Posted on: Friday, November 1, 2002
A turn off highway takes you to Kaua'i
By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Columnist
Vines twirl around the overhead power lines. A section of rusty barbed-wire fence has been reinforced with sheets of equally rusty aluminum siding. Crushed beer cans scattered along the tufts of buffalo grass shine like jewels in the sun. A Mack truck roars by at about 80 miles per hour. Then another goes by, even bigger, even faster.
The first time I traveled the 2.4 miles of mystery called Kapa'a Quarry Road, I was struck by the feeling that I had been there before, not just once, but many times. And then I realized the very same road, or at least remarkably similar, exists somewhere else. When you make that lefthand turn from Kalaniana'ole Highway onto Kapa'a Quarry Road, it's as though you've somehow crossed the channel to Kaua'i. It is the backroad between Kapa'a and Wailua or the road that links Nawiliwili with Puhi. All that's missing is Mr. Barretto in his truck and a few chickens scratching along the roots of the Christmas berry bushes.
There are stretches of the road where your car radio cannot catch a station (just like Kaua'i). The speed limit is 25, but no one is going anywhere near that on the curving two-lane road (just like Kaua'i). Leaky-looking plastic drums full of who-knows-what sit like trolls on the red-dirt shoulder and turn-arounds (just like Kaua'i).
The way the sunlight filters through the overhanging monkeypod trees, golden and dappled, is so Garden Island. Even the smell is the same — damp, green, slightly metallic with a salty top note coming from Kawainui Marsh.
The illusion lasts only as long as the road does, though. You pop out the other side at the foot of Kalaheo High School, and the busy highway reminds you you're not far from the city.
But on the road, with it's startling mix of lush overgrowth, industrial buzz and creepy corners, it's not hard to convince yourself that you're minutes away from Lihu'e.
Kapa'a Quarry Road has had its share of sad and sordid stories over the years. There have been tragic car crashes and violent crimes. It was known for years as "dump road," where junked cars were stacked on both sides of the road and all manner of household trash was left to rot. It's different now, relatively clean except for the few bags of trash that never seem to make their way to the City Transfer Station.
Of course, Kapa'a Quarry Road has a life of its own and a character that is quite complex. Hawai'i's largest remaining wetland is there. So is an airfield for model planes. And there are striking contrasts, like the lovely furniture store King and Zelko, tucked among a village of silver Quonset huts.
But when the morning sun is leaning over the Ko'olau mountain range and the hau bush leaves are dancing in the breeze, you can almost imagine Mr. Barretto is going to come around the corner in his truck any minute.
