Snubbed

In the hierarchy or pecking order of motorcyclists, there are unwritten rules regarding riding etiquette if you will. It's well known that certain types of riders consider themselves as the real bikers and the rest are squids or newbies or just not cool. I've never quite subscribed to that notion but maybe it's because I ride a do Harley which garners a few more chips on the table than other bikes.

Yesterday, I was riding my friend's 650cc Yamaha in Kihei, HI. Ninety-nine % of the time, I ride with jeans, boots and some kind of jacket and gloves but I had brought absolutely none of that with me so here I was riding a motorcycle with a pair of flowery swim trunks, t-shirt, baseball cap and sneakers. Although I am familiar with the controls, buttons and functions of the bike, it isn't perfect second nature compared to my own. So, just as I was coming out of a parking lot, a pair of real bikers were riding by on a pair of Low Rider Harleys stopped at the light. My left hand instinctively thumbed what would have been the left turn signal on my bike but on the smaller Yamaha, it was the horn button.

When I accidentally blew the horn, the Sons of Hawaii bikers turned to the sound of the "Beeeeeeeeep", stared a second or two then looked back at the road. You could just see the eye roll through their dark glasses. Grateful that they didn't give me one of those one percenter salutes, I rode off in another direction, realizing I had actually been snubbed by what appeared to be a couple of members of the Sons of Hawaii Motorcyle Club.

After fueling up, I rode off through the lush landscaped golf courses and resorts of Wailea toward Makena Landing. Just a few years ago, the development was contained to a tight cluster of hotels and a few high dollar developments but recently, lots of bulldozers have cleared the scrub brush and cleaned off the countryside. This is the area that normally attracts locals and returning visitors who have a respect for the island and are more comfortable enjoying Maui in an unimproved state. They fish, dive, surf and occasionally have a small fire where they cook and eat. Over the past couple of years, there has been somewhat of a battle between recreational service providers and the County of Maui. The county has placed what some would describe as draconian rules and regulations on companies providing surf and diving lessons and equipment which would all but put them out of business. As I rode into Makena Landing, I saw a lot of money being spent on improvements to the area. An owner of the property all around the beach access had cleared the hillside and had million dollar lots for sale all over the place. Makena is being transformed, lot by lot, from a wild natural place to a slick commercial and residential area. Now, I understand why the county had taken the position it has. Developed areas do not need 4 wheel drive trucks, campfires, cheap weddings on the beach and people not spending money there. I've been told, the developer actually owns most of the access to Makena Landing. Just follow the money.

I rode to the end of the road, near La Perouse Bay and as I stopped to take a few pictures, a couple on a Harley and Suzuki stopped and chatted with me for a while. They were the heads of a motorcycle political action group (Street Bikers United of Maui) that united everything from the Sons of Hawaii to the Christian Motorcycle Association. We talked travel and motorcycles for a while, then shook hands and acknowledged the goodness of meeting other riders. I rode back to the house to check on Darlene.