We dropped our gear at the checkpoint and headed up the hill to a house we'd heard might have internet access. There's seven phone lines out of Ruby. We wanted to use one to send a few digital photos for this journal back to Anchorage. A woman named Flossie welcomed us into her home and showed us to her computer. We'd known her for less than five minutes, but she treated us like family.
Village life moves very slow.
Village computers do to. Flossie showed us pictures. We drank more soda. Doug Swingley is first in to Ruby, too. He ran 80 miles, past the lonely mining relics, and into the back of this village.