Countdown to Triathlon - 226Days, 32.25 weeks to Race Day (See Installment 34 of "The Journey", 220 mile bike ride, below)

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY - 

 ad·ven·ture  (d-vnchr)

n.

1.

     a. An undertaking or enterprise of a hazardous nature.

     b. An undertaking of a questionable nature.

2. An unusual or exciting experience.

3. Participation in hazardous or exciting experiences      

Don't ask me why because I have no idea why - but I get into more crazy situations and adventures than anyone has a right to. 

The Journey - Installment Thirty-Four

         A funny thing happened after getting off of the subway.  To this day I cannot explain it.  All three of us, Cindy, Patti and I bought tickets for the subway at the same time for the same amount.  When we got off the train, Patti and Cindy went through the turnstile and started toward the stairs to the street above.  I was lagging behind, probably because other riders were more nimble than me and most likely other people got in my way.  I didn’t actually see my sisters go through the turnstile.  The nearest one was as a full-height turnstile, a larger version of the waist high ones.  It is commonly 7-foot high and similar in operation to a revolving door, which eliminates the possibility of anyone jumping over a turnstile.  It is also known as an “iron maiden”, after the torture device of the same name.  It is used in many unstaffed exits in Chicago and New York stations.  By the time I entered the turnstile, Patti and Cindy were at a distance and there was absolutely no one else in the station.  It was empty.  I tried to push through with my shopping bags and purse and got stuck causing me to have to back out quickly before the thing turned far enough so that I would be trapped. 

I did not see a place to put my ticket  like this picture shows.  I just walked into it and started to push the bars around so that I would come out the other side.

 Here I am after escaping the “iron maiden”. One of my sisters took this picture while I was trapped, alone, on the wrong side of the bars.  See, it is fairly dark in the subway station behind me.

Cindy and Patti came back after I yelled at them.  I removed myself from the “torture chamber” and was directed to the waist high turnstiles by my sisters, which is the way they had exited.  I put my ticket in and it spit it back at me saying, (literally as it was voice activated) that the ticket had already been used.  I couldn’t figure that out since we had all been together and used similar tickets for the same number of entry and exit points.  Had I been more agile, I would have climbed under the turnstile or like in the movies when someone is being chased in the subway, leaped over the turnstile.  Patti simply reached as far as she could reach over to where I was standing and inserted her ticket in the turnstile which allowed me to exit, legally.  It was very eerie down there as it was fairly dark with only a few lights and absolutely no one around but the three of us.  The New Yorkers don’t mess around when they get off the subway – they get off and get up to the street level.  I can’t imagine why I was so slow.  Perhaps I had stopped, after getting off the train, to tie my ugly shoes.

Come Back Monday morning for our next adventure in New York City - Ground Zero!