There are times in our lives that stick with us and other
times that just slip away. Today I’m
thinking about the time when I failed my draft physical and, with $124 in my
pocket, ran off to Hawaii to visit friends.
It was the winter of 1971 - 1972 and I still remember what we did, what
we ate, what we drank, what we listened to and who we hung out with. Here are a few of those memories.
My friends Irv and Emma were living in a 3-story cinder block apartment in Waipahu shared with a guy named Dave and a few geckos. The geckos had the run of the place and chirped at night but were seldom seen. When I expressed concern about sleeping with a bunch of lizards they told me that in Hawaii I could either sleep with Geckos or with cockroaches and scorpions. The apartment was located just a block off the Farrington Highway on the corner of Leonui and Leokane. It could be said that we weren’t in one of Oahu’s garden spots. Low metal buildings, barb wire topped fences, wrecked and abandoned cars everywhere. Irv and Dave were in the Navy and about to be discharged, Emma had a part-time job at a natural food store across the highway and I had a roof over my head until I ran out of money.
