Category: Food

Whataburger

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date December 8, 2021

I’m not much of a fast food consumer. In fact here at home I generally avoid all of the big fast food restaurants. (I don’t consider Starbucks or Panera as fast food; although, a case could be made that they are.)

They say “When in Texas – eat at Whataburger“. I don’t know who “they” are, but I understand it. There are hundreds (870+) Whataburger locations across the deep U.S. south – most of them (700+) in Texas. They were founded in Corpus Christi in 1950, and their corporate headquarters is in San Antonio.

There are actually 37 locations along the I-10 corridor of the Florida Panhandle eastward from Pensacola to Jacksonville and its beaches. My family used to live in Jacksonville and its suburbs. That’s when I discovered the Whataburger experience.

There’s nothing really special about the experience. They specialize in burgers and fries. They also serve chicken and fish sandwiches, sodas, shakes, and pies. It’s your typical fast food fare. The prices are comparable to all other fast food restaurants. I think the service is a little different in that you order and pay at the counter, and if you’re eating-in then they give you a numbered placard which you take to your seat. They then bring your order to you – no matter how small or large it is. They also bring you an entire tray of condiments, and then you select which ones you want.

I always try to remember to order the apple pie. They make it the way McDonald’s used to make it a long time ago – fried and piping-hot !

I didn’t get a chance to enjoy the Whataburger experience on my last few visits to North Texas, so I made it a point to do so on my recent visit. I ate once while there, and then I enjoyed an encore shortly after the start of my long drive home just after leaving Texas on the south side of Shreveport Louisiana. Both experiences were positive, and I was no longer hungry following my burger and fries meal.

You know I forgot to order the fried apple pie on my 2ND visit. I won’t make that mistake again next time.

Tags Whataburger

Blogging Driving Food Holidays Military Travel

My November Vacation 2021 Road-Trip

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date December 2, 2021

I have returned back home (where I belong) to Homestead Florida after 18 days on the road between here in South Florida (30 miles southwest of Miami) and my family’s home in North Texas (25 miles northeast of Dallas).

#TravelThursday continues now with a recap of my adventures and experiences along this extended multi-holiday road-trip. In fact I’ll be looking back on this road-trip for the next 7 Thursdays (starting today). I’ve got a lot to cover. I’ve got a lot to look back at with joy. If you’re interested in this trip then read on and stay tuned, for we’ll visit some fun places together (virtually).

Let’s get started – at the crack of dawn on Thursday November 11TH (Veterans Day here in the U.S.A.), as that’s when this road-trip commenced. I took Florida State Road 997 (known locally as Krome Avenue) onto U.S. 27 up the spine of the Florida peninsula. I refer to Krome and the southern portion of U.S. 27 as the #CMDRH. (That stands for the “Chris M. Day Retirement Highway” – for obvious reasons.)

Every military veteran knows that on Veterans Day you can pretty much eat for free at selected restaurants for Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner. Many restaurants offer free portions of meals (appetizers, desserts), and other restaurants offer assorted discounts. Denny’s and Bob Evans are two restaurant chains that offer free meals on Veterans Day. As I cruised up U.S. 27 into Central Florida I intended to stop at either restaurant – as long as the respective parking lot wasn’t jam-packed. I passed by about a half-dozen Denny’s and Bob Evans locations that were bustling with cars and people – even lines waiting to get in. An ideal situation would’ve been to eat at Denny’s for Breakfast (free) – and then Bob Evans for Lunch or Dinner (free). I finally found a Bob Evans with a few empty parking spaces at around 11 AM in Clermont, so that’s where Lunch was to be. After a short wait in line I enjoyed a nice, hearty, and delicious “Country-Fried Steak – Dinner Bell Plate”. #Yum

After my free meal at Bob Evans I continued up the road, over to the Nature Coast (“Big Bend”) of Florida, into the Panhandle, and just past Tallahassee for my first night’s pitstop. I drove 519 miles on Day 1 of my 18-day road-trip.

On Day 2 I took I-10 westward for another 180 miles to the Alabama state line. That’s right – it took me nearly 700 miles just to get out of Florida !

Incidentally driving through Pensacola along I-10 is never fun. It’s actually rather intimidating (for me). It’s a close call as to which stretch of I-10 in the Florida Panhandle is more challenging – Tallahassee or Pensacola. In both cases I-10 skirts the northern fringes of the cities (rather than traversing right through the middle of them). But due to the combination of local and Interstate traffic there’s a whole lot of merging going on, and merging traffic gives me anxiety attacks.

