Origins of Fearless Adventure

Rich's dad Gordon (Gee-Dick to his family & friends) was a reporter for the Honolulu Daily Star in the 1950's and 60's, and developed many friendships in the local and national journalism community.  The following anecdote is excerpted from the cover story, "Hawaiian Beauty" by Mary Leatherbee, Travel Editor, LIFE magazine, October 8, 1965 issue:

...Back in Honolulu at the Royal Hawaiian it rained during the night which meant it would be wet enough for ti leaf sliding. I drove to Waiahole Valley, the wettest spot on the island, with Gordon Morse and his children: Richie, 13, Timi, 11, and Jody, 10. Gordon told me about ti. Its sturdy leaf is often used to wrap fish or chicken for steaming as well as feet for trudging over rough terrain. It also brings good luck, which made me feel easier because my taxi driver kept warning me: "Don't go sliding - very dangerous - you might hit a rock." 

     We collected our ti leaves at the bottom of the hill near a jungle path. They grew in a bunch atop a tall stalk. You sit on leaves as on a broom and clutch the stalk like a pommel. The children were delighted to show a citybound creature the joys of the jungle. "Here's a spray of wild orchids. Ever tasted fresh guava?" Jody asked, pushing the fruit into my mouth. Then a gleeful cry from Richie, "Shut your eyes and bite, and tell me what it is." I said it tasted like a pear. "No. It's a mountain apple." It was a thin-skinned, juicy, bland fruit which looked like an apple and had the consistency of a pear. It grows straight out of the trunk of the tree itself. Gordon said the fruit always reminded him of childhood. The first thing you did in the late summer was to break your way through the lush growth to find your own patch of mountain apple trees and then keep it as your secret treasure the rest of the season.

[The children ahead of me.....] looked like trees marching through the tall grass. The hill got steeper and the climbing tougher. I kept slipping and crawling on all fours.

     When I knew that I was using the last of my second wind I heard the cry: "Here's where we slide." I got my final instructions. "When you get going too fast," said Gordon, "and I've gone as fast as 35 [mph], just flip over face down in the high grass and spread-eagle to a stop. Don't worry about the cliff on the right because these bushes will stop you. If they don't, grab hold of that tree limb." After this last comforting remark I grabbed hold of my jungle pommel, lifted my braking heels and my first slide was on. When I hit what I was sure was 50 miles an hour - Gordon said it was 15 - I remembered how to spread-eagle and, thankfully, I did.