Recent Travels (and Pizza)

Recently, I went back home to visit my folks, participate in my grandfather's second bar mitzvah and attend a cousin's wedding. Home is Ohio; the wedding in SLC. It was some serious travel that comprised of the following legs:

• Thursday, May 31: Worked in the morning and then flew to Columbus, Ohio, where I stayed with my brother Ian and his girlfriend Elvira.
• Friday, June 1: Drove to Cincinnati, celebrated Allison's 31st birthday, ate tons of pizza with her folks.
• Saturday, June 2: Celebrated my grandfather's second bar mitzvah at Temple Sholom. Ate a ridiculous amount of egg and tuna salad at the luncheon immediately after.
Sunday, June 3: Played tennis, went riding on Le Ramrod (which is now the bike I keep in Cincinnati for those trips home). Had a pleasant pizza dinner with my mom, Jim, Eric and Allison.
• Monday, June 4: Replaced the right rear caliper on the Saab, went riding again and almost crashed when my chain came off climbing Barg Salt road in the east exurbs of Cincinnati.
• Tuesday, June 5: Had a really great lunch with my dad and Allison before driving to Chicago.
• Wednesday, June 6 and Thursday, June 7: Visited with as many friends as possible and savored their company. I also got to see their children -- Matt and Amanda and Helge and Carolyn both have beautiful babies. It's incredible to see, but also makes me realize that I'm getting older. But that's not really a bad feeling; not at all.
• Friday, June 8: Early flight to Salt Lake City to attend my cousin Andrew Haupt's wedding. Had an amazing time with my family, explored the Mormon Temple grounds and ate a ton of food. I started falling apart from exhaustion (I'd aroused at 4:50 CST to make my 7:45 AM flight) so I made it to my lodging at a decent hour. I stayed with folks I met through AirBnb - and who were incredibly awesome people. They also raised chickens in their backyard -- they're my total kindred spirits.
• Saturday, June 9: Had breakfast with my hosts, met my family at the SLC farmer's market (which is mindblowingly great) and went walking about. I had more energy than everyone else, so I went hiking by my lonesome in a canyon before dinner at a Japanese grill restaurant.
• Sunday, June 10: Drove back to Reno with my uncle Bruce, who lives in Rohnert Park, California. We made amazing time, "enjoyed" Taco Bell "lunch" in Elko, and discussed some future work projects. I made him drive me to Trader Joe's so I could stock-up on goods without having to ride my bike there. I spent $120. Eep!

Since then, all I've been doing is some freelance work, regular work, and lots of riding. I am supposedly fast according to my buds and race results, but I went on the "drop ride" this morning and felt so crappy I quit way early. Then again, it was mostly P/1/2 dudes out to ride, so that might have played a part.