There was a time during the pandemic when you couldn’t rent a car at Lihue Airport. All the rental car companies were completely out of stock. No matter how nicely you asked, they didn’t have one. Nada. None. Zilch.
So we turned to craigslist: kauai and searched for rental cars. Sure enough, we found that locals were meeting the demand. You could rent anything from an island beater to a 4×4 pickup or luxury SUV.
The car we rented we belonged to a guy named Kyle. We had no idea who he was, or what he looked like, or whether he would even show up to meet us at the airport, as we’d discussed.
But there he was, right on time, pulling up to the curb in front of us, with our mountain of boxes and bags. He had a grin on his face from ear-to-ear, and exuded an air of positivity.
We needed that amount of luggage because we were about to start renovating The Aloha House. We’d closed on the property just a few days before. Fortunately, Kyle’s wife had followed in their family mini van. Between the two vehicles, we managed to squeeze everything in.
On the drive to Poipu, we rode with Kyle, striking up a great conversation. He shared some of the challenges he and others had been facing, from the pandemic’s economic impact on Kauai.
About three miles down Kaumualii Highway, it occurred to us to ask Kyle if he might be interested in a job. We needed a handyman and painter. In fact, we needed help with everything. We hadn’t assembled a crew yet.
Fortunately, Kyle was on board. He helped for the next three months, bringing a spirit of aloha to work with him every day. That spirit ultimately spread to the entire crew, and it was that, more than anything, which saw us through.