1976 AD, BI (before Internet)

This blog is supposed to be About Getting Old, and I had resolved it would never degenerate into About My Kids, but anyhow, here's part of an email just received from Quito, Ecuador:

Dear Family,
     In half an hour we are off to the airport for our great Galapagos adventure.  Contact will be spotty, but we should have electronic contact at some points during our voyage, so please do drop us a note... I expect we will hear about the results of the election somehow!  Fingers crossed!
     love you all
     Connie
-----  
And I suddenly flashed on --
It's November, 1976.  We're staying at a luxurious wildlife lodge in Tanzania, built into a cliff overhanging the Ngorogoro Crater.  I'm leaning against the railing of a balcony, holding a transistor radio far out as I can over the half-mile drop, and through the snatches of different languages and all the static I finally make out one word--  "Carter".