After waking up the next morning, I thought I was feeling a bit better, and Joan noted that my eye looked a little better. I also wasn't coughing incessantly as I had been the night before. I was hopeful that my health problems were behind me, but this was not to be the case. Joan left around 11am to attend graduation at the school where she teaches. I took the afternoon to relax a bit and write the previous blog entry. Joan is packing and moving out of New York, so she doesn't have an internet connection, but I still was able to author the entry on my laptop. Later that afternoon, after finishing the blog entry, I made my way to Society Coffee in Harlem, a short walk from her apartment, in order to upload the blog entry on their wi-fi connection. On the way there, I came across a gas station in which every single car fueling up was a yellow NYC cab! It was definitely an unusual sight, but not so unusual here in NYC.As I enjoyed a tasty white hot chocolate at Society, I received an expected call from Ken Silverman, a good friend of my deceased brother Bill. Ken & I have remained in touch over the years and I was very excited to be able to visit with Ken and his family here in Manhattan. Ken is on the production team for the touring company of the broadway musical Wicked. Recently, Ken flew with his team in a chartered private jet to promote the show in 21 cities in ten days. I met up with him while he was in Schenectady and was invited to the promotion at Proctor's theater. It featured some of the actors performing scenes from Wicked. Also, when the promotion was over, I followed him to the airport where I got to sit in the pilot's seat of the Hawker 800 jet and chat with the pilot.
Ken gave me instructions as to how to make my way to 190th St. station on the Hudson side of the island, which is just about the end of the subway line up there. He lives on Ft. Washington right near Ft. Tryon Park and The Cloisters. So, I boarded the subway at 116th St. to catch the C to 168th St. where I could change to the A to 190th. Just after I entered the station a B train went by, but I didn't get on board, since I was waiting for a C train. 15 minutes later an empty C train went throught the station, but didn't stop. Someone on the platform threw an empty plastic bottle at it in frustration. 20 minutes pass and no trains at all! Thankfully, I had a subway map on my iPhone and realized that I could have taken the B after all and changed to the A at 145th St. Finally, a train arrived, but it was a B. I hopped on with this new knowledge and began making my way north. It was nice to be able to be resourceful in such an unfamiliar setting. Unfortunately, there was no cell phone service underground, so there was no way to alert Ken that I was going to be late.
I found Ken waiting for me at the subway exit, but not before heading out the wrong exit which put me in a different part of town with a tall rock face between me and where I wanted to go. I had to go back in to the station, take an elevator to the top, and Ken was there waiting for me. Ken didn't complain about the wait and took me on the short walk to his place. Before we got there, I heard voices from several stories up. No, it wasn't a jumper. It was Tara and Jasmine yelling down for Daddy from the sixth floor!
I spent some wonderful time with Ken and his wife Leah and go to know his lovely daughters. Ken asked if they'd like their new uncle Joel to read a bedtime story, but no, they wanted daddy, so he obliged. Next, they were tucked into bed and I could hear Ken singing a song to them in their room. What a great dad! As it got later, I began to feel a little bit out of sorts again, this time, the sore throat that I had suffered in Newport returned, but with a vengance. I bid the Silverman's farewell and headed back to Joan's apartment. I stopped into a deli right around the corner from Joan's, and they were still making sandwiches at 11pm. I picked up a sandwich and a pint of Ben & Jerry's Phish Food. The first thing I did when arriving at Joan's was to gargle with hot salt water, which provided a little relief. Next, I sat with Joan watching "The Italian Job" and began to eat my sandwich. My throat was so painful that I would wince at every swallow! Even the ice cream, which I thought might be soothing was painful to eat. I thought that weather and mountains would be the biggest impedements on this trip. I did not expect health to be such a major factor. I was frustrated because I thought that my illness was about to put the trip on hold. I went to bed early, hoping for my throat to heal overnight. Unfortunately, the pain prevented me from sleeping a wink that night. I finally managed an hour or so and got up around 11am. My plans for Day 11 included flights to Pittstown, NJ and Philadelphia.
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