Category: Geography

2023 – Year In Review

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date January 4, 2024

Welcome back to #TravelThursday, and the first edition of 2024. It’s going to be a big year of travel for me as I settle-in to life as a retiree. I’ve got a long open-ended road-trip that I’m starting to plan for the month of April. I know I’m leaving on the morning of April Fool’s Day, but I don’t know when I’m returning home. (That’s why I’m calling it “open-ended”.) I’ll be writing about this road-trip a lot – before, during, and after – here on #TravelThursday, so buckle-up if you’re going along for the virtual ride.

#ButFirst it’s the continuation of my recap of 2023. I drove 11,721 miles in 2023. That’s the most number of miles driven over the past 9 years (since I’ve driven 1 of 3 Honda Civics). It’s also the most number of miles driven since 2004 (when I drove a new Saturn Ion 3 Quad Coupe 4D). How do I know all of this ? I keep accurate records via Excel Spreadsheet – more so now than in the past. I exceeded 1,000 miles in 8 out of 12 months – with January, September, November, and December being the exceptions. All of those miles were fueled by my 20 trips to my new home near Sebring Florida – and my 19 trips back to my longtime home in Homestead Florida. (Each trip was about 185 miles each way.)

My next 1,000-mile month will be in April, and in fact it will likely be a 2,500-mile month. It has the potential of being a 3,000-mile month – depending on the duration of my road-trip.

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll conclude my “Year In Review”, and I’ll reveal if I was able to walk 1,000 miles in 2023. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Florida, Highlands, Homestead, Sebring

Blogging Driving Geography Home Travel

2023 – Year In Review

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date December 28, 2023

Welcome back to #TravelThursday, and the final edition of 2023. It’s been a crazy year – even a life-changing year for me. It all changed on the morning of February 16TH 2023 when I drove 3 hours north from Homestead (my home since December 1987) to Highlands County Florida. I checked-in with my Real Estate Agent at her office in downtown Lake Placid (who I had met in June 2022), and we drove up the road to Sebring. We drove into my new neighborhood – which I had confirmed (to her and myself) – would be my new neighborhood when I toured it with her just 2 days after my 55TH birthday in 2022. (It’s a 55+ senior community.)

Long story short – I bought my dream home in my dream neighborhood in my dream part of Florida. The area that I had been driving through, and visiting, and vacationing occasionally for 8+ years, and stating that it would be my future retirement home – had become reality. It’s one of countless miracles for me from my Lord + Savior Jesus Christ. He knows the plans He has for me. They are plans for good and not for disaster – to give me a future and a hope.

I love reading (some of) my old Facebook blog posts from 2015, and 2016, and 2017 (before I returned here to WordPress) when I wrote about retiring in Highlands County and other adjacent areas.

Here’s what I wrote on February 09TH 2015:

“I’m embarking on another classic sightseeing road-trip vacation next weekend. I’ll cover about 575 miles of South, Southwest, and South Central Florida as I visit Fort Myers, Lake Placid, Sebring, and Lake Wales – all of which are currently in the running for my future retirement location. U.S. 27 is pretty much my main north-south route now from the Miami-Dade / Broward County Line straight-up past the Orlando area. I really like the classic route as well as all of the small historic towns along the way. It’s “Forgotten Florida” along the spine of the peninsula some 100 to 250 feet above sea level / both coasts on either side – lots of scenic hills and lakes.”

(I soon eliminated Fort Myers and eventually Lake Wales from consideration.)

I moved-in and closed on my new home on March 15TH 2023, and ever since then I’ve been driving back-and-forth between Homestead and Sebring. (I still have my Homestead home.)

Each trip northward is an “A” trip, and each trip southward is a “B” trip. I’m currently on “20A” – my 20TH trip to Sebring since buying my new home. “20B” occurs on January 02ND 2024 when I return to Homestead for 6 days and 5 nights. It’s 1 of 4 remaining trips to Homestead until I retire.

