Welcome back to #TravelThursday. I hit a milestone on my car a couple of Tuesday mornings ago less than a mile away from my home. I hit 12,000 miles on my odometer, and I did so on my 607TH day of owning it. That’s right – it took me almost 20 months to drive 12,000 miles. The national average for driving here in the U.S. used to be 12,000 miles per year, but a recent study by the Federal Highway Administration states that the average American now drives 14,263 miles per year. They actually break it down by state. Here in Florida we drive an average of 14,557 miles per year, or just slightly above the national average.
I obviously help to bring our average down a little bit. Last year (2021) I drove 8,672 miles, and that was up from the 6,395 miles that I drove in 2020. Pre-COVID I drove an average of 10,244 miles per year from 2015 to 2019. My 12-year average from 2003 to 2015 was 9,854 miles per year.
How do I know all of this ? Well I have a spreadsheet that tracks it all.
Since 2015 my most-driven month is September (by far). I’ve driven to and from North Texas twice in September. My least-driven month is May – with August as a close-second. My most-driven day of the week is Friday, and least-driven – Wednesday.
Incidentally it took me 40 days to drive the 1,000 miles from 11,000 to 12,000 on my odometer. It took me 72 days to drive from 10,000 to 11,000. I think it will take (at least) 72 days to make it to 13,000.
We’ll see what happens between now and June. I’ll keep you updated here on #TravelThursday. Let’s keep traveling together.
All rights reserved (c) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp
And now on #TravelThursday – something a bit different. For the past 19 weeks in a row I’ve been writing about 4 vacations that I experienced in November, January, March, and April. Well – I have no more vacations to write about. As I told some coworkers of mine last week – I am all vacationed out. This is the time of the year where I just need to settle in, relax at home, go to work, relax at home, go to work, etc., and accumulate new vacation time. Oh – and also write blog posts and sermons. I’ll be here for the long run. I’m not going anywhere for about 5½ months.
I was actually planning yet another vacation for early-June starting with my birthday. I considered another Carnival cruise to the Caribbean, and I also considered various short road-trips here in South Florida and over to Southwest Florida (Gulf Coast). Hotel rates are running much higher than normal – even for low season which we’re getting ready to enter. I think a lot of hotels are charging up to double (or more) what they’ve charged during previous low seasons (pre-COVID) – mostly because they can – because demand is high. Hotels lost a lot of money in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID, and now they are making their money back.
So #TravelThursday returns to its original format where I write about places I’ve been to before – not necessarily while on vacation. I’ll also write about places I’d like to visit – either again or for the first time. I’ll also write about some potential visits to some of our own local tourist attractions here in South Florida. I realized that I haven’t been to ZooMiami in 5 years, and Biscayne National Park in 6 years, and Vizcaya in 10 years.
Maybe I’ll take a quick day trip or two down into the Florida Keys – perhaps Marathon (about 70 to 75 miles from where I live). I already have a potential schedule of places to visit for 2 days of fun and food in Marathon including an overnight stay at a hotel.
Well – whatever happens – either virtually or physically – we’ll have some fun here on #TravelThursday. Let’s keep traveling together.
All rights reserved (c) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp
And now – Week 4 of my 4-week series on my 6-day / 626-mile road-trip adventure here in South Florida and also up in Central Florida.
Last #TravelThursday I wrote all about my fun family day at Legoland near Winter Haven in Central Florida. From there I proceeded over to U.S. 27 (my favorite highway in Florida – affectionately known as the Chris M. Day Retirement Highway – or the #CMDRH). My family did the same in two other vehicles. We said our “good-byes” in the parking lot of Legoland. I’ll see my brother, sister-in-law, and two nieces again – today. (More on that later.)
I stopped for Dinner at a place that I’ll probably be spending a lot of time at in the future (during retirement life) – Bob Evans in Sebring. Hopefully service greatly improves with future visits. I’ve eaten there a handful of times in the past, but this time service was the worst I’ve ever experienced.
I spent the night at a hotel in Lake Placid. That’s the other town that I’m eyeing for my future retirement / forever home. It’s very likely that I’ll purchase my forever home before I retire (maybe even later this year – but more likely next year). I’d begin to move things into my new home with each visit over a period of time.
