San Bernardino to Redwood City: Feb 24

Tuesday started off fine enough. Sunny, if a bit cool. Had a farewell breakfast with Aunt Harriett and Uncle Clare and were on the road by 8 am on our way north. Traffic went nicely in the commuter's lane; arrived in Morrow Bay, the southern start of the middle section of coastal Highway 1, around noon or so.

Then I got the message on my cell phone from Mom: Dad had just had a heart attack on the tennis court and was being taken to the hospital. I called her back and caught her just before she headed there herself. She promised to call me with an update once she had one. Susan and I headed north on U.S. 1, alternately going crazy waiting for a call from Mom and stopping to distract our anxiety with breath-taking views of sheer cliffs, crashing waves and elephant seals (middle photo--they weigh up to 5000 pounds!). When we hadn't gotten a call within 45 minutes, we tried to call her, only to find out that we had no cell signal. That continued for the next 2 hours. At the halfway point of no cell service, we stopped at a pay phone (the only one in that 130 mile stretch with an average speed of about 35 mph!) and reached Mom at the very moment Dad went into cardiac arrest on the Emergency Room gurney. It was another hour before we got enough cell signal to reach Mom again. Dad's heart had been re-started and he was in stable condition. One of the stents from his first heart attack (3 years ago) had become completely plugged up and was now re-opened. More tests were scheduled.

Shaken, but relieved, we made it to Peggy (Niemeyer) and Henry Malstedt's home in Redwood City in time for dinner. Had a very nice visit with them. It had been at least 40 years since I had seen Peggy.