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll continue my “Year In Review”, and I’ll reveal if it was a record-breaking year of driving for me in 2023. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Florida, Highlands, Homestead, Sebring

Astronomy Blogging Geography Home Travel

The Sun

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date December 21, 2023

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. One of my all-time favorite lyrics in a song is from R.E.M. in “Stand” when they sang – “If you are confused – check with the sun. Carry a compass to help you along.” It was a quirky song with nerdy lyrics, so that explains why I immediately related to it.

I am not confused. I know exactly which direction I’m standing, or driving, or flying – simply by checking with the sun (or moon) and noticing in which direction the clouds are moving. I don’t need a compass. I don’t need a road sign. A sense of direction is a gift that God blessed me with.

Today (and tomorrow) is the First Day of Winter here in the Northern Hemisphere, and it’s the First Day of Summer in the Southern Hemisphere. The Sun reaches its southernmost point above the Earth along the Tropic of Capricorn (23.4394° south latitude) where it’s directly overhead today at 10:27 PM U.S. East Coast time. (So that’s actually December 22ND across much of the world.)

It’s the shortest day of the year and the longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, and it’s the reverse in the Southern Hemisphere. Here in the north sunrises continue occurring later in the morning well into January. But our earliest sunsets of the year already occurred 1 to 3 weeks ago (depending on your latitude), so the Sun is actually staying up later each evening. Starting tomorrow – the days will start to get longer.

The front of my new home (at 27.5436° north latitude) faces almost (but not quite) due NE out front, and of course almost (but not quite) due SW out back. During much of the year the sun’s rays enter my home office (where this blog is written) during the morning hours. But in December the sun can’t quite reach into this room. It’ll be back though in January. Meanwhile my master bedroom, lanai, and living room get full direct sunlight in the afternoon during this time of the year, but those sun rays will soon start becoming more diagonal, and then they will completely disappear later in the year as the sun retreats northward.

When I was a little kid growing up in Lanham Maryland in the mid-to-late-1970s I always noticed how the sun hit my home, my neighbors’ homes, and my grandparent’s home in the morning and in the afternoon / evening. I noticed that the extreme angles occurred during both solstices in June and December. Every March and September there were no angles. It was straight up and down. So – I’ve pretty much been an astronomy (and of course) weather nerd for the past 50 years.

Next #TravelThursday – it’s my personal travel recap of 2023. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Florida

Blogging Driving Geography Home Travel

SW 328TH Street In Homestead Florida

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date December 14, 2023

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. There’s a street in Homestead Florida that I’ve driven on more than any other in America. It’s SW 328TH Street – a Miami-Dade County road that runs about 13 miles due west / east in the far-south of the county from the edge of the Everglades on the west-end through Homestead in the middle to almost Biscayne Bay on the east-end. At its most primitive – it’s a narrow dirt road through rural farmland. At its most busy 2½-mile stretch – it’s a sometimes congested 4-lane divided road (recently widened from 2 lanes) with a couple of dangerous intersections.

My longtime home of the past 28½ years is near the middle of that busy stretch. That easily makes it my most driven road of my lifetime. I can’t go anywhere without getting on that road. It’s much nicer now than it used to be when it was a narrow and bumpy 2-lane road (up until just a few years ago).

Fun Fact: SW 328TH Street is exactly 20½ miles south (as the crow flies) of Flagler Street (which is Zero Street and divides Miami-Dade County into north and south). Every 16 streets north / south is exactly a mile on the county grid. Most streets that are a multiple of 8 (particularly in the south part of the county) are major thoroughfares.

SW 328TH Street is also known as Lucy Street for its western-most 5½ miles – and North Canal Drive for its eastern-most 7½ miles. It’s also known as SW / SE 8TH Street within the city limits of Homestead. For 1.7 miles Lucy Street serves as the border between Homestead (to the north) and Florida City (to the south). And speaking of Lucy Street – Lucy was one of the daughters of the first Mayor of Homestead in 1913. It’s been Lucy Street ever since, and it’s one of the longest-named streets in the region.

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll follow the Sun. I’ll write about the Winter Solstice here in the Northern Hemisphere. And I know that I have readers in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the South American continent. I won’t forget about your Summer Solstice. Let’s keep traveling together.