Well…damn, getting out of bed at 4:30am I guess is no excuse when there are things to be done…got a bike ride completely in the dark this morning and then did the grocery run, filled the car up, then back in to Meijers to get my covid and flu vaccinations, then home to drag the winter tires out of the garage and clean the wheels, then washed the car…and that got me to about noon when I started to feel pretty exhausted but no damn nap…and I sure can’t figure that out…one of my Mastodon friends suggested it might be a delayed reaction to jet lag and the 6 hour time change and I guess that’s as good a reason as any…and then I got a nice surprise when my ballot for the election came in the mail today so I can drop that off after I fill it out…was a little worried that it wasn’t going to come but it is the normal time so I didn’t have to worry about that…right now I have to figure out what to make for dinner that doesn’t take a lot of work…maybe a sandwich with some cool hot and sweet mustard I found at aldis today…going to be an early night but I still need to finish the book I’m working on before I can melt into the couch…

Well…I wonder if my sleep can get worse than last night? Up at 3am and then not much more sleep until I just gave up and got out of bed at 4:30…I have too much stuff to get done today to walk around in a daze all day…pouring coffee down at 5am to help me get started and it looks like this might be a 2 pot day but we’ll see…need to get on the bike by 7am to get a ride in before I head out to the grocery run that will include getting my covid and flu shot at Meijers after I get the groceries done…then when I get back here, I am going to drag the winter wheels and tire out to wash them and get them ready for painting after they dry for a week or so…then I think I’ll wash the car since it’s really dusty after sitting outside for more than two weeks…going to look for some cloth top protectant to make sure the winter won’t get to it…it needs to last until I die and that may not be for a few years yet…getting back into riding shape is going to take some time and I am going to try 2 rides tomorrow but damn, my butt hurts like I’m just starting out when I’m coming up on 6,000 miles for the year…decided to not renew my service contact with Dell for my laptop since they raised the price to almost a hundred bucks and that is for a 279 dollar computer…I’ll just buy another one when this one dies…more later…

Well…I know I’ve talked about this before but I am so happy about how the car has turned out with the clutch and transmission work I did that I’m going to talk about it again…you remember how I bitched that the car was almost impossible to shift when the trans was cold? So today I wanted to run an errand to DD just because I could being home…so I put the top down on the car even though it was only 42 degrees when I left here and when I backed the car out, it went from reverse to 1st with no effort at all…and when I shifted to 2nd and 3rd that used to need lots of muscle to do, this morning it was just as easy as when it was 80 degrees…and it’s all from changing the trans oil to a full synthetic and making sure it was full…and the shifting is getting better the longer it’s in there just as the commenters said it would…but the kicker to that is getting the air out of the clutch completely so it is easy and silky smooth to take off…so I was tearing around in the car just enjoying it this morning and feeling like it is finally how it’s supposed to be…slick shifts and no effort at all…and that is so cool after the first year when I had to warm the car up on the cold mornings to get it to shift at all…and to realize I can still work on cars and make them better even at my advanced age makes me smile…didn’t have to pay anyone to do this for me that would have cost close to a grand…now I don’t cringe when I get in the car…and that is cool…

Well…back to the same damn sleep pattern I had before the trip and I was really hoping that I could break that and sleep just a little later…I did fall asleep on the couch twice yesterday and that is all from feeling so exhausted from traveling…that should go away after a few days of taking it easy that I’m going to continue today…and that’s partly because it’s only 42 degrees out there and I am not ready to be that cold on the bike…so I’ll wait til it gets over 50 around 10am and that gives me 4 hours to settle in and get some things done around here and read some since I have books that have to go back thurs…I really do hope my ballot comes this week so I don’t have to go over and figure out why it didn’t get here…and I’ll have to vote in person that I don’t want to do…oh, well…I do have to maintain the bike this morning with putting air in the tires and lubing the moving parts…and I do need to start thinking about whether to buy a new bike or rebuild this one one more time…probably one more rebuild and then I may just try to get the black bike back on the road over the winter but that would mean trying to find a new rear wheel or getting one repaired…might stop at the bike shop to see if it can be done…but damn, a new wheel is almost 100 bucks if I can find one that will work with the Shimano rear cassette…sitting here with my new coffee mug from Venice and it feels good to have a remembrance of the trip that I can see every day…more later…

Well…today has really turned into a recovery day after I did 15 miles on the bike this morning…it was a fun ride but I’m back to starting at scratch with my bike fitness…my butt hurts and my legs are still sore…I know I also mowed the lawn but with all the walking we did on the trip, that shouldn’t be a problem…it just felt good to be out on the bike again and the best thing was no people…no crowds, no nothing and lots of open space that just doesn’t exist where I was in Italy…way too busy and way too many people and I think it is going to take a week or so until I get back to being used to riding here…but I won’t be back to fitness on the bike for weeks and that sucks…going to try 2 rides tomorrow but we’ll see…I may need to ease into it and work up to 2…I even fell asleep on the couch reading this afternoon as the exhaustion I feel caught up to me…trying to get through the last book I have before I have to return it Thurs but I don’t know if I’ll make it or not..I did get my flu and covid shots scheduled for Wed morning so I’ll have to do the grocery run later that day…but I’m really trying to no just fall back into my routine of go,go, go and just let things happen when they will…I wonder how that will work?

