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Wichita Falls Texas

#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)

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

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Blogging Driving Food Nature Photography Scripture Travel

Kansas

#TravelThursday continues, and in this edition we visit Kansas. But before we get there let me share this map of the 50 United States. All of the states that I’ve visited are colored green. That includes states that I’ve lived in, spent quality time in, visited, or simply drove through. It does not include states where I stayed inside an airport on a layover and never ventured outside. (I see you California.)

Visited States In Green

By the way you can create your own such map at amcharts.com/visited_states. You can share the final product on social media or download it. I tried to incorporate it into this blog post via the HTML coding, but it appeared to be non-compatible with this blog, so I simply downloaded it and then uploaded it on here.

So you can see that there are 21 states that I have not yet visited – or 42% of them. One of my goals – post-retirement in a few years – is to visit all of the rest of them.

In November of 2013 when I drove 1,003 miles from west of Wichita Falls Texas to north of Cincinnati Ohio 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.

I actually don’t know anyone who lives in Kansas. I don’t know much about Kansas other than the cities of Wichita and Topeka and of course the western portion of the Kansas City metro area. #GoChiefs

I know that there are lots of interesting places to visit in Kansas. I favor museums and parks, so I’ll be researching those and planning a future visit to “The Sunflower State”. I have family living in North Texas, so Kansas is just a little over 250 miles away. A Spring, Summer, or Autumn visit to Kansas sounds good. (I know how cold it can get in Kansas in the wintertime.)

Kansas – particularly the Kansas City area – is known for its slow-smoked barbecue. I’m a fan of it. Actually I’m a fan of any type of barbecue. I pretty much enjoy eating assorted meats cooked well-done on a grill. I could make myself at home at many Kansas BBQs and steakhouses.

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)

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

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Sunday Scripture

This past Friday – late in the morning – I was sitting at my booth at Buffalo Wild Wings awaiting the arrival of my traditional wings (with sweet BBQ sauce) and wedges, and I was listening to the random hits that were being played loudly on the sound system. (They have a really nice sound system in there.)

Suddenly – out of nowhere – “Child Of Love” from We The Kingdom began playing !

I let out a big smile. I even laughed a little bit. It’s a hit from my own chart earlier this year that spent 14 weeks in my Top 10, 8 weeks in my Top 5, and 6 weeks in my Top 3. I thought to myself, “How on earth did this song end up on Buffalo Wild Wings’ playlist ? !”

It hasn’t crossed-over to the (secular) pop charts (yet). Their debut hit – “Holy Water” – actually did cross-over early-on in 2020. It peaked at # 106.

Buffalo Wild Wings was fairly empty at the time (during the 11 AM hour), and perhaps I was the only one in the restaurant who recognized, acknowledged, and appreciated that song being played loudly. (I don’t think I’ve ever heard it played so loud before.)

“Child Of Love” tells the life-changing story of salvation. It tells my story from exactly 15 years ago:

♫ I was walking the wayside
Lost on a lonely road
I was chasing the high life
Tryna satisfy my soul

All the lies I believed in
Left me crying like the rain
Then I saw lightning from Heaven
And I’ve never been the same

I’m gonna climb a mountain
I’m gonna shout about it
I am a child of love
I found a world of freedom
I found a friend in Jesus
I am a child of love

I’ve felt the sting of the fire
But I saw You in the flames
Just when I thought it was over
You broke me out of the grave ♫

You know salvation can begin unexpectedly for anyone at anytime in anyplace. Most of us who are saved by our God’s great grace didn’t see it coming. For me salvation began on a dark 2-lane street in my city early in the morning as the first hint of daylight was appearing in the eastern sky. God used hit music to save me. Our God is powerful. He’ll even use Buffalo Wild Wings to save another lost soul.

I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and He turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair – out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground, and steadied me as I walked along. He has given me a new song to sing – a hymn of praise to our God. (Psalm 40:1-3a NLT)

Thank you for reading my blog for this day, and may:

The LORD bless you, and keep you.
The LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you.
The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. AMEN.

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

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Blogging Driving Food Photography Travel

My Summer Vacation 2021 Road-Trip

It’s Part 7 of my multi-part Thursday blog series on my recent 77-hour / (4-day / 3-night) / 472-mile road-trip spanning Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River, and Okeechobee Counties (in that order). It was my first extended visit ever along Florida’s Treasure Coast. While there I was always within about 5 miles of the Atlantic Ocean and the adjacent Indian River.

I awoke early on Day 4 – Saturday June 05TH 2021 – my 54TH birthday. In the weeks (even months) prior to this road-trip I had planned to enjoy a free birthday Grand Slam® breakfast at Denny’s, but they’ve actually changed things up over the past couple of years. Instead of simply walking-in to any Denny’s on the exact day of your birthday, telling them that it’s your birthday, showing them proof via your driver’s license, and then enjoying a free birthday Grand Slam® – now you have to be a part of their Rewards program, and receive a digital coupon for a free birthday Grand Slam® that you can utilize once anytime during your birthday month.

I decided to save my digital coupon from Denny’s for later in the month. Starbucks gave me a reward for any item on their menu free – good only on the exact day of my birthday – so it was off to Starbucks of Vero Beach for a quick small Breakfast.

After that it was a mostly uneventful drive home – down U.S. 1 – onto Florida State Roads 713 and 70, into Okeechobee County, around the eastern edge of the big lake, and then southward onto U.S. 27 and back into Miami-Dade County. I drove 180.2 miles home, and the total miles of the road-trip from start to finish was 471.8.

This was a fun yet well-planned road-trip. I planned it back in early-2018, and I scheduled it for the first week of June of 2018. I had to cancel it when a work-related road-trip to Georgia took precedence. Early this year I decided that this would be the year to take that road-trip, and so I scheduled it for the exact same 4-day / 3-night part of the first week of June. Most of the places that I visited were on my original 2018 itinerary. This was a road-trip where I wasn’t looking for potential part-time volunteer or employment opportunities post-retirement. I wasn’t driving around looking through potential future neighborhoods. I just wanted to visit new places that I’ve never been to before in my life, meet interesting people along the way, and enjoy some great food. I accomplished my mission.

Inside the Indian River Citrus Museum in downtown Vero Beach Florida

There are a lot of hidden treasures along Florida’s Treasure Coast – mostly along or within a few miles of the Atlantic coastline and the Indian River shoreline. I’ll definitely visit the area again to explore more. So far I’ve captioned and posted about 35 photos of this road-trip over on my Flickr site. I’ve got dozens more still to post, so I’ll be doing that for at least the next month. Check my Flickr often to see the newest photos.

And now it’s time to announce my next great Florida road-trip that begins in less than 100 days. It’s all planned-out. I’ll be driving up the spine of Florida along U.S. 27 up to Florida State Road 60, and then I’ll be heading westward into the Tampa area for one night. From there I’ll be heading southward along U.S. 41 (Tamiami Trail) into the Fort Myers area for one night. From there I’ll be heading southward and then eastward back into South Florida. I’ll be spending one night in Northwest Broward County before I return home on the afternoon of the 4TH day. It’ll be a nearly 650-mile road-trip from start to finish, and I’ll post all about it for many weeks after.

This concludes my 7-part series on “My Summer Vacation 2021 Road-Trip”. Actually it was an 8-part series, as I introduced it on the June 06TH 2021 edition of “Sunday Scripture”. You can utilize the calendar feature down at the bottom of this site to click on a previous Thursday if you missed any of the parts.

#TravelThursday continues next Thursday, as I plan to blog about Reykjavik Iceland.

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