The landing was bumpy as expected, with Maui’s Kahului Airport nestled between the island’s two largest mountains, both covered in lush-green vegetation.  Together they produced a funnel of warm ocean air through the middle of the island’s valley and a final layer of turbulence for the pilots as they moved through it to drop the aircraft the last hundred feet onto Kahului’s gray runway with a firm bounce.

Immediately, the engine thrust was redirected to slow the plane while inside an unfazed Rickards continued staring through the window, noting the fields of tall grass just beyond the airport’s runway as the plane shook from side to side.  The grass bobbed heavily to one side under the island’s natural wind tunnel, creating waves of rolling green.

Next to him, Angela grinned from her seat while reaching forward to retrieve her cell phone.  “Much better than last time.”

The last time had been to Peru, and the flight had been fraught with turbulence and sudden, albeit brief, drops in elevation—enough to make half the plane nervous and the other half nauseated.

“Try not to look like a tourist.”

“What?”

“I’m joking,” she said.  “In Hawaii, you’re supposed to look like a tourist.”  She looked him over in his gray polo shirt and blue jeans as if only now noticing his attire.  “Never mind.”

Once inside the open-air terminal, they each towed a small suitcase behind them and followed the flow of passengers along an open walkway and then down a narrow escalator, passing Baggage Claim and heading for the automated shuttle.

Ten minutes later, the two exited a two-story building in search of their rental car, a blue Toyota Camry they found waiting for them in the building’s large underground parking lot.

With a heft of their bags and the trunk closed, Rickards opened the driver’s door and made a brief 360-degree scan before sliding in and starting the car.

“Sorry,” Angela said, turning on the air conditioning. “I should have warned you about the humidity.  Very different than Denver.”

“That’s okay. I enjoy clothes that stick.  So—where to, Professor?”

“The college,” she said, opening a navigation app on her phone and waiting for it to pinpoint their location.

***

The University of Hawaii Maui was less than five miles from the Kahului Airport and took just fifteen minutes to reach through the island’s afternoon traffic.  Situated on one of the most beautiful islands in the world, the small college was an outgrowth of the island’s original vocational college built in the 1930s.  Now providing several bachelor programs and dozens of associates, the college was spread over a square kilometer in the form of two dozen buildings, all painted matching white under tropical green shingled roofs.

IKE, the science and math building, was located on the western edge of the campus next to its adjacent and virtually empty parking lot.