spend it entirely in cool comfort with a queen-sized bed and a great dane.