Restricted Access to the Lava Flow

[Mitzi M]

I have to agree with you, Kathy, about the number of tourists who may not be up to speed about lava safety. Our island has been made out to be a drive-in volcano theme park, so I guess it's only natural that people think they'll be able to see the lava in relative safety. I also drove down there last night and there were so, so many cars, cruising up and down the narrow road with me. But what I thought was probably the most dangerous thing when I was there was the vog. At first it didn't seem too bad, but after a while the wind stopped and it got nasty. As I drove out I could really see it in the headlights and even today my lungs and throat feel kinda rough. Since I live here I guess I'm supposed to know about the dangers of vog, but even so I got a pretty nasty dose. I wonder how it would be if there were 75 cars at the end of the road in the dark and the kona wind kicked up. I'm not a fan of the government protecting us from ourselves, but I'll have to agree that most people, especially visitors, may not be aware of the serious hazards. I think it's kind of funny that they used to charge people to drive in there a while ago. I heard something about a deal they had where if you could show proof of residency it was free. At least that would have been a little better. Well, (cough, cough, cough) the lava flow did look pretty darned cool out there, but next time I might just burn some incense and check out the HVO website instead. []