Categories
1990s Blogging Driving Geography Military Nature Travel Weather

The Yellowhammer State

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. The great state of Alabama is known as “The Heart Of Dixie”, “The Cotton State”, “The Camellia State”, and of course “The Yellowhammer State” – named after the state bird – the yellowhammer woodpecker. Those “northern flickers” are flying and making lots of noise all across North America and southward into Central America. Alabama must be the staging point during the wintertime months for those snowbirds.

I was actually born in “Sweet Home Alabama” – Selma to be exact – 59 years ago. I lived my first 2 years there before my parents moved us up to Maryland in 1969. (My dad was stationed at Craig AFB at the time.)

I’ve visited (and driven through) Alabama many times since 1990. Maxwell AFB-Gunter Annex (former Gunter AFB) in Montgomery was a memorable visit during the early part of my USAF career. I mentioned one of the trips last week to pick-up my little brother at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville after a fun week of Space Camp. (He attended during the Summers of 1990 and 1992.)

A whole bunch of my first church friends from Homestead moved to the Mobile / Semmes area during the late-2010s, and I’ve visited them a few times on my way to North Texas. I also got to sightsee a bit in and near downtown Mobile. There’s a lot to see and do in and around “The Port City”, and I’ll have to visit again to complete more items off of my Mobile checklist.

During the Summer of 2020 my family drove southeastward, and I drove northwestward. We met for a fun 5-day vacation in Orange Beach. I remember back when I was a kid I would send away for free travel brochures of Alabama via the mail – basically to help me research and learn more about the state where I was born. I would dream of some day in the future visiting the Gulf beaches of Alabama. 40 years later it became reality.

Most recently – my 18-day, 7-state, and 2,807-mile April 2024 “Retirement Road-Trip” took me west across South Alabama (through Mobile), and then back east across Central Alabama (through Tuscaloosa, Montgomery, and Eufaula). You can look back at that eastward trek (Days 15 and 16) across Alabama here.

I’ll soon be returning to Alabama via the Tennessee River on an American Cruise Lines ship. I’ll be visiting Decatur, Huntsville, and Florence. I’ll write more about those 3 cities in a few weeks. Incidentally – my upcoming cruise also visits Mississippi – sort of. About 9.3 miles of the river forms the border between Alabama and Mississippi, and then those 2 state lines meet the Tennessee state line at the river. With an average cruising speed of about 9 MPH – Mississippi will be on the port side of the ship for about an hour. (I won’t see it, as that will occur in the middle of the night.)

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll take you back to “The Bluegrass State” – Kentucky. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2026 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 496

Every Monday I post my all-new Top 10 Christian hit music chart based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay from the previous week. It’s the continuation of a weekly hobby that goes back almost 50 years. Here’s this week’s chart – for the week ending Sunday August 16TH 2026 – the 496TH week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 1 21 Everything Is Better
[3RD week @ # 1]		 Hopeful.
2 2 12 Washed Elevation Rhythm
3 4 6 Breathe On It Tauren Wells
4 7 2 God I’m Just Grateful Chandler Moore
5 3 5 Faith Hope Love We Are Messengers
6 8 7 Gonna Be Alright Matt Maher
7 9 2 It Really Is Amazing Grace Phil Wickham Ft. Crowder
8 6 7 The Author Brandon Lake Ft. Nick Jonas
9 5 18 Worthy Of It All (Worthy) CeCe Winans
10 10 4 Why Should I Worry Carly Ann Taylor

2025 – “What An Awesome God” – Phil Wickham
2024 – “Take You At Your Word” – Cody Carnes
2023 – “Big God” – Terrian
2022 – “Love Is Everything We Need” – Unspoken
2021 – “When We Fall Apart” – Ryan Stevenson Ft. Vince Gill & Amy Grant
2020 – “There Was Jesus” – Zach Williams Ft. Dolly Parton
2019 – “Raise A Hallelujah” – Bethel Music
2018 – “Who You Say I Am” – Hillsong Worship
2017 – “Wonder” – Hillsong UNITED

