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Blogging Driving Geography Health Home Travel

Driving & Walking In 2025

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Now that I’m done recapping my 10-day Texas Thanksgiving experience with family it’s time to move on to other travel topics.

Last year I drove a total of 6,210 miles. That’s an average of 17 miles per day. Half of those miles occurred between January 01ST and May 27TH. Almost 70% of those miles occurred during the first 6 months of 2025. June was by far my most traveled month. I drove 1,166 miles in June – including 2 trips to and from my former hometown of Homestead Florida. I closed on the sale of my longtime (30-year) home on June 30TH, and I haven’t been back since. From July 01ST to December 31ST (final 6 months) I only drove 1,910 miles, for an average of a little over 10 miles per day. I drove under 500 miles per month for all 6 months – and under 300 miles per month for 4 of the 6 months. The 6,210 miles driven surpassed only 2022 (by just 66 miles). It was likely my 2ND-least driven year over the past 37 years of driving in Florida. The outlook for 2026 is much less driving – probably less than 4,000 miles.

And now on to my walking in 2025. I wear my Apple Watch 24/7 – except for when I’m taking a shower, or I’m sitting down and recharging it. I got my Apple Watch as a #ThanksChristmasGiving gift in 2022 (IYKYK).

So – I now have 3 full years of data. And for the 3RD consecutive year – I came close, but I did not reach 1,000 miles by foot. I fell short in 2025 at 966.70 miles. That’s compared with 964.71 in 2024, and 995.64 in 2023. My goal is to reach 1,000 miles in 2026. If I can average 2.74 miles per day – then I will achieve that goal. I surpassed 2.74 miles per day last January, February, March, April, November, and December. It’s those 6 months in the middle that I need to increase my walking. Maybe I should try some “mall walking” before the stores open.

I walked around my neighborhood 117 times in 2025 for a total of 142 miles. That represented not quite 15% of my total walking in the year. So – over 85% of my walking was just me walking around and doing things.

Any other Excel spreadsheet nerds out there ?

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll have lunch on the train. 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 468

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 February 01ST 2026 – the 468TH week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 6 3 Where Would I Be
[1ST week @ # 1]		 Peter Burton
2 7 3 Finished Caleb & John
3 2 16 How Good It Is Chris Tomlin
4 3 17 Dusty Bibles Josiah Queen
5 4 27 Can’t Steal My Joy Josiah Queen X Brandon Lake
6 8 3 Homesick For Heaven Phil Wickham
7 5 5 Heaven On My Mind TobyMac
8 9 2 The Love I Have For You Colton Dixon
9 1 13 World On Fire for King + Country Ft. Taylor Hill
10 – 1 Make It Well MercyMe

# 1 This Week In:
2025 – “Running Back To You” – Seph Schlueter
2024 – “I Believe” – Phil Wickham
2023 – “Who I Am” – Ben Fuller
2022 – “Weary Traveler” – Jordan St. Cyr
2021 – “Every Step Of The Way” – Cade Thompson
2020 – “Rescue Story” – Zach Williams
2019 – “Nobody Loves Me Like You” – Chris Tomlin
2018 – “Gracefully Broken” – Matt Redman Ft. Tasha C. Leonard

CALEB & JOHN – Crino & Secker – better known as Caleb & John – are back with their 3RD hit, and it’s another smash, as “Finished” skyrockets 5 notches this week from # 7 to # 2. Their first 2 hits were both long-running # 1 smash hits, and they are 2 of my biggest hits over the past 9 years. “Hallelujah Feeling” is my # 1 smash over the past 468 weeks, and “Somebody Like Me” is my # 7 hit over that same time. (That’s out of 427 charted hits.) We’ll see if “Finished” can ascend to the top of my chart in the weeks to come.

ONE-HIT WONDER – Brooke Ligertwood and Brandon Lake are hardly one-hit wonders. Two of Hillsong Worship’s songs were on my chart in 2017 and 2018 where Brooke sang lead – “What A Beautiful Name” and “Who You Say I Am”. And then of course there are Brandon’s 11 hits since 2020. In 2022 Brooke and Brandon came together for a song titled – “Honey In The Rock”. It was a minor hit on my chart in May 2022, but nationally it was a bonafide sinaglong smash on the radio. K-LOVE played it in heavy rotation for many months, and they still play it occasionally. It’s the only time Brooke appeared on my chart as a solo artist.

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 February 01ST 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.

Today is the coldest Sunday morning of my 19-years of driving to my church body. We’re in the mid-20s (Fahrenheit) this morning with wind chills in the mid-teens. When our church gathering ends at 11:30 AM today – we may reach the 40° mark. That sounds normal for practically anywhere in North America – aside from South Central Florida where I live !

It’s also Communion Sunday at my home church. I’ll be leading Communion right after 4 songs of Praise + Worship. By the way – we broadcast our entire Sunday morning church service from start to finish on our YouTube page. Our services start at 10:30 AM U.S. East Coast time, and they usually run to just past 11:30 AM. (They are also available on demand after airing.)

