Goodbye Maui, No More Aloha For Me

It's official! I quit my job! I'm moving back to the mainland on Valentine's Day!

I'm trading warm zephyrs, sun baked beaches and 6 months of financial security for a decidedly uncertain but no doubt gray rainy and freezing future. WHAT on earth am I thinking? That's what most people here are asking me but those who know me back home and have listened to my growing lack of enthusiasm for my job/this island get it.

It's been over a year of Maui living and I had a great run. I'm trying not to think about how much I'll miss the friends I've made here... I reckon I'll be back for visits sooner rather than later. But enough is enough. I started my second whale season last month which means 12+ hr days of back-to-back trips of hundreds of cattle-like passengers all asking the same questions. After a week of it I didn't even want to step foot on the boat. So I went to Oahu to work at dry dock (fixing/painting the boat out of the water). It was incredible! I loved it! I can't wait to get my own boat and work on it or maybe even work in the PT boat yards. Carhartts and power tools. Very empowering.

Long story short, dry dock ended and I had to come back and be a glorified waitress on the boats once more. So I gave my notice. What's the point of being unhappy on Maui? That is all wrong. Besides, at 23 I only have myself to support so I can afford to leave jobs and look for others. Indeed that's what I'm suppose to be doing. Trying on different jobs and locations for size.

On the plus side, I can stop worrying about skin cancer. But what, you ask, will I do with all this free time on my hands?

The answer: Ryan and I are cycling across the country together! That's my latest plan (you know how I love hatching plans). Join Ryan for his three month, two wheel trek from oregon to new york, mid March-mid June. I won't lie, I'm incredibly intimidated by the enormity of this task and the physical challenges it will present. But really, why the heck not? Camping, meeting new people, visiting old friends, pedalling through national parks and vastly diverse weather and scenery. It was that or get a "real" job in Portland. That can wait.

So, that's the whole shebang. 10 more days of whale work and counting. I'm packing up and shipping out boxes of tank tops I don't know when I'll wear again. I'm researching "loaded touring" roadstyle bicycles and pouring over my US road map. I'm pondering when exactly I'll have cash money flowing in rather than out. Maybe when I go fish in Alaska this July. Oh, that's another plan.

If you have a plan you'd like to share/suggest please give me a ring. I'm all ears.

love, mainlandkai

xoxo

P.S. Guilty secret- I like the song "Fergalicious." Don't hate me.