The last time I stopped in at Kealakekua Post Office was sometime around 1995. This is the first pit stop of more than 30 I made for this postal tour around Hawaii Island. Last time, I had friends along for the ride. This time, I had more time, made additional stops, like Milolii, and wasn't in a total rush. Going south side from Kona district worked out except for one thing: the stop in Milolii, my first ever there, cost me valuable time. I was too late to get to Pahala Post Office in time. They close early, 3:30 p.m. But that visit to Milolii bordered on sacred for me. No place like it, starkness and beauty, so familiar, so unusual. The warmth of the community at the beach park. The scattered, colorful, off-grid houses on the black surface of the other end of the area. Like homes on a black moon.
Didn't have much choice in my stamp inventory, but a basketball was fitting. Kealakekua PO is near Konawaena High School, where the girls basketball program has won nine of the last 16 state championships.
One of the things that I miss (?) is the white building on the makai side of the highway just before the turn uphill to the high school, where I covered countless games in the 1990s for the local newspaper. The building was a meat/butcher shop, and one day someone vandalized it with black, spray-painted protest: MEAT IS MURDER. It was painted over later with white paint, which meant if you looked a little more closely, the original statement was quite lasting. Except now. It's totally gone now, occupied by Greenwell Farms.
Earlier in the day, I was at the high school to interview football coach Brad Uemoto and recent graduate Harry Hill, who is one of the top placekickers in the nation — my opinion. His senior year was a bumpy ride with injuries, but as he walks on at Hawaii, anything is possible, including winning the starting job as a freshman.
After that, I wandered across the road to Col. Ellison Onizuka Gym, where there happened to be a Kona Stingrays basketball clinic. Coaches Bobbie and Donald Awa, and their staffs were working with young keiki that morning. I didn't stay for the afternoon session with the high school players. There was more postal touring to do. Tight schedule. But that was a fun morning. Happy surprises are always welcome.
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