My Communion today is based on Acts 26:13-18, Romans 10:13,15, and: “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.” (Mark 16:15)

I’ve been asked about politics being preached. I don’t do it. My first Pastor of 8 years pretty much avoided it. My second Pastor of 9 years did it a bit too much, and it alienated members of the church. Whether it was overt or less obvious – it made some of us uncomfortable even if there was just a hint of political views sprinkled into the sermon. My current Pastor avoids it, and I appreciate that.

As a general rule I don’t discuss politics with anyone. I don’t wish to know what anyone’s political views are – even if I may agree with them. I don’t want to know anyone’s thoughts about any politician. Politics divides. Politics ends friendships and relationships. Politics can get you hurt or worse.

I believe that – as a Pastor or a Preacher or an Evangelist from the pulpit or the altar or from behind a keyboard – if you’re talking or writing about politics – then you’re not talking or writing about God. I’m a Preacher of God’s Good News.

My testimony is featured each week here on #SundayScripture – whether it’s part of a sermon, a testimony, or just me writing about the events of the past week. Hopefully it encourages you and inspires you to seek the Lord – and get closer to Him with each new day.

If you wish to learn more about the God I know – then stay tuned to #SundayScripture. The best is yet to come !

Thank you for reading my blog for this day, and may:

The LORD bless you, and keep you.
The LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you.
The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. AMEN.

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

Categories
Blogging Driving Food Geography Holidays Home Travel

Homeward Bound

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. I returned home from North Texas 54 days ago. This is Part 8 of 8 – the conclusion of my recap of my 10-day experience with my family for Thanksgiving and the week after.

After my gate at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (#DFW) changed from B18 to B17 to B14 to B11 in less than 2½ hours – it changed once again – to D2. That’s right – a completely different terminal !

I got the text message from American Airlines (#AA), and others sitting at the gate obviously got the same text message at the same time, as we all reacted pretty much the same way. We were aggravated, but there was no time for aggravation because boarding would begin in just 38 minutes at a gate far away from there. We all got up, gathered our carry-on bags, and walked briskly to the nearest Skylink (automated people mover) station to reach the new terminal and gate. Of course – Gate D2 was perhaps as far away as possible from the Terminal D (Gates 1-22) Skylink station (and pretty much all other “D” gates). We all made it to the new gate, and we all got good exercise doing so. Strangely – a lot of people were already at that gate, and it looked like they had been there for a while. They obviously knew about Gate D2 long before many of us did.

After a brief respite it was time to board the aircraft to Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport (#SRQ). As with the incoming flight 10 days earlier – the outgoing flight was not quite full, but close to it. There was plenty of space available in the overhead bins, and the middle seat next to mine was vacant. I had a window seat 3 rows from the rear, and I stared out at the sky towards the NNE for much of the flight. Once at cruising altitude I ate a couple of Pop-Tarts, and then I enjoyed the Lotus Biscoff cookies that are handed out on most #AA flights. Additionally – the flight attendants gave us a bag of pretzels. Two complimentary snacks at the same time !

I also enjoyed a cup of black coffee to go with my multiple snacks. Their coffee has always been delicious, but now it appears that they are in the process of switching / upgrading to Lavazza‘s premium coffee blends. That should be available on my next flights later this year.

The flight from #DFW to #SRQ took a normal route ESE across Louisiana and the Gulf straight into Florida – landing more than 10 minutes early. It took a while (longer than normal) to retrieve my baggage at the carousel. (Mine was one of the last bags to appear.)

After that I went to the wrong location to pick-up the shuttle bus to the parking area. I went to the area for hotel shuttles. I blame that on a lack of clear and proper signage. I eventually figured it out on my own due to no available help from anyone who worked at the airport – inside or outside. The shuttle bus driver took me to the secluded parking lot over near the control tower off Tamiami Trail (U.S. 41). There were two vehicles remaining in that temporary overflow parking lot (which was obviously closed for new parking), and mine was obviously one of the two.

The 78-mile drive back home was uneventful – taking me 1-hour and 49-minutes through Sarasota-Bradenton suburbia and into the countryside and up into the hills. I had to deal with a few slow drivers in front of me and a few tailgaters behind me. I arrived home at 7:26 PM on Saturday December 06TH 2025. My 10-day and 6½-hour Thanksgiving trip to and from Wylie Texas was complete. I enjoyed refreshing my memory and writing about it over the next 2½ weeks following my return. (I completed this post on Christmas Eve.) I hope that you enjoyed reading about it over the past couple of months.

As for my next trip to visit family – that may occur in less than 3 months. As for next Thanksgiving – I’ll likely revert back to tradition and fly out 8 days before the holiday (instead of the night before) – and I’ll return back home on the night after the holiday (#BlackFriday). Or maybe I’ll do something completely different and stay home for the Thanksgiving holiday and instead visit my family during the week leading-up to Christmas. I’ll figure it all out in a few months. #StayTuned

How was my driving in 2025 ? I’ll look back at it – next #TravelThursday. Let’s keep traveling together.

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