Category: Driving

Travel & Weather Together

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date January 30, 2025

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. It’s a fun post today – probably more fun than educational or informative. I hope to get out around the region and explore some of our museums and historical attractions in the coming weeks and months so that I can write about them here.

For this post I’ll write about the local traffic and weather here in Sebring over the past few months. Let’s start with traffic. Firstly – I lived in Miami-Dade County in South Florida for 36+ years, and before that – I lived in the Washington D.C. area for 16+ years. Aside from 2 years of living in Southern England (rural Gloucestershire) in the mid-1980s – traffic here is the most reasonable (and lightest) of my entire life. Sure – we have issues. With no Interstates, Expressways, Turnpikes, etc. anywhere near here – U.S. 27 is our main thoroughfare. My neighborhood’s front entrance is directly off U.S. 27. It’s a local commercial road. It’s a regional road. It’s a major continental highway that runs over 1,350 miles from northeastern Indiana (historically Michigan) to Miami Florida.

On the local Facebook pages the “accident of the day” is posted – complete with scary photos from different angles. All of the usual keyboard warriors immediately fire up their fingers and post the same diatribes about how growth is out-of-control in Sebring, there are no police in sight until after-the-fact, people are texting on their cell phones instead of paying attention to driving so they are running stop signs, red lights, swerving, and speeding, and of course the old standby – the snowbirds visiting from up north are driving too slow and causing all of the accidents. Apparently – everyone is causing the accidents except for the ones on Facebook. (I always head straight for the comments.)

Google defines snowbird as – “a northerner who moves to a warmer southern state in the winter.”

The fact of the matter is that some of those things are true, and others are just plain nonsense. Locals (year-rounders) cause most of the accidents here – not snowbirds. Even in the summertime when the snowbird population is near zero and traffic volume is half (or less) of what it is during the wintertime – we still have the “accident of the day” posted on Facebook.

So YES – traffic on U.S. 27 can be tricky and trying at times, but it is no U.S. 1 in South Florida.

Fun Facts: The southern terminus of U.S. 27 is at U.S. 1 in Midtown Miami Florida. If there were mile marker posts along U.S. 27 – then Mile Marker 168 would appear very near the front entrance of my neighborhood.

As far as weather is concerned – we definitely participated in winter this season (again). Last season (strong El Niño) was mostly cloudy, rainy, and chilly, and this season (weak La Niña) was mostly clear, sunny, and chilly. Historical record-breaking snow fell across most of the Florida Panhandle – up to 10 inches in spots – during a rare January 20TH-21ST Gulf Coast snowstorm from Texas to Florida. Here in Sebring – we experienced an extended cold light rain in the low-to-mid-40s during the event. We were actually stuck in the 40s for 46 continuous hours ! (Tampa was stuck in the 40s for 70 hours in a row !)

Our lowest average high temperature of the entire year is slightly above 70°F (21°C), and our lowest average low temperature of the entire year is slightly above 50°F (10°C). So – a below-average (cool) day is a high below 70° and / or a low below 50°. We’ve experienced 41 cool days so far this winter (since the latter part of November). That’s 19 days when we didn’t reach 70°F, and 39 nights when we dropped below 50°F. (Last winter season we experienced 38 nights below 50°F, so we’ve already surpassed that number.)

Weather statistics are courtesy of the National Weather Service for Sebring Regional Airport (adjacent to Sebring International Raceway) – which sits at an unusual location and elevation in that it is off of the Lake Wales Ridge. It is anywhere from 60 to 120 feet below the elevation of where most of the people live here in the local area. As a result – the airport is occasionally warmer than most of the area, or cooler than most of the area depending on local weather conditions at the time.

Later today – I’m headed a couple of miles up the road to the Avon Park campus of South Florida State College to enjoy a music concert. I also plan to check out the adjacent Museum of Florida Art And Culture. I’ll write about it – next #TravelThursday. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Des Moines, Iowa, Kansas

Blogging Driving Food Geography History Travel

Iowa

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date January 23, 2025

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Back in September 2021 I posted a map of our 50 United States. All of the states that I’ve visited were colored green. That includes states that I’ve lived in, spent quality time in, visited, or simply drove through. It did not include states where I’ve stayed inside an airport on a layover and never ventured outside. (I see you California.)

The map (an updated one) is still the same today. There remain 21 states that I have not yet visited – or 42% of them. One of my goals (now that I’m retired) is to visit the rest of them. But that probably won’t happen.

An interesting note about Kansas (which I wrote about in 2021) is the fact that I came within about a tenth of a mile of the Kansas state line while driving on I-44 from Oklahoma into Missouri. That’s right – I-44 misses the southeastern corner of Kansas by about 550 feet !

But this post is about Iowa (as the title suggests). I’ve never been to Iowa, and that’s the point of this post. I’d like to visit “The Hawkeye State”. It intrigues me. I want to check out the historical museums and tourist areas in and around Des Moines – Iowa’s capital and largest city. About 210,000 residents call Des Moines home (including a longtime friend of mine), and almost 750,000 residents live in its metropolitan area. Des Moines is located in Polk County – named after President James Knox Polk – who served from 1845 to 1849.

