Adventures with Booch

Since arriving in Hawaii our only transportation has been a company car that we can only borrow a couple of days a week. Hearing our plight, our coworker was generous enough to let us borrow one of her three cars. It's 23 years old, paint peeling, transmission problems...but it runs, and for that we are grateful! The car's name is Booch (the name carved on the dashboard cover when our coworker bought it) and since our first day with him he has been an adventure! The very first night we drove it 10 miles or so to McDonalds and when we came out, it wouldn't start. Amy had the magic touch (she claims they have a special bond since they were born the same year) and got it going again. Then we couldn't get it to go into reverse. These are the things we expect every time we drive him! Yesterday we decided to go farther than we have gone past Kona to the Waikoloa shore. As we were walking down the shore access path we ended up going right behind the Hilton hotel. There, in front of us, were hundreds of beach chairs, most of them empty, in front of a gorgeous pool. Since it was extremely windy that day and we didn't want to get pelted with sand all day, we decided to lay out there instead. It was heaven! The chairs were so much better than lying flat on the sand and the wind cooled us enough that we were able to get quite a bit of sun. Here are some pics of the hotel:


When we had enough sun (too much in some places) we went to Macaroni Grill for a late lunch / early dinner and then did some shopping. Finally, we were exhausted and decided to head home. Just as we pulled out onto the highway Amanda pushed the gas and we heard the transmission slip out of gear. Suddenly she was pushing the gas and going nowhere, so she pulled over. We tried to get Booch to shift, we checked the transmission fluid, but to no avail. We were stuck about 45 minutes from home. We called our supervisor at work, and his girlfriend but neither of them answered their phones. We ended up calling Jake, another supervisor and our neighbor here. He was kind enough to drive all the way out to where we were, and use his AAA membership for a free tow. We were very grateful that he was so willing to help us, as the tow would have cost over $200 otherwise! Thank goodness for good people everywhere!

Now Booch is RIP on the company property, until my coworker fixes the transmission or decides to scrap the car. Though we were only with him a short while we will always remember the adventures we had with him, especially this last one!