Well…darn, the heat just came on and it’s only 49 degrees here right now…and I’m back to the old pattern of getting up at 5am but that would make it 11am in Italy so maybe I slept in this morning…I’m easing into the day with a cup of coffee and I just made a new pot since I think I’ll need it later…I got a text from my oldest son yesterday saying they saw me out on 28th street when I was getting on 96 to head back here and he said I looked like a “high roller coming back from vacation” and I just laughed at that…still going to ease into the day and get a ride in around 7am or so and I do need to mow the lawn so I’m not sure if I’m doing one or two rides today…probably one and then get back to normal tomorrow…just aren’t feeling it right now and there is no rush so I am going to enjoy being home a little more before I really start going again…it is nice to be back in my familiar surroundings and have a shower that is bigger than a phone booth like the ones in Europe were…I did open the half and half I bought to make garlic chicken and even with buying it weeks ago, it’s use by date is in November and I think that’s a little weird but it sure tastes good in my coffee today…okay, I don’t “need” to get going but I want to…I am curious if they have the road done yet so I can get my normal ride back and I want to see the trail again so I’m going to wait until it’s almost light to go out…so I have time to sit here and do this and read the news before I go….more later…

Well…I’m going to make this a little short one as I start to try to recover from the long, long trip…it was a lot of fun but it took all my energy so I won’t be doing a political one today…the ride back here from the airport was a lot of fun with my huge suitcase in the passenger seat and the top down…and I just heard from my oldest son that they were behind me getting on 96 and that made me laugh and I had to let them know I was coming from the airport after being in Italy with his sister…I really have had enough of air travel for a couple of years and it feels so good to just be here in my own old house with tv in English and not having to interact with anyone for a few days…so tonight I’m going to sit on my butt and watch the race and go to bed early after getting up at 2:30am…way too little sleep for the past few days and I hope that changes tonight in a fresh bed that is mine…

Well…it’s 2:30 am and I tried to sleep until 4 or so since we need to be on the road to the Richmond airport by 4:45 to make my next to the last flight at 8am…I am looking forward to doing my last air travel in my life and it can’t come too soon…it was cold here yesterday and it rained all day and I had my jeans on for the first time all summer…and I’ll need them in the car since I want to put the top down on the way home and it’s only supposed to be in the 50’s when I get to GR…it is going to be nice to get home and take a day off from everything but mowing the front of the lawn and getting the house working again…going to be just worn out when I get home after getting 8 hours of sleep in the last 3 days and I am going to try to take a nap this afternoon to start trying to erase that deficit…but I do need to stop for groceries on the way through Muskegon since all I have in the house is in the freezer and there is spoiled milk in the fridge…damn, it’s going to be nice when the car starts and I put it in gear and get moving…I spent about a 1,000 bucks on my credit card and 400 euros but that’s not bad for 12 days in Italy…and now I can get back to conserving cash and getting on to my new goal of 50K in my checking account…not sure when I’ll accomplish that but probably around April or so…here we go…more later…

Well…I am really ready to go home to get back to my quiet little life that I do really miss…and be in control of everything again instead of having to adjust to what is going on…I am going to take the luxury of doing nothing after I get home other than making coffee…we did go out to Costco this morning and I think I may be getting myself a membership when I get back…they have some really good deals and one of them is Colombian coffee beans for 15 bucks for 2 1/2 pounds and even the Lavazza espresso ones for a kilo for 14 bucks…and this will help me stop buying stuff from Amazon and jeff bezos who I hate…and they had ground chuck for under 5 bucks a pound and all kinds of other stuff that is a better deal than amazon…and Costco pays it’s employees well and gives them full benefits and stock options so a family can live on one income…something that can’t be said for amazon…so I may be cancelling my prime membership…I do like the convenience of amazon but not at the expense of the workers…so I’ll try Costco for a bit and see if it can do the same things amazon can…oh, and they had a 65 inch tv for 400 bucks…and a small freezer for 150 bucks…but now I’m going to take a nap before we head to dinner…

Well…was up til 12:30 am and just got up at 6am and I’m okay with that… I think I’ve read that going east to west is easier than the other way around and it does feel like that…after being up for 25 hours yesterday, 5 hours of sleep or so seems like enough…for now…but I guess we’ll see later…have to get up at 4:30 or so tomorrow morning so that will be the test…it is nice to be back in the states and be able to use my phone again after having it in airplane mode for 2 weeks and having to do the math to figure out the time…it read edt the whole time I was gone even hooked up to wifi in every hotel but my tablet did have the right time so at least I had one thing that did…even my laptop had the time from here on it but I’m not going to worry about that now…had so much fun on the trip and saw so much that I’m going to have to think about it and keep all my photos to jog my memory as time goes on…we’ll have a nice day of doing nothing today but going out to dinner later and getting checked in for the flight tomorrow morning…and getting caught up on these as I edge back into my old routine…I tried to keep my end up of paying some of the cost for the trip by buying dinner every day and I think I burned around 500 bucks on them…but I did come back with over 100 euros left so I’ll probably have to take them to the bank to exchange…the only things I spent money on was a new Italian leather wallet and a coffee mug from Venice…and I’m going to try it out when I get home and make some whole bean coffee that I’m going to drink in the afternoon tomorrow when I get home…have lots of laundry to do…more later…