RYAN STEVENSON – That song from 5 years ago still gives me goosebumps. It didn’t really sound like anything else on the radio at the time, and that’s what I liked about it. It had an eerie feeling to it. Nowadays it reminds me of that weird and uncertain post-pandemic era. It shot straight-in to my chart at # 5 (a rarity if you’ve been following my chart for any length of time). It drifted up and down between # 5, # 4, and # 3 for 10 weeks into August, and then it leapt to # 2, and then finally # 1 for 2 weeks in a row despite diminished radio airplay by that time. (I basically kept it alive in my own home.) Here’s the music video of that song that was a beautiful tribute to Ryan’s mom Phyllis based on her own words as she neared the end of her physical life here on earth:

My # 12 hit during my first 3½ years of salvation in Christ from August 2006 to January 2010 was from my first favorite Christian power pop punk band. They hailed from the Glendale / Phoenix Arizona area. They were Adam, Jordan, Cody, and Brian during that era, and they were Stellar Kart – named after a go-kart track that they thought was just stellar in California during a church youth camp trip. Their 2006 album “We Can’t Stand Sitting Down” was quite stellar with 3 back-to-back-to-back radio hits – including the middle hit – “Procrastinating”.

Next week it’s my # 13 hit, and it’ll be just so random.

SPOTIFY – You can hear “My Top 10 Hits” anytime by accessing my CountUp playlist on Spotify. All 10 hits are there from top to bottom. You can hear them in order from # 1 to # 10, or you can shuffle them. My playlist will be updated every weekend (usually before the actual chart is presented here on Mondays). You can link to it here.

Your likes, follows, and comments are always appreciated. Thank You for being part of my online ministry to share God’s Good News and win souls for Christ through His music. God used loud music on the radio in South Florida to reach me in August of 2006. I’ve been testifying about Him ever since.

Be blessed my friends !  May our God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

All rights reserved (c) 2026 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday August 16TH 2026, and this is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it. Let us celebrate this great new day of believing, following, trusting, loving, and being more like our Lord + Savior Jesus Christ. Let us love our neighbor as ourself.

Volume 9, Number 25, Edition 425
“20 Years Of Salvation – Part 1”

Last #SundayScripture I shared the YouTube video of the entire service of my home church from the week before (2 weeks ago). I led Communion, and I shared the start of my salvation story with my brothers and sisters of my church family.

But wait. As legendary radio commentator Paul Harvey famously said – let me share with you “the rest of the story”. I’ve shared it countless times before online and offline, and its worth sharing infinitely.

As those 5 months went by – August into September into October into November into December of 2006, and I was learning all about God from the radio and from Yahoo and Google – I realized that I could only go so far on this fantastic journey by myself. I was an orphan on this journey. God wanted me to be part of a family of believers. He wanted me to have brothers and sisters of a church family.

So – He used the radio again. Starting in December of 2006 – that radio station that I was listening to – day and night – they began promoting their upcoming birthday party concert at a local church in Homestead (where I lived). It was a rock concert inside a church ! I was thinking “What on Earth ? ! A rock concert ? Inside a church ? Is that even allowed ?” (I had never envisioned such a concept.)

I had been to countless rock concerts at big arenas all around South Florida in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties, but inside a church ? I had to check that one out. So – I made plans to attend that rock concert at that church. As I recall – it was a pay at the door concert. By the way – Manic Drive was the headliner of that concert. Anyone heard of Manic Drive ? They were quite big 20 years ago during the mid-2000s. I think they’re still together and active today.

So that date of that rock concert – inside that church – was Saturday January 20TH 2007. I’ll remember that date forever. It was exactly 5 months to the date of the start of my salvation. I had the guts to walk in to that church all by myself on that night after dark. Actually – God gave me the courage to do that. I didn’t know a single person there.

