Uncle Billy's Hotel?

[HADave]

In 03 when we decided to make The Big Island our choice for places to grow old We chose the west side to stay because of the sand , surf and the sun which was all we could relate to at the time. We stayed in Keauhou at the K beach Resort right next door to Kahalui beach. It is funny because we checked so many places out on the east side both hotels and private rentals and just loved the rentals of Kapoho most with private hot ponds. Then came the getting down to bussiness and parting with the money. Well after the price which in most cases was 2-3 hundred more per week and double because of the security deposit. Now the security deposit, I know it is a fair assessment but should something, anything happen, in or out of your control you are at the barrel opening end of responsibility. Gave me the willies just thinking about it. Anyway staying on the west side was a matter of economics at the time little did we know just how long it would take to drive around. It really is a time thing not a mileage thing. We only went through two tanks of fuel in 13 days (Chrysler Sebring) If you have never been to The Big Island you are in for the adventure of a lifetime. For us it was an, Oh my God kind of experience, it seemed like from every new vantage point was another sureal view of something that it made driving difficult and we just had to always stop It took us 2 complete days to drive around The Island and after it was over if it wasn't for cameras and video footage we would of only remembered half of it. The sadest part was we never really saw Puna The morning of the second day and we stayed at a campground in Volcano Nat Park, we reached Keaau @ 9 am we started down 130 toward Pahoa and turned around because we were afraid of how long the northern route would take and it was raining. The bittersweet part of it all was we never spent time REALLY looking over the Puna area but we were sold the moment we touched down from the plane ride. This area that area really didn't matter as long as we both had air in our lungs and each other we could make a home anyplace there. We chose Puna first because of the abundance of rain, makes for easy growing and we are fairly self-reliant folk. Everyone makes good points but I think they all have forgotten how overwhelming the whole experience can be at first sight. As others have said you won't spend much time to speak of at your hotel choice so pick the cheapest and deal with the small stuff ..... And try to focus on the plan... Anyway good luck

HADave