Monday

My original thought to add a post yesterday afternoon just didn't have any oomph come yesterday afternoon.  You guys must be tired of reading a travelogue anyway.

The jetlag hasn't been awful.  Yet.  I kept waiting for exhaustion to kick in yesterday afternoon, and it just never did.  I eventually went to bed pretty early, and slept decently, but was wide awake at 0430.  So today is off to an early start.  But not so much so compared to those early rides from earlier this month with @bcbison when I was getting up at 0501.  Maybe my normal early morning ways will mitigate my body's readaptation to the Central time zone.  #GladGame.

My Hertz receipt shows that we put 1,381 kilometers on our car during our trip, which translates to a little over 850 miles.  I think my gas costs were in the $200 (converted from Euro), which would suggest that my cost of operation was somewhere in the .24 per mile range.

The receipt also  calls the vehicle a Antara 2.2 CDTI.  OK, if you say so.  I never could determine what it was from any of the symbols or markings on the car (inside or out).  It was about the size of a Ford Escape.  The bike box fit easily  in the back (with the seats down).  I had purposely chosen the size to be a little bigger than the Focus wagon so that we wouldn't have to worry about bike storage space.  Another good choice.

One of my recurring thoughts over the last couple of days has been the fact that very little went wrong on this trip.  I had the thought the last couple of days of the trip as well, but I was reluctant to express any such observation before getting home.  Murphy lives.  In a trip that involved so many pieces, and so many miles across the continents, I feel very fortunate to be sitting here now with this realization.

I am reminded of the voice-over that Tom Hanks does at the end of Apollo 13 when he comments how their return was the result of the efforts of thousands of people who contributed to the complex goal of getting them safely back home.  We didn't necessarily have a multitude of folks working for us on our trip, but on the flip side of that thought, we did have thousands of people who either did their jobs, or stayed out of our way, to make this adventure work.  For this, I am very thankful.

Weather was another positive aspect of the trip.  It was generally pleasant temperature-wise.  No real heat to deal with, although Thursday at the temples in Agrigento and Friday on the walking tour of downtown Palermo, we would look for shade when it was convenient.  The only rain we saw was on the drive home from Chicago on Saturday evening.  Most evenings, a light jacket or long sleeves made things comfortable.  Thus, I think that you would have to say that it was close to a home run for us on the weather front.

We never turned a TV on in our rooms.  I think I can get used to a life without a need for this form of entertainment.  Maybe a little more writing to complete those projects, eh?

The NYT crossword puzzle book that I took with me has me on overload on that past time.  I did mostly "Moderate" puzzles which were all Thursday-type puzzles with some kind of a trick to them.  I didn't exactly star on those.  During the last portion of the flight home, I worked several "Challenging" puzzles, which would have been of the Friday-Saturday variety.  And at best, I'll get a Saturday puzzle done by Sunday night.  You have to think too hard...which isn't exactly mindless enjoyment.  So I'm off puzzling for a while.

Real World 101 starts now as I have two weeks to get LOTS done.  Turkey Trot training starts this evening as well.  The next 90 days will just evaporate.  Scary. 

Make it a great week in your neighborhood.

BCOT