Jan 20 2008
Dad….
Dad called yesterday, and talked to hubby for a while. It turns out Dad has a CELL PHONE now. For those of you that don’t know my dad, this is monumental! Dad moved to a tiny island in the Caribbean a couple of decades ago and has worked very hard to remain as far behind the technology curve as humanly possible!
Here’s a couple pictures of Dad’s little technology deprived paradise.
It truly is a little slice of heaven.
In addition to the cell phone, I was told he also purchased a computer! It’s a good thing I missed the call, or I likely would have fainted. He complained about the keys being so hard to find and that he could chisel a message out of stone faster. Hubby told him we’d be happy to send our 4 year old down to teach him how to type, download, send emails, etc. Dad makes me chuckle!
As heavenly as the island is, it brings with it, it’s own set of issues and Dad is now investigating leaving the island and moving back to the states. As his 1940 model needs more maintenance, he’d like to get closer to medical facilities… something the island is desperately missing. So he’s looking at places like Nevada and Arizona. He’s waiting till March to look at Vegas because it’s “too cold there” right now! TOO COLD IN VEGAS? When hubby asked how cold too cold is, he stated it was only 68, and that is “too damn cold!” 
I find this funny… considering this is the man that drug us to Alaska, the same man who raced in the first ever Iditarod! Dad was injured mid race, which left his race partner to finish. John (his partner) still to this day holds the record for the longest time ever taken to finish the race. A quote from Iditarod.com “A red lantern is awarded to the last musher to finish. The longest time for a Red Lantern was 32 days, 15 hours, nine minutes and one second by John Schultz in 1973. “ Many folks don’t know that John had a thing for the liquor and for the women (okay maybe a lot of people know those two facts!), and he met that combination in Shaktoolik. So he basically “shacked up” in Shaktoolik for several days before deciding he should get a move on and let those folks waiting for him in Nome go home 
So, Dad is moving into the 00’s, getting some technology and moving much closer, heck… maybe even one day, he’ll figure out how to read this blog!
Here’s to you Dad! (and your awesome babysitting skills) Before you know it.. you’ll be “with it” 
It’s very funny that the one that drug us to Alaska turned out to be the “whimp” and went south for the winter and never returned! I was the one who hated living in a cabin with no running water (but did run to the river and get it) and wanted to return to LA before the bears ate us…yet, here I still am after almost 40 years. I tried to return to the real world a couple of times but kept returning until I gave up and stayed. I must have been a Polar Bear in a former life…prefer the cold to the heat, even though my body screams otherwise. Maybe staying here was meant to be so that I could get the beautiful granddaughter I now have. Thanks to Karen and Jeff.