I think what made it OK was that it was all pretty simple stuff. Bread, yogurt, mild cheese, maybe a bit of ham and egg, light pastries, some fresh fruit. Nothing like blueberry pancakes with syrup, or a bunch of fried, oily, or savory/spicy stuff.

My first thought on reading the OP's first post was, "What the heck is he doing eating jambalaya in Jersey?" :) And FWIW, jambalaya, either in the original version with rice or with pasta, is a common post-ride meal here in Louisiana. The best-known race hereabouts is Rouge-Roubaix, and the post-race meal is pasta jambalaya and beer. :)

Re: hydration, on hard rides here in the summer, I go through a 24 oz. bottle every 45 minutes. My kit is never dry enough to show salt stains, it's usually dripping wet at the end of a ride. I'm not a heavy sweater, one just needs a lot of water in the heat and humidity. I got religion on this when I passed out due to dehydration after a long ride and took an ambulance ride and two IV bags to get kinda back to normal.

If you know you're going to do a long ride the next day, eat well the night before and again in the morning. A little caffeine on the ride is okay but stay away from energy drinks. Your body can process ~250 calories/hour, so keep your food intake to that. Note that you may not need to eat as much as you think; your body also uses fat for energy on non-hammer rides. Unless I have hard intervals scheduled or it's a race-pace group ride, on a 62-mile ride I'll just use water or water with electrolytes.

The food you eat is probably making you sleep. I try not to over eat after rides as eating too much can make your body work hard again to digest it. Instead, consume less food and eat stuff that's easy to digest. Staying slightly active helps keep you awake. Jumping on the couch after a meal is a good way to get tired quick.