Category: Geography

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Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday February 18TH 2024, and this is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it. Let us celebrate this great new day of believing, following, trusting, loving, and being more like our Lord + Savior Jesus Christ. Let us love our neighbor as ourself.

I enjoy looking back at my old blog posts – whether they are on Facebook (2013-2017), or right here on WordPress before and after those 4 years. It seems that I’m often on vacation during the Presidents’ Day Weekend here in the U.S.A. That’s when I discovered my new home here in the Heartland of Florida. I also bought my new home last year during this long holiday weekend.

On a previous Presidents’ Day Weekend – 16 years ago in 2008 – I wrote about a road-trip vacation over to Southwest Florida’s Gulf Coast (Fort Myers, Estero, and Naples. That was actually where I thought I wanted to retire back then. In fact – here’s what I wrote back then:

“I think it’s official now. The Orlando area is not where I wish to live when I retire in about 15 to 20 years. I think you’ll find me living peacefully and happily ever after over in the Fort Myers / Estero / Naples area sometime in the future.”

(My mind changed about the area about 7 years later.)

Before I drove over there – I attended a Sunday morning church service up in Weston that was actually a church plant of my home church at the time. Here’s how I described that experience exactly 16 years ago:

“After a short intermission Pastor Nathan got up on stage and began his teaching. It was all about ‘The Power Of Light & Love’. All of the lights went out. Darkness. A flashlight came on. Light at the end of the tunnel. Let there be light. All of the lights came back on. There is no more darkness, for we have been saved. We are chasing daylight. The secrets and the sins that we committed in the dark are in our past. This is a new Life for us. A life of light. Ephesians 5:8 (NLT, 2ND Ed.) illustrates the contrast between our past problems and our present privileges: ‘For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light !’ Ephesians 5:13 identifies the need to bring light to darkness: ‘But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them.’”

“From start to finish it was about an hour and 45-minute service. Pastor Nathan’s message was powerful. He inspired and encouraged us to continue moving further away from the darkness and forward into the light.”

    That was a good message for this young Christian in his 2ND year of salvation in Christ.

    My testimony is featured each week here on #SundayScripture whether it’s part of a sermon, or just me writing about the events of the past week. Hopefully it encourages you and inspires you to seek the Lord, and get closer to Him with each new day.

    If you wish to learn more about the God I know then stay tuned to #SundayScripture. The best is yet to come !

    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) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

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    Blogging Driving Geography Home Travel

    Home Is Where The Heartland Is

    Welcome back to #TravelThursday. It’s an anniversary week for me. It was exactly one year ago that I bought my current home here in the Heartland of Florida near Sebring. I bought my dream home in my dream neighborhood in my dream part of Florida. It’s my forever home. I expect to live here and enjoy retirement life here for the rest of my physical life here on Earth.

    This is the place that I drove through many times and eventually spent vacation time in for about 8 years – including several Presidents’ Day Weekends here in the U.S.A. I fell in love with the region. I decided that I wanted to move here after I retire. I narrowed it down from Lake Wales to Lake Placid (about 55 miles apart). I eventually settled on Sebring (right in the middle). I had my eyes on my current 55+ neighborhood when I was still 54. I waited until 2 days after my 55TH birthday to physically tour my likely new neighborhood with my Real Estate Agent. I bought my new home last Presidents’ Day Weekend.

    I still love everything about my new neighborhood and home county that I loved a year ago and during those 8 years of vacations. I’ve also become actively involved in my new neighborhood and community – something I never really did during my 36 years in South Florida. My footprint is all over Sebring, Avon Park, and the surrounding Highlands County region. I’m looking forward to contributing more time to make this an even greater place to live and visit and enjoy.

    Next #TravelThursday – I’ll reveal the first 2 stops on my upcoming retirement road-trip. One is in the Florida Panhandle, and the other is now the second-largest city in “The Yellowhammer State”. Let’s keep traveling together.

    All rights reserved (c) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

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    Blogging Driving Food Geography Nature Travel

    Lorida Florida

    Welcome back to #TravelThursday. There’s a place in the eastern part of my home county here in the Heartland of Florida – Highlands – that is actually in the lowlands – some 100 or more feet lower in elevation than the more populated U.S. 27 corridor in the western part of the county. That place is named Lorida, and it does not rhyme with Florida. It’s pronounced “Lor-EE-da”. It was formerly named “Cow House”, and “Istokpoga”. Lorida got its name in 1938.

    It’s not an incorporated city, town, or village. It’s a broad census-designated place right along U.S. 98 along the northern shore of Lake Istokpoga – one of the largest lakes in Florida. The lake is about 5 miles wide and 10 miles long. It’s very shallow with an average depth of about 4 feet. Boating and fishing are popular at this lake.

    About 1,700 to 1,900 residents call Lorida home.

    There’s a restaurant approaching Lorida (from Sebring) called Gator Shack. I’ve been there twice now. I went there last June late on a Sunday morning after church service for their highly-rated Fried Chicken lunch. It was spectacular, and I vowed to return for more of some of the best fried chicken I’ve ever tasted. I actually returned late last Wednesday morning, as they also offer their fried chicken on Wednesdays. Unfortunately – I found out after sitting down that it’s not available until after 4:30 PM on Wednesdays, so I got their big burger with swiss cheese and hand-cut fries. Both were delicious !

    Some day in the near future I’ll venture back there on a Sunday after church to enjoy their fried chicken again. And I’ll explore more of Lorida and Lake Istokpoga including the Highlands County Park on the lake.

    Next #TravelThursday – I’ll celebrate my first anniversary of selecting and purchasing my new home here in Highlands County. Let’s keep traveling together.

    All rights reserved (c) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

    Categories
    Blogging Geography Travel

    All Aboard !

    Welcome back to #TravelThursday. You know I love the sound of train horns in the distance. And in my new home in the Heartland of Florida I hear train horns from afar. When it’s really quiet outside (and inside my own home) – particularly at night – I can actually hear (and almost feel) the sound of the train as it moves along the track. Those are sounds that I never heard down in my former home in deep South Florida. (Trains didn’t go that far south.)

    Photo by Todd Trapani on Pexels.com

    At its closest point the active railroad track (used by AMTRAK and other trains) is just 2 miles to the north-northeast. My home office in the front of my home also faces in that direction, so when I’m sitting here at my desk writing this blog, or writing a sermon, or working on Excel spreadsheets – and I hear the train – it’s a beautiful sound, and it makes me wonder how many people are on that train, or what material and supplies are being hauled, and is it headed northward or southward. It’s a welcome distraction for a few minutes.

    FLASHBACK – I wrote about AMTRAK on the July 13TH 2023 edition of #TravelThursday.

    I want to ride a train sometime in the future to see America. There’s a vast part of our country that I’ve never seen before (such as California, and the Pacific northwest, and the Rocky Mountain states, and the Great Plains, and even most of New England.)

    There’s actually a train that does short sightseeing trips right here in the Heartland of Florida – Sugar Express. That would be a good start to see America – starting right here in my backyard. I may do it in March. That would make for a great #TravelThursday blog post !

    Next #TravelThursday – My Heart Will Go On. Let’s keep traveling together.

    All rights reserved (c) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp