Day four - Kathy's Version

We spent the night at the Volcano House, just about in Volcano NP. We hiked through a lava tube and some of us (not me) went into a pitch dark lava cave. We went into the park and hiked down about 1800 ft. into a volcano crater. The crater was created in an eruption in 1959. We hiked across the lava field and through some hot areas that were spewing smoke. Then we hiked back up the side of the mountain. Give me biking any day! When we got to the top the heavens opened and it poured rain. (Pics to follow) We were drenched. We had planned to bike down from the volcano to sea level, a 40 mile down hill ride, but the conditions were really not safe to do so. Therefore we all hopped into the van and rode down in the rain. We did go to a black sand beach where we saw sea turtles and other marine life. But no bike riding today!
We have much enjoyed our travel companions. The group bonded early and has had great fun. Not unusual to have lots of singing and joke telling in the van! Many have been on other biking trips and have kindly shared their knowledge with us. Our tour leaders, Kevin and Kyle have really been devoted to ensuring that we have a good time. Time to say a word about our meals. While we have had some restaurant meals, many have been prepared by either Kevin or Kyle. We have had lunches of smoked salmon, Asian Chicken Salad, and incredibly delicious wraps - all prepared on site. The van is well stocked with everything we need - water, sodas, juice, snacks, fruit and at the end of the day cold beer. We could not be more pleased with this trip, it is billed as the Budget Hawaii trip, but it is hard to see why!