Category: Driving

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Blogging Driving Travel

2,000 Miles

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.

All rights reserved (c) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

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

Weekend Kickoff Mini-Thoughts

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

All rights reserved (c) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

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Blogging Driving Travel

Driving In 2020

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.

All rights reserved (c) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

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Blogging Driving Military Nature Photography Travel Weather

A Cold Day In The Everglades

Back in November when I found out that The United States Secretary Of The Interior David Bernhardt made it free for life for U.S. Veterans to enter America’s National Parks, Wildlife Refuges, and other public federal lands – first of all I was extremely grateful. It’s probably the best gift that has ever been given to me as a Veteran. After all this is a gift that keeps on giving every single day – not just on Veterans’ Day.

I live between two U.S. National Parks – Biscayne National Park to the east – and Everglades National Park to the west. Both are about 10 miles away from my home. Biscayne does not charge an entry fee. It’s free for everyone. Everglades charges $30 per vehicle for a 7 consecutive day pass, or $55 for an annual pass. I no longer have to pay either fee. I’m free !

I actually got in to Everglades National Park for free during 2 consecutive winter seasons (2015-2016 and 2016-2017) when I worked out there as a volunteer (in uniform) giving tours at the NIKE Missile Site (HM-69). I worked 31 Saturdays out there showing hundreds of visitors from around the world a sampling of authentic military history from the mid-1960s to the late-1970s (when it was an active duty base out in the middle of the Park).

Back in November I said to myself that I would visit the Park on a cold day this winter season, and so last Saturday was that cold day. With temperatures in the upper-40s and lower-50s at dawn I entered the Park for the first time since my last Saturday working out there in March of 2017. It was like a homecoming for me. I actually drove the entire 38-mile main park road down to Flamingo on Florida Bay. It was my first visit there in nearly 7 years. I took a fun 90-minute organized boat tour up-and-down the waters north of Flamingo. I took the same tour almost 8 years ago.

After the boat tour I did a lot of walking all around Flamingo and then at a couple of stops along the way back up the main park road. I took a lot of pictures. I walked over 13,000 steps / 6 miles.

The Park was packed on that Saturday / day after Christmas. Everyone else had the same idea as me to visit during a rare cold South Florida day.

Now I need to figure out what my next fun cold day out will be here in my local area. Maybe Vizcaya ? (also free for life for U.S. Veterans)

All rights reserved (c) 2020 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries