…is paved with good intentions.  Wait — wrong quote.  In fact out here the adjective “Heavenly” is most often associated with Hana.  Now the road to Hana, that’s an interesting journey.

It’s water-full.  There are so many waterfalls that after an hour, you go from — Wow would you look at that, that is amazing, cool, God really does good work!  — to — yep there’s another one.

It has that beautiful Eden-feel.  You go from rain forest to bamboo forest, from cliff-side views of the ocean hundreds of feet up to green mountain clad valleys, and all along the way you find the most colorful flowers, bright reds, yellows and orange.  Amazing.  It’s eye-candy for the soul.

It is secluded.  A handful of houses and two little villages from the airport to Hana.  In fact we were talking to a clerk in Lahaina (we drove there to see a Maui sunset) and when we told him that we were staying in Hana… He said, No way, no one every stays in Hana.  I’ve lived in Maui all my life and I’ve only been there once. (When we told him we were driving back that night, he said, Whoa not even the locals drive to Hana at night. Which made Lynn a little nervous!)

But getting to Hana is not your easy, jump on 80 journey.  In State College we like to say that we are 3 hours from everywhere, but in Hana it’s really true.  Lynn and I got Hana Survivor t-shirts.  Lynn’s says “617 curves, 56 bridges (one lane), 52 miles, 3 hours — Hana Survivor”  Mine says, “Our Winding Road Motto, There will be absolutely NO:  WHINING, CRYING, EATING, SLEEPING, READING, RESTROOM STOPS, COMPLAINING, MOANING, HORSING AROUND, BLACKMAILING, SICKNESS OR TURNING BACK!”

So here are a few Hana-road life-lessons.

1) When you are hundreds of feet up a cliff on a narrow road overlooking the ocean, the driver doesn’t get to say, Wow look at that… In life, sometimes the journey is more beautiful if we let someone else drive.

2) On the Hana-road driving faster won’t get you there faster…it won’t get you there at all…  In life, sometimes the prize goes to those who know how to slow down.

3) The road to Hana is beautiful, but a week in Hana on Hamoa beach is better by a factor of 10… In life, every truly good journey has a good destination.  The journey of life is good when we know that our destination is God…but God is better than the journey by more than a factor of 10.

4) If you eat pizza before you start, by the 617th curve it won’t taste so good anymore…  no spiritual lesson there…just personal experience, if you ever go to Hana, don’t eat too much before the journey!  :)