Rain, I don't mind,
Shine, the weather's fine.
Can you hear me that when it rains and shines,
It’s just a state of mind,
Can you hear me, can you hear me?
– John Lennon & Paul McCartney

I should have known it was going to rain. The Maui News had just printed a story about our continuing drought and the trickle of winter rain that has left Upcountry reservoirs partially empty (or partially full, depending on your disposition).

Over the years, I’ve noticed that within 24 hours after a call for water conservation, it begins to rain. I was not to be disappointed. The next day it began to sprinkle. Rainbows blossomed in the afternoon sky, and by the next morning, it was a soaker that would continue through most of the day.

If you have a car, driving in the rain is one thing. If you take the bus, it’s quite another experience. Ever the diligent reporter, I took advantage of the weather to ask various riders and bus drivers what it was like to ride and drive in the rain.

Nani is from Wailuku and thinks “It would be better if there was shelter at some bus stops so we wouldn’t get wet. Sometimes it’s a hassle, but we manage to do it.”

Leena drives the Kīhei Islander and has been a bus driver for three years. For her, driving in the rain means fewer passengers, but the roads are wet and more dangerous.

Her worst day in the rain was about two years ago in Kīhei when the water came across the road and the bus got stuck.

“We had to drive really slow, and we had officers and trucks helping us through. Our Lahaina bus was stuck on the Pali. I was in a little white bus in Kīhei and that was the scariest. The water was up to the door. That’s how bad it was,” she said.

Rain doesn’t bother Timothy, who takes the bus from Lahaina. A screenwriter and poet—he invited me to the Live Poets readings at the Wailuku Library—his only problem with the rain is that you can’t see the whales when the clouds are sitting low on the water. “Otherwise, it’s very enjoyable and relaxing,” he said, sitting on one of the two small benches provided for waiting passengers at the Queen Ka‘ahumanu Center.

The benches, unprotected from the weather, are in sharp contrast to the hundreds of parking stalls that surround the center, most of which are empty, except for weekends and holidays.

Stephanie is 23 and has been living in Kīhei since December. A native of Argentina and a bus rider in Buenos Aries, she is on a four-month “Work and Travel Experience” that has her working for three months and then traveling for one month. “It’s something that Argentineans like to do in our summer, your winter,” she said.

What’s it like riding in the rain? She laughed. “Do I have to be honest? The bus stops don’t have any covers, and if you have to wait for the bus, you get all wet. I don’t look wet, but I am wet.”

She took the bus from Wailuku and waited under the roof of a building and then ran for the bus when it came. “That’s not fun, you know,” she said as she got up from the center’s cement floor and boarded the No. 10 bus.

The rain continued. Buses came and went. Passengers got off, looked up, pulled their coats tighter and went about their business—something we all may have to do in the stormy months that lay ahead.

And what about young Stephanie and her next stop after Maui? Yes, that’s right… she’s going to Disneyland!

Tom Blackburn-Rodriguez is a successful writer, and business and nonprofit consultant. He also sells reasonably priced umbrellas at only $2 each.