That rock concert was totally awesome. I could not believe that I could have so much fun singing and dancing and hands in the air like you just don’t care inside a church, and it was all about God, and it was all for God. But I noticed something interesting. I was perhaps the oldest person there. Everyone else looked like they were in their 20s or teens. I didn’t even see any parents there. I think the parents dropped off their kids at the front door of the church and then drove off somewhere peaceful and quiet.

Towards the end of the concert the host – who turned out to be a Youth Director – he was in his 20s – he thanked everyone for coming to the show, and he announced that the church building that we were in was not where Sunday morning service occurred. Sunday morning service was actually held a couple of miles away inside the new movie theatre. WHAT ? !

(I’ll continue this story – next #SundayScripture.)

All rights reserved (c) 2026 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
1990s Blogging Driving Geography Nature Travel Weather

The Volunteer State

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. My first trip into Tennessee occurred with my little brother exactly 34 years ago in early-August 1992. I picked him up at the conclusion of Advanced Space Academy at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville Alabama. The next morning (Saturday) we ventured on a fun road-trip northward along I-65 into Tennessee – starting with Nashville. Neither one of us were country music fans, but it was still fun to walk around Music City U.S.A. – even if it was only for a few hours.

From there we drove eastward along I-40 to Knoxville where we spent the night. The next morning (Sunday) we checked out the main tourist district of downtown Gatlinburg – not knowing much of anything about it. We saw the aftermath of the terrible downtown electrical fire that consumed much of an entire city block on the night of July 14TH 1992. The area still smelled like smoke some 3 weeks later.

The high-point of the road-trip (literally) was driving from Gatlinburg into Great Smoky Mountains National Park along U.S. 441 (Newfound Gap Road). We stopped at Newfound Gap Overlook which straddles the Tennessee / North Carolina state line at an elevation of 5,046 feet. From there we drove the 7-mile road up to Clingmans Dome (which also runs on both sides of the state lines, but mostly the North Carolina side). Once there we parked in the parking lot, and then we walked the steep (12%-grade) half-mile paved trail up to the top of the observation tower. (That was a tough walk going up – much easier coming down.)

The 45-foot concrete tower – built in 1959 – stands at the summit of Clingmans Dome – the highest point in Tennessee (but not North Carolina) at 6,643 feet. The tower actually stands just across the border in North Carolina. The summit itself is the third-tallest mountain east of the Mississippi River, and it’s the highest point along the Appalachian Trail.

The views can be spectacular from the tower (and even from the parking lot 330 feet lower than the tower) on sunny and clear days. I remember it to be very cool up there on that early August morning – in the low-to-mid-50s – about 25 to 30 degrees cooler than it was in Gatlinburg Tennessee and Cherokee North Carolina at both park ends of U.S. 441. Of course on many days you may not see much of anything – because you’re in the clouds. You’re on top of old Smoky.

Here’s a webcam from high atop Clingmans Dome – now named Kuwohi. (It was officially renamed to its ancestral Cherokee name on September 18TH 2024. Kuwohi means “mulberry place”.)

I hope to make it back to Gatlinburg – and Great Smoky Mountains National Park – and Newfound Gap Overlook – and Kuwohi – sometime on a future summertime road-trip – maybe in conjunction with a river cruise.

Subsequent trips to Tennessee were less impressive, as they were mostly Interstate drive-throughs to and from the Cincinnati Ohio area where my brother and his family lived for 6 years from 2013 to 2019.

I’ll soon be returning to Tennessee for my most extensive trip ever, as I fly to Chattanooga, embark an American Cruise Lines ship, and take a week-long journey along the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers into northern Alabama, southwestern Kentucky, and then back into Tennessee ending in – Music City U.S.A.

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll look back at past visits to “The Yellowhammer State” – the state where I was born – Alabama. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2026 Christopher M. Day, CountUp