Rivaling both Tallahassee and Pensacola is I-10 through Mobile Alabama. I prefer to cruise the scenic route along Battleship Parkway (the concurrency of U.S. 90 / 98 which runs adjacent to and closer to the water than I-10).

I wrote about Mobile Alabama 4 weeks ago here on #TravelThursday. On this visit (on Friday November 12TH) I drove past a few more places that I’d like to spend some quality time at in the future – including the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park. I really need to return to Mobile and spend several days there exploring the attractions of the city on both land and sea. It would also be nice to spend more quality time with my friends there.

I did make a 90-minute stop in Semmes (a suburb northwest of Mobile). I think I know about a dozen people who live in or near Semmes who also lived in Homestead 10 years ago. I ate with one of those people. I enjoyed good Thai food and fellowship with one of my great friends. I’ve known her for nearly 15 years – since the first 3 minutes of my very first Sunday morning church service as a born-again Christian on January 21ST 2007.

And that’s where I’ll end Part 1 of this 7-part blog series. I’ll continue with my road-trip adventures and experiences next #TravelThursday. We’ll cruise-up U.S. 98 into Mississippi, and we’ll cross the state via old rural U.S. highways – over to the eastern bank of the mighty Mississippi River.

Tags Alabama, Florida

Blogging Food Holidays Home

Happy Thanksgiving Day

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date November 25, 2021

Tags Thanksgiving

Blogging Driving Food Nature Photography Scripture Shopping Travel

Wichita Falls Texas

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date September 23, 2021

#TravelThursday continues, and in this edition we return to one of my favorite cities in the great state of Texas – Wichita Falls. It’s one of my favorite cities for one main reason – I have 5 family members (and their pets) who live there. I visit them every year.

And if you haven’t already guessed by now – I was there last weekend ! #Vacation

I was there from last Thursday morning through Monday morning (96 hours). I spent quality time with family and pets, and we celebrated my Aunt’s & Uncle’s 65TH anniversary together with a quiet spaghetti dinner at home. (Normally we go out to eat dinner at a nice restaurant (usually a steakhouse) to honor the occasion, but this year we decided to go “low-key”.)

As I wrote about last #TravelThursday we embarked on our traditional Saturday road-trip of a few hours away from the metro area. We went eastward this time along U.S. 82. We stopped for Lunch along the way at Tres Niños – a Mexican restaurant in Nocona. It was pretty good. I enjoyed my plate of a sour cream chicken enchilada, a beef enchilada with chili, a guacamole tostada, rice, and beans. Eating Mexican food has become a tradition within the tradition. I didn’t know that we were going to eat Mexican food on our road-trip, but I had a pretty good idea of it. Once something works – we just keep doing it, and the tradition continues to grow.

Nocona is about 52 miles east of where we started on the south-side of the Wichita Falls area. (We previously visited Nocona on our 2015 road-trip.) From there we proceeded another 22½ miles southeastward to downtown Muenster Texas (our final destination for this road-trip). Muenster is a very German-Catholic town of a little over 1,600 residents. More than 90% of its residents are of German descent. It was founded by settlers 132 years ago. It’s named after Münster Germany. They host German festivals year-round, and tourists come to visit to enjoy the eating and drinking fun. Much of the architecture of Muenster looks very German:

That’s actually a Glockenspiel. Read more about it.

On the return trip back from Muenster we drove the backroads through “Wine Country” where multiple vineyards dot the picturesque hilly landscape. We also drove through the Henrietta area, and we visited a couple of large gift shops / “tourist traps” adjacent to gas stations along the highway. (This has also become a tradition of our road-trips.)

It was a fun 4-day visit to the #Texoma region along the Red River. The sights and sounds on the road were fun as usual. The food was abundant every day. But most importantly I got closer to my family there. Above all – family always comes first.

Join me next #TravelThursday as we visit another location on the face of this earth.

They keep you safe on your way, and your feet will not stumble. You can go to bed without fear. You will lie down and sleep soundly. You need not be afraid of sudden disaster or the destruction that comes upon the wicked, for the LORD is your security. He will keep your foot from being caught in a trap. (Proverbs 3:23-26 NLT)