The last (and only) time I visited Honaunau Post Office in the 1990s, my old friend Ryan Hanato's father was the postmaster. He has since retired, I found out.
This time, I drove there with a lot of anxiety. I was told just a little while earlier that Honaunau's hours of operation had changed. They closed at noon, and with my interviews in the morning, plus two earlier postal tour stops, it was roughly an hour late.
I could've called, but I forgot my ear buds back on Oahu and I didn't want to stop the car. And the Siri on my personal phone was useless because the battery dies so quickly these days. So I "roughed it" and relied solely on hope. Sure enough, the post office was closed. Empty parking lot said it all. Oh well...
I parked on the side of the building to get a clean photo of the structure. That's when the postal clerk inside noticed me. She was extremely generous and was willing to take my letter and postmark it before mailing, and she was also willing to do the same with my postal tour book. The drive was worth it with or without this blessing, but I was elated.
I asked her why the postal service doesn't have a stamp commemorating the nearby City of Refuge (Pu‘uhonua O Honaunau National Park). Shouldn't the entire Big Island have national park or historical site stamps available 365 days a year? She agreed. But what can we mere mortals do? So I wound up using a baseball stamp. I'm sure Honaunau and nearby Napoopoo have a history of baseball teams from the old days.
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