Road to Hedo

At 1100, I began my first long journey on the island. The northernmost point of Okinawa is called Hedo point. Even though it is only 65 miles away, it takes 3-4 hours to get there from my home in the southern part of the island.



The first place I stopped was a small bay with what looked like a flock of sailboards. It must have been a class or an organized activity because they were all the same color. They were clustered around a platform or vessel of some kind and remained this way the entire time I was there.

After an hourlong nap on the beach, I was off again. A bit further up were some surfers trying to catch a wave. It looked like fun , except that the "beach" they were surfing in front toward was actually a wall of jutting geometric concrete triangles (IE, a very bad thing to get smashed into!!)

A kilometer or two after the beach, the sun was shining down in such a way that it looked like a storybook. The heaven's were declaring...As I came to the entrance of a tunnel (there were a surprising number on the west side of the island) I was thinking about my motorcycle. I've been asked what her name is, and up until that moment, I didn't have an answer. But as I thought about it, the name Olive immediately imprinted itself on my mind. So right there on that stretch of Highway 58, the bike on which I rode became Olive.

About an hour later, I arrived at Hedo Point. Aside from it's remote location, the most striking thing about it was the ruggedness of the rock formations. It was as if the point was absorbing the energy of the ocean flowing southward against the island, the point of conflict between immovable strength of the earth and the endless energy of the seas.



The Point was mostly populated by busloads of tourists from mainland Japan. A couple of humorous things were a sign that said "May Peace Prevail." This certainly has a deep, sober meaning on this island with so much historical conflict. However, the warlike timbre of the statement made me chuckle. Josh Marine would say it like this: "May peace annihilate and stomp the guts out of war." That 'll teach 'em.

The other funny thing was a sculpture I like to call it the Peace Chicken. I'm sure it has some cultural or historical meaning, but just on it's own merits: I think the Peace Chicken is cool.

The route back was even better than the trip north. Why? Two elements: 1) A twisty coastal mountain road, 2) No other traffic. A riders' paradise. I live in a dense urban area, so riding up and down forested mountains and through small villages was new side of Okinawa I hadn't seen before.

The fitting capstone on my journey was a white-knuckled blast down the expressway (the expressway runs the lower half of the island, roughly from Naha to Nago). My bike tops out at around 110 Km/H which was the speed I was doing. Unfortunately, it also felt as if I was about to be ripped from my saddle by the wind. An exhilarating 40 kilometers or so!

A beautiful, solitary day.