My 6-day / 626-mile road-trip adventure ended the way it began 5 days earlier. I drove 3 hours to my workplace on the morning of Tuesday March 08TH 2022, and I worked much of the day. Then I went home and unpacked. That was the official end of another fun and successful vacation.
Next #TravelThursday I’ll write about my next vacation (which actually started yesterday). I’ll be spending 5 fun days hanging out with my family in the Dallas Texas area. Me and my brother – well we’re going to Wrestlemania !
I’m going to try to recap this vacation in a single blog post, but if I can’t fit it in 700 words or less (basically a 3-minute read) – then I’ll do a 2-part series.
I really want to get back to the original format of #TravelThursday where I write about a fun place I’ve visited (not necessarily while on vacation), or even a place somewhere in this world that I want to visit but haven’t done so yet. I think that’s the plan going forth after I write about this trip to and from Dallas Texas.
I thank you all for checking-out my blog and making #TravelThursday consistently my most-read blog post of the week (by far). Let’s keep traveling together.
All rights reserved (c) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp
And now – Week 3 of my 4-week series on my 6-day / 626-mile road-trip adventure here in South Florida and also up in Central Florida.
So my family flew in to South Florida (from North Texas) on a Thursday evening, and they arrived at their hotel at around Midnight. The next day – Friday – they did their own thing, as did I. (See my blog from last #TravelThursday.)
On Saturday March 05TH 2022 we spent the entire day together in Fort Lauderdale and adjacent Dania Beach. We enjoyed Breakfast at TooJay’s (one of my favorites). After that we went shopping at Five Below. (My nieces love that store.) From there we all proceeded over to the Broward County Convention Center where gymnasts from South Florida and beyond competed in various tournaments. My (almost) 12-year-old niece was one of the competitors from beyond – representing Allen Texas (near Dallas) – and she won awards. We were at the tournament for over 4 hours, and it was actually very interesting to watch. (I had never been to one before.)
That night we ate dinner at Lime Fresh Mexican Grill, and then we went shopping at T.J. Maxx. I had no idea that my sister-in-law absolutely loves that store. I think we spent over an hour there. I was bored after the first 10 minutes, but I was with my family, so that beats any other normal Saturday night for me.
The next day – Sunday – they did their own thing, as did I.
On Monday March 07TH we all cruised-up U.S. 27 (in 3 separate vehicles), and we all met at – LEGOLAND !
I’ve wanted to visit Legoland for the past decade, and just after opening time at 10 AM on that day I finally made it. (My family arrived about an hour later.)
Legoland greatly exceeded my expectations. I thought that I would just enjoy watching my nieces have lots of fun, but I had fun too. I even rode some rides including a scary rollercoaster !
My favorite part of Legoland is Miniland U.S.A. which features realistic Lego displays of various U.S. cities and their famous landmarks underneath several MASSIVE white canopy shade covers. You can walk around in this giant centerpiece of the park for a couple of hours enjoying it all and snapping photos all around.
I also appreciated the tribute to Cypress Gardens which was the original tourist attraction (and later theme park) at this location for almost 75 years starting in 1936 and peaking during the 1950s and 1960s. A portion of the original park has been preserved exactly as it used to be, and you can walk around and enjoy the sights and sounds of nature. Me and my brother actually visited Cypress Gardens on April 02ND 2005 when they had already converted over to a theme park (adjacent to the botanical gardens). We enjoyed the park during the day, and then we attended a Switchfoot concert that night at the park. The concert was quite memorable for us in that Switchfoot were at their mainstream peak back then, so a good crowd came to see them. Also a strong cold front had swept through the region during the day, so it turned cold just in time for the concert after dark. There were swarms of bugs flying around in the cold. It was quite eerie.
It was a fun day at Legoland. We were there from opening to almost closing. I would actually consider purchasing a limited annual pass to the park after I retire and relocate close to that local area. (It’s about an hour up the road from Sebring.)
Next #TravelThursday I’ll conclude my recap of this fun road-trip, and I’ll reveal the location of my next vacation (and series of blog posts).
All rights reserved (c) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp
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