Category: Driving

Spring Season Premiere

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date February 18, 2021

Happy Thursday February 18TH 2021. Weekends always start on Thursday mornings here on my blog. It’s also my Spring Season Premiere. My Winter Season Finale was quietly this past Monday, and now Spring is here – not astronomically (March 20TH) – not meteorologically (March 01ST) – but for the purpose of my blog’s calendar.

This morning I’m waking-up in scenic Lake Placid Florida right along historic U.S. 27 along the peninsular spine of Florida. Lake Placid is a fun small town of about 8,000 full-time residents within the town limits and the immediate surrounding area. I may be a future resident in a few years. I really like this part of South Central Florida.

I’ll be making my way southward this morning into Immokalee (first-ever visit) and then Everglades City before heading home this afternoon. Next Thursday here on my blog I’ll write all about my nearly 600-mile road-trip adventure. This was my version of Spring Break. Every year I take a week off from work in late-February or early-March or mid-April, and venture elsewhere in Florida to enjoy my state. I generally don’t do so during traditional Spring Break when thousands of college kids from the north descend on my state to enjoy our beaches and theme parks. I have my fun before or after they have their fun.

My blogging continues tomorrow with another edition of RETRO – from February 1991. Then it’s Sunday Scripture where I’ll continue my sermon series leading-up to Resurrection Sunday from the Gospel Of John – Chapter 18. Finally on Monday it’s my brand new Top 10 hit music chart.

Thank You for checking-in this weekend. I enjoy blogging, and I’m happy that you’re part of my journey.

Blogging Driving Travel

2,000 Miles

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date February 11, 2021

This past Sunday afternoon as I was driving through the main entrance of my neighborhood following church service and church fellowship at Red Lobster I hit 2,000 on my odometer of my new car – in my 178TH day of driving it.

I previously hit 1,000 miles in my 116TH day, so it took me 62 days to drive the next 1,000 miles. That’s an average of a little more than 16 miles per day over these past 62 days.

I’ll reach 3,000 miles even faster than that. In fact I should do it in a little more than half that time. I’m forecasting the 3,000-mile mark on or around The Ides Of March (15TH).

I won’t be doing any driving in that area in the photo. We don’t have snow-capped mountains here in South Florida, and the “mountains” that we do have a couple hundred miles north of here along the narrow spine of peninsular Florida (the Lake Wales Ridge) only rise to about 200 to 300 feet above sea level. I’ll be driving along the southernmost portion of that spine during the next 1,000 miles.

1980s Blogging Career Driving Health History Military News Television Travel Weather Wrestling

Weekend Kickoff Mini-Thoughts

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date January 28, 2021

It’s Thursday, and it’s the start of a fresh new weekend of blogging. Longtime readers of my blog will know that this was once a Thursday night tradition. I only do this every once in a while these days. It’s my ‘Mini-Thoughts’ – a rapid-fire session of random thoughts on my mind right this minute:

I got my first dose of the Moderna COVID vaccine a couple of days ago.
Right now only Seniors are getting in Florida.
I work for the military, so I was lucky to get it early.
My second dose will be in 4 weeks.
I got the COVID vaccine 18 days after getting the Shingles vaccine.
That was my second of two doses of the Shingles vaccine.
I am not an “anti-vaxxer”.
I didn’t know there was such a thing as an “anti-vaxxer” until recently.
Some don’t get vaccines because they believe they do more harm than good.
Some don’t get vaccines because it’s against their religious beliefs.
Getting vaccines are a personal choice for each individual.
I neither promote nor denounce vaccinations to anyone.
I recently signed-up for the Discovery Plus streaming service.
If I’m not careful I can easily binge-watch shows on it for many hours.
Looks like I’ll soon sign-up for Peacock as it absorbs WWE Network.
I also like to “Hulu & Hibernate”.
I don’t “Netflix & Chill”.
I’m looking forward to my upcoming Florida road-trip.
Looks like I’ll cover about 575 miles in 5 days.
I’ll blog all about it after I return home.
Looks like I’ll drive more miles this month than 7 months last year.
Next month I’ll drive more than twice as many miles as this month.
It’s been a chilly winter here in South Florida.
I was shivering in December and the first-half of January.
I think it’s our coldest winter since 2010-2011.
Recently we’ve enjoyed a few days in the 80s for the first time in 2021.
But it’s gonna get chilly again starting today.
50s in the morning is chilly for us.
We’ve had 7 mornings in the 40s since the start of December !
Exactly 35 years ago today the Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated.
It occurred right after I got home from work (in England).
I think I watched BBC coverage of it for the rest of the night.
Exactly 2 years ago today I was in the middle of the Caribbean on a cruise.
We were supposed to spend the day on Grand Cayman Island.
But we couldn’t reach the island due to ferocious northerly winds.
A strong cold front had made it deep into the Caribbean.
It was an unusually chilly day on the islands and at sea.
So we had an “extra fun day at sea”.
I can’t wait to get back on a cruise next year.
Here’s my towel animal from exactly 2 years ago:

Towel Animal

Blogging Driving Travel

Driving In 2020

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date January 7, 2021

I drove a modest 6,395 miles during the unique leap year that was 2020. That’s an average of just shy of 17.5 miles per day. As it turns out December was a slightly above-average month – only the 5TH such month of 2020. I drove 562 miles in December – the most since June and July when I went on a 9-day / 1,690-mile road-trip between South Florida and South Alabama that straddled both months. December was in fact my first normal month of day-to-day local driving since February. I actually drove more miles in December (562) – than I did during the 97 days from March 20TH to June 24TH (547) !

My 5-year average from 2015 to 2019 was 10,237 miles per year. I expect 2021 to be closer to that total. I’m currently planning my road-trips for 2021. I’ll be visiting South Central and Southwest Florida in March, and possibly North Texas in November. More road-trips are still to be determined, and I usually share those with you here on this blog after they occur. Hopefully 2021 is a more normal year overall than 2020 was.

Finally – I filled-up with gas 19 times in 2020, and I paid an average of $2.169 per gallon. That’ll skyrocket in 2021. I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw $3 per gallon gas prices again later this year.