Fun Facts: There are 12 Polk Counties across the U.S.A., and 10 of them are named after President Polk. One (in Missouri) is named after his grandfather. One (in North Carolina) is named after a cousin. I live about 8 miles from Polk County Florida.

The Salisbury House & Gardens looks especially inviting in Des Moines, as does the State Historical Museum Of Iowa. I see lots of photo opportunities at both places, and I think that my Flickr site needs an Iowa album.

Des Moines is about a 1,400-mile drive from home, so I’d fly to Des Moines International Airport (#DSM), stay at a local hotel, and rent a car (or take Uber everywhere). I must try one of those deep-fried pork tenderloin sandwiches !

Next #TravelThursday – It’s your Travel & Weather Together – LIVE from Sebring Florida. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Des Moines, Iowa, Kansas

1970s Blogging Driving Geography Home Travel

From Bowie To Lanham

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date January 16, 2025

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. This is a change-of-pace edition. I’m reminiscing about what me and parents were doing exactly 50 years ago – back in January of 1975. I was in the 2ND grade at the time in Catholic School in Seabrook Maryland (adjacent to Lanham). My dad worked in downtown Washington D.C. at a life insurance company at 2020 M Street NW. (I can’t believe that I still remember that.)

Early in 1972 we moved from Greenbelt Maryland (adjacent to Lanham) to Bowie. Our brand-new house in Bowie was located about 15 miles away from our apartment in Greenbelt. After 3 years in Bowie – my dad got tired of the long rush-hour drives to and from downtown Washington via John Hanson Highway (U.S. 50). I remember some of those rush-hour traffic back-ups. My dad would take me with him to his office sometimes.

My dad had enough of it. By the end of 1974 he realized that perhaps he made a mistake by moving us out to Bowie. He looked at a brand-new neighborhood being built in Lanham directly behind the apartment complex that we lived in for 3 years before 1972. It even had an elementary school right in the middle of it. He and my mom found the perfect house under construction on the street behind that school. I think it cost $59,900 at the time. He bought it. We moved in 50 years ago next month. I attended 3RD, 4TH, 5TH, and 6TH grades at that school. I think it was the only time that I actually enjoyed going to school. I have lots of vivid memories of my friends, my teachers, and my classrooms from that era.

My dad’s parents – my grandparents – lived just a mile up the road from both our apartment before 1972, and our house starting in 1975. By the time I was 12 and 13 – I was riding my bike on my own to and from my grandparents’ house – just to visit them.

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll write about a U.S. state that I’ve never been to before. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Bowie, Greenbelt, Lanham, Maryland, Seabrook

Animals Blogging Bugs Driving Geography Holidays Home Nature Travel

Archbold Biological Station

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date January 9, 2025

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. There’s a large tract of land directly to the north of my neighborhood that’s unspoiled raw Florida scrub. I have a great view of it out my second-floor side and front windows. I bet it looks exactly the same now as it did 25 – even 50 years ago – probably even more than that. It’s what my neighborhood probably looked like before 1985 – when the land was cleared, and construction began. I love living on the other side of our perimeter fence from that scrub. I often stare at it for minutes – watching the nature and the wildlife that prospers there. It’s like living right next door to a nature preserve. I hope it stays like that for the rest of my life.

A couple of Wednesdays ago on New Year’s Day Morning I had the opportunity to finally visit the Archbold Biological Station 30 miles away down in the southern end of my home county – Highlands. It’s about a mile-and-a-half west of U.S. 27, so I’ve driven by it dozens of times. It was my first time there. For several years I thought that it was closed to the general public, but then I realized that they actually have a small Learning Center there along with public nature trails nearby.

They hosted a “First Day Hike” along some of the private (unmarked) nature trails (for research use only). I figured I’d be 1 of 5 visitors to participate early on the first morning of 2025, but surprisingly there were at least 25 of us (several families with children) along for the hike through the protected Florida scrub. Our tour guide pointed out various insects, birds, animal tracks, and vegetation along the sandy trails. We walked through prescribed burn areas, as well as non-burn areas.

Our part of South-Central Florida is the oldest land south of the Florida Panhandle. A long time ago – back when sea levels were as much as 150 feet higher than they are now – only this area – the narrow high spine of Florida – was above water – as a series of islands – resembling today’s Florida Keys. Everything to the south, east, and west was the sea. The sand that dominates our landscape – visible from space – is ancient sand leftover from that era. Some of our vegetation can be found nowhere else in Florida. I guess I don’t need to explain how Highlands County got its name.

It was a fun “First Day Hike” through the scrub. We walked about a mile-and-a-half total during the informative 2-hour tour. It was a great way to start the new year in an educational and physical way.

Next #TravelThursday – It’s a change-of-pace. I’ll do a little bit of reminiscing. I’ll write about me and my family getting ready to make a move 50 years ago. Let’s keep traveling together.