Category: Geography

My Kia K4: The First Year

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date November 20, 2025

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. This past October 22ND marked the 1-year anniversary of the day that I drove to my local Kia dealership and showed my saleswoman who greeted me the new car that I wanted to buy. (It was featured on their web site.) She retrieved the car, drove it to the front of the dealership, and I test drove it with her for a few miles. After that I purchased it. I paid cash for it (no financing). I drove it home.

I love my Kia K4 and all of its modern features and technology. Hopefully I’ll have it for a long time as my retirement car. Hopefully nobody crashes into it (like my previous retirement car).

I drove 7,420 miles during my first year of ownership. That actually included 8 round-trips to and from Homestead Florida. The outlook for my second year of ownership is perhaps 4,000 to 4,500 miles – an average of about 350 miles per month. (I may visit Homestead once before next October.)

Looks like I’m settling into a “stay close to home” low-mileage groove. I haven’t exceeded 500 miles in a month for the past 4 months in a row – soon to be 5 months with this month. (I’d exceeded 500 miles in the previous 28 out of 29 months.) This past August I only drove 256 miles. That was the lowest in a month since September 2021. And then last month (October) I only drove 225 miles. I wonder if I can manage under 200 miles in a single month ? I haven’t done that since the year of COVID.

I do want to embark on a few road-trips here in the local area of South-Central Florida during these upcoming winter and spring months. I need more material for future editions of #TravelThursday.

Speaking of which – #TravelThursday takes the week off next week for Thanksgiving here in the U.S.A. In 2 weeks – on Thursday December 04TH – I’ll begin a multiple part series about my adventures and experiences with family in North Texas. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Kia

1980s Blogging Career Driving Geography Military Music Radio Travel

The Other Side Of The Ocean

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date November 13, 2025

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. It was exactly 40 years ago this past weekend – on the 10TH of November of 1985 – that I arrived in a foreign country solo for the first time in my life – as a young 18-year-old. I was 5 months into my USAF career – having spent 6½ weeks at Basic Training at Lackland AFB near San Antonio Texas and 3 months at Tech School at Chanute AFB near Rantoul Illinois.

It was a cold Sunday morning at London’s Heathrow Airport, and I had flown all night from Washington Dulles Airport. Of course I lost 5 hours overnight with the time difference.

I made my way to the British Rail station at the airport. I took that to Reading – where I got off the train. Oops. I wasn’t supposed to get off there. I got confused. I ended-up waiting at that station until the next train arrived. That didn’t take very long. I got on it, and I continued on to Swindon. At the Swindon station I hired a cab to take me to my new home and workplace – RAF Fairford – about 13 miles / 20 kilometers away.

The cab driver was nice and friendly. He welcomed me to the U.K., and he turned up the radio for us to listen to. I think we were listening to GWR. An eerie song came on that I had never heard before. It was Talking Heads with “Road To Nowhere”. How appropriate for that song to play on the radio as I was being driven on the left along narrow and winding country roads from Swindon in Wiltshire to RAF Fairford in the Cotswolds of Gloucestershire.

That was the start of my 2-year and 1-week adventure in the south of England as an 18, 19, and 20-year-old. I got to see a lot of England, Scotland, Wales, France, Belgium, and Netherlands. I wish I had seen more of the European continent, but I’m grateful for the areas that I did get to experience while I was over there.

I’ve attended over 150 concerts and live events in my life (115 since 2000), and the first 17 all occurred during those 2 years in England.

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll write about my driving – or lack of it – over the past year. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags England, Fairford, London, Reading, Swindon

Blogging Christian Geography God Health Home Music Travel Weather

The Other Side Of The River

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date November 6, 2025

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. I’ll always remember a particular Thursday in November of 1980. In fact it was exactly 45 years ago today – on Thursday November 06TH 1980. My Dad was going through with his plan to leave Maryland, cross the Potomac River, and physically move his family to Virginia. It was a day that changed my life forever.

Me and my parents lived in Prince Georges County Maryland (outside of Washington D.C.) for over 11 years from 1969 to 1980. We actually moved 3 times during that period – from Greenbelt to Bowie to Lanham. I was 2 to 13 at the time, and my younger brother was born there in 1975.

