Needed to go to Lowes and Home Depot, so went into town. Lowes no big deal. Took note, no gas cans. No biggie. Needed to go to Home Depot. Turned up Alakawa (11:00) and holy crap. Decided to skip Home Depot but everyone was trying to get into Costco. Costco Gas backed up, waaaay back . Went towards Liliha to get on H1 and the cars were backed up to the freeway headed towards Costco. Unbelievable. Jump on H1 to Hawaii Kai. Thought my son and I would check out HI KI Costco and pick up some pizza and hot dog for lunch. Almost couldn't get into the parking lot. So we get lucky and find a parking space right away. Entire lot full from Costco all the way to City Mill. Cars backed up. No shopping carts for Costco. People are following shoppers out of Costco to their cars in order to get their carts.
So we walk into Costco to check it out. Checkout lines on both sides of Costco run all the way to the rear of the store near the Alcohol section on one side and back to the seafood on the other side. Unreal. So we leave the store and figure there is no way to get a hot dog and pizza. When we get outside the food line is only about 3 people deep. Great, we get our food and sit down next to a lady perhaps in her mid to late 50's. Very well dressed, well spoken and an air of intelligence / confidence. This is where the situation gets funny and the following conversation ensues....
Lady mentions, "You don't have a cart, you must not have been inside yet. You better try to get a cart out here."
Me - "We don't really need anything, we stay prepared year round."
Lady - "Oh, thank goodness, so do I. I just figured I would come to Costco to shop and when I saw the lines I said forget it and decided to just eat a hot dog." She then went on to say, "These people have no clue. Don't they understand that if a "real" storm hits these islands and the power goes out, it isn't going to only be for a few days. It may be weeks or months."
Me - I just laugh and say "I know, I get it".
Lady says, "Don't they know that people will get desperate and things may get ugly." I think I am in a freaking movie at this point. She continues to say, "But we are well prepared for those situations and protect our selves and our homes, aren't we" as she kinda lifts her eyebrows.
As my 10 year old son sits there smiling, I tell her "Not to worry we have that more than well covered."
My son - "Boy do we have that covered." and he laughs.
Lady - She just smiles and with a wink she says "Yes we do". She then continues to say, "I am originally not from here, but how many of "us" do you think there are here in Hawaii? 10%?"
Me - "I tell here that there are a lot of liberals in the islands and I would think that the numbers would be less, lucky if it hit 2-3% and that would include those of the Mormon faith, and many of those are not following the 1 year rule."
She just laughs and says that her grand kids says that Grandma has everything, were going to her house. The conversation continues and she eventually leaves.
After that conversation, I left with a huge smile on my face thinking about the "Prepper Granny" from Hawaii Kai, but as I finished my hotdog I was just left shaking my head thinking, "these people picking up a shopping cart of items are just pissing into the wind if something big happens." I then remember the good ole motto from my youth, "Be prepared", always.