Bicycles are the main form of travel on Kwaj, followed by walking. Sometimes I pull bike duty, which is not that much fun after an hour or two. There are two wheelers and a few three wheelers running around but the king of the island is Wooten’s Wonder, a tricycle driven by a Kwaj old timer. He’s both a senior citizen as well as a resident on the island for over two decades. Bill Wooten is an industrial painter and an artist. His artwork, illustrating life in the Marshall Islands, is in demand. His folk art style reminds me of Haiti, with bold colors. I asked if he has any new art for sale and he told me that he just retired and would never make another piece.
His tricycle, nicknamed Wooten’s Wonder, is now his continuing project. He always has his “Wonder” decorated to the point that sometimes you can barely see his ride. He makes sure that every holiday is represented as he tools around the island.
I was thinking about buying a bike and saw an ad in the Hourglass, the Army’s local newspaper. The ad read: Kwaj conditioned Bike, $10, OBO, call H4168.
Billy Mack, a former Orlando police officer, provided me with an explanation. He said that Kwaj condition applies to most man-made products that have been exposed to the atoll’s environment. After a relatively short time, usually months, if you haven’t taken really good care of the bike, paint fades, rubber and plastic age and crack, and metal rusts. If left to the elements, the object will continue to waste away until one day it no longer exists. Kwaj condition bikes are dangerous, he added, and can literally fall apart as you ride them.
I run two or three miles a day anyway so I don’t mind walking. And entertainment is no more than five minutes away. That plus Macy’s Department Store, a sports and garden store, a convenience store with Army BX prices, the bank and post office, all are across the street. If you wanted to live in the almost perfect town, this would be it. If you don’t behave according to the rules you agreed to, then you get banished from the island. It doesn’t work on a large scale, of course. You do have to be tolerant of others.
Filed under: Almost Paradise Volume 1
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