It was a terrible move for me. I was transplanted into a new state and a new neighborhood and a new school system 2 months into my 8TH grade. It was a radical change of culture for this 13½-year-old. I was plunged into a completely different environment that I was not prepared for, and I never got used to. I had friends in Maryland. I knew nobody in Virginia. I was a “normal” kid in Maryland. I was a “poor” kid in Virginia (labeled as a “grit”) that nobody really wanted to associate with. I had very few friends in Virginia – and I hung out with nobody after school. I did poorly in school, as the school system in Virginia was at a much higher academic level than the one that I came from in Maryland. I was essentially a “C” and “D” student through my 11TH grade. That wasn’t good enough for college, and everyone around me was definitely going to an expensive college in 1985. I eventually made the Honor Roll during my Senior year in high school – making all “A”s and “B”s. But it was too late. I ended up joining the military. It turned out to be a nearly 39-year career.

Had it not been for that move from Maryland to Virginia exactly 45 years ago I’m thinking that my life may have been completely different than it turned out to be. Maybe I would have gone with my friends from elementary and junior and senior high school to the University Of Maryland (where my Dad went 25 years earlier). Maybe I would’ve become a Meteorologist. Maybe I’ve would’ve gone into Radio or Television Broadcasting. (Those were my dream jobs as a teen.) Maybe I would’ve met the woman of my dreams, gotten married, and started a family. Maybe I would’ve led a wonderful life.

But then again – Maybe I would’ve never known God. Maybe I would’ve never created this blog.

Be careful when you make decisions. Think about the possible consequences of your decisions before you go through with them. Some decisions that you make can be far bigger than you can ever imagine at the time. One decision today could change your life – or a family member’s life – or a loved one’s life – forever – for better or for worse.

During my first 28 years of life I moved no less than 14 times. I’m not a fan of moving. I lived in the same home in Homestead Florida for the next 28 years. I moved to my dream home in my dream neighborhood in my dream part of Florida almost 32 months ago. I plan to be here forever.

Next #TravelThursday I’ll head to “The Other Side Of The Ocean”. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Florida, Sebring, Texas

Blogging Christian Geography God Health Home Music Travel Weather

Walking Around My Neighborhood

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date October 30, 2025

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. I’m now halfway in-between trips to and from North Texas. I had fun with family in the Wichita Falls area near the end of September, and I’ll be back on Texas soil enjoying more fun with family in the Dallas area soon. I’m already thinking about what I’ll be packing in my big silver suitcase. I’ll need to pack for 10 days, 10 nights, and temperatures from the 20s to the 70s.

#ButFirst – This week’s trip takes me around the block – literally. The block is the approximately 1.1-mile circumferential road around my neighborhood that surrounds a long hybrid natural / manmade lake. (There’s also an “inner-loop” sidewalk that rings around the lake about 20 feet below the surface of the road and the homes.)

#SomeHistory – This is my 19TH season of walking around my neighborhood for fun and fitness. I’ve documented many of these walks in this blog’s history. They are tied directly to my spiritual journey following my Lord + Savior Jesus Christ. God rescued and saved me 19 years ago. It’s when I began honoring my body as a temple of the Holy Spirit. During the early years my walks were dedicated to my Dad (by name) who lost the ability to walk in 2007 due to the crippling effects of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). He would pass away from the horrible disease in 2010.

I’m currently in the best physical, mental, and emotional condition of my life. I’m in a much better place than I was before the age of 39. Walking around my neighborhood (or engaging in any intentional exercise) was an unknown concept back then.

My walks are essentially a 20-to-40 minute 1-to-2-mile walk where I listen to Christian pop music via my AirPods and talk to God – thanking Him for all that He has done in my life and all that He will do for me. I also thank Him for blessing my neighborhood with beauty, safety, security, and His abundant and endless miracles for my neighbors – those who believe, and those who do not yet believe. I pray for salvation for all !

Fun Fact: It takes about 19 minutes for me to walk a mile. I walk an average of about π MPH. (π = 3.14159265358979 …)

My 19TH season of walking started early – in fact – it was the earliest start ever. After a 12-week off-season (mid-summer) hiatus – I began this season on August 28TH 2025. I’ve walked 21 times so far, and my goal for this season is 100+. (Last season I walked a personal best 90 times, and that narrowly surpassed the 87 times I walked in Season 17 – 2023-2024).

If you wish to read about my very first walk ever – then click here. It occurred at High Noon on Christmas Eve of 2007, and it was inspired by a fellow WordPress blogger at the time. It was not a passing fad back then, and I’m still walking – more than ever before – nearly 18 years later.

Next #TravelThursday I’ll go back in time exactly 45 years ago to look back at a short road-trip across the river that would change my life forever. Let’s keep traveling together.