Our second day in Miloli’i began with a slight wind and warm sun. Taking advantage of sleeping children, I set up my mobile office on the beach house deck overlooking the ocean with hopes of seeing a whale or two. Immediately, my phone rang. It was Jessi’s birth grandmother, someone she was now referring to as “Tutu,” letting me know the plans for the day.

“Her dad and sister are coming to get her to show where he works and lives and other things like that. OK? So, they’re on their way.” Jess had just appeared with her bedhead and pjs and I passed the message. She ran to get dressed and reappeared asking if it was appropriate to wear a ruffled skirt with a ruffled shirt. Since when did she care about her appearance? Later, I found the pile of clothes that she had tried on. It was as though she was a teenager going on her first date.

She hopped into their vehicle with an air of royalty and expectation of their submission and off they went. Whether or not I’d see her again that day weighed on my mind. Would she want to come back to our house for the security concerns she expressed the evening before?

Allen, Emma and I gathered our things and headed out for a day of discovery. My first objective was to put the top down on the convertible Camaro. The universe, however, decided it was not to be. We discovered the reason we couldn’t enjoy this tropical island riding in open air – a broken top storage canvas bar. In the newer vehicles, a canvas piece must be pulled out and set into place before the car will allow it’s top to fold into the compartment. Apparently, these newer vehicles are quite smart and able to ignore mere human attempts to fool it’s sensors. Frustrated, I decided to drive north toward the airport and rental car center for assistance.

“Funny thing about our top, ” I tell the rental agent.

“Funny thing indeed,” the rental agent snorts. He handed me an incident report form and aranged a second convertible Camaro. It was white, not red, and smelled of smoke. Hoping to dispel the nasty air, I put the top down and we headed back onto the highway going north. My backseat passenger was unapproving of this decision and voiced her thought bubbles. You know, those thoughts you really should keep to yourself, especially when your mom is looking for peace, relaxation and the tropical breeze blowing past her ears to drown out all sound?

About 2 miles north of the airport, I turned left onto a dirt road. I’d read about this “secret” beach on several blogs and knew the road might give us a challenege. Challenge would be an understatement.

We began our journey to Makalawena Beach with the other caravaning rental sports cars all without high clearance. The road traversed an old lava field and as we spent the next 20-25 minutes bumping along slowly over large stones and boulders, my backseat passenger becoming more vocal. Unfortunately, there was no high speed breeze to drown out her complaints.

Hawaii may be the only state in the US where rental cars are expected to be taken off road. It was certainly the first time I’d seen so many tourists willing to add injury to their rental vehicle in rapid succession. Through a lava field no less. About 3/4 of the way, several of my caravaning hoaloha turned around, possibly fearing their contract stipulations where extra insurance had been declined.

We, however, pressed on to discover a filled parking lot of locals and tourists alike. Two of us gathered our things as one of us was being stubborn and refusing to exit the car. I silently threatened to sacrifice her when I found the ancient temple later in the week. I’ll spare you the rest of the ohana drama, but will tell you this drive was worth the bumps, tight fists and occasional gasps as the bottom of the car ground against a boulder.

I’d read the beach at the end of the road was very nice, but I’d also read to follow the sand to the right, past the red barn with goats (no goats the day we visited) and over the lava field to one of the most gorgeous white sand beaches you’d ever see. At least that’s what was promised. We brought more than enough water this time, having learned how arrid the environment is on the Big Island and set off through the lava field. It ended abruptly. Shade trees surrounded by fine white sand greeted us before revealing Makalawena’s beauty. The surf was too vicious to snorkel, but Allen and I were treated to a show of breaching whales offshore.

The hike back to our car, encouraged by a storm moving in, was long and hot. Tempers were high and moods unsavory. I tried to imagine spending the next week in this small car with my disagreeable backseat passenger, who would be sharing space with large suitcases when I wanted the top down. Keeping this vision in my head after jostling and bumping my way back to the higway and I as turned to head south, I made the executive decision to make a stop at the rental car center. Explaining they might just save a teenager’s life, I asked for a THIRD rental car. The agent laughed and found an SUV that she could rent us for the same price. All was good again for our ohana of 3 and we drove south back to Miloli’i in the rain for the evening.

We received a phone call from Jess around 8:00PM as we drove into our subdivision telling us she was staying with her new family for the night. I asked about her previous concerns about their house and she informed me she was fine. She also shared their activities of the day, which consisted of many people buying her clothes, food and whatever she wanted.

My heart sank…… Perhaps the amount of time I’d spent preparing her for this journey was playing a role and she knew enough about them ahead of time to make this decision to attach to them so quickly. Perhaps they were all nice people who were doing everything they could to help her feel comfortable and attach to them. Perhaps it was a day of her being in control of many adults and watching their height achieved when she said jump that made her decision easier, but it made my stomach turn. There would be no perfect solution to this situation. She was there to make a connection and I was there to supervise from a distance.

And wait for the fallout.

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