Categories
Blogging Driving History Nature Photography Travel

My Spring Break 2021 Road-Trip

4 weeks ago (4 Thursdays ago) I returned home from my Spring Break 2021 Road-Trip. It was a fun 5-day adventure traversing 624 miles through the 10 South and Central Florida counties of Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Martin, Okeechobee, Highlands, Hardee, Glades, Hendry, and Collier. I also barely touched Monroe County, and I saw its many islands.

Last Thursday I wrote on Day 4 – my final day in Highlands County (where I plan to retire) in South Central Florida. The story continues now:

On Day 5 I departed Highlands County shortly after sunrise. My first stop (at 9 AM) was in the small historic community of Immokalee in far-northern Collier County – a first-time-ever visit. I visited the Immokalee Pioneer Museum At Roberts Ranch – a branch of the Collier County museum system. I visited the Visitor’s Center (off the parking lot) thinking that was all there was to see there. Nearly a month later (as I’m writing this), and I find out that it was merely one of a whole bunch of historic buildings and exhibits on a sprawling 13-acre site. I wish I had known that while I was there. I wish I had a tour guide to tell me about the place – inside and outside. I would’ve gone “out back” to check it out. I guess I have a good reason to return there on a future road-trip.

After my short (and obviously incomplete) visit there I ventured due south to Everglades City – the first and former county seat of Collier County on the south coast of the mainland of Florida. It was supposed to be a major port city on the coast, but that never materialized. Nowadays a little over 400 residents call it home. I visited the Museum Of The Everglades there – another Collier County museum. I received excellent customer service there, and the museum was thriving for a Thursday morning in mid-February.

I’m intrigued about the history of Everglades City. I think on my next visit to Collier County I need to check-out that museum again – and then venture northward for a “do-over” at their museum in Immokalee.

My final stop was the end of the road – as far south as you can go in this area – Chokoloskee. I had never been beyond Everglades City before, so this was quite a discovery. I visited the historic Smallwood Store (which is actually a museum with a $5 admission). It’s actually worth it. There’s a lot of history to see inside that old building !

After my visit to the end of the road I headed back – all the way back home again. My 624-mile road-trip ended about 100½ hours after it began. It was full of fun and adventure from start to finish. I can’t wait to get back on the road again !

And I will get back on the road again soon for another road-trip. In fact next Thursday here on my blog I’ll reveal where my next road-trip will take me. (I’ve already got it all planned-out.)

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

Categories
1980s Blogging Career Driving Health History Military News Television Travel Weather Wrestling

Weekend Kickoff Mini-Thoughts

It’s Thursday, and it’s the start of a fresh new weekend of blogging. Longtime readers of my blog will know that this was once a Thursday night tradition. I only do this every once in a while these days. It’s my ‘Mini-Thoughts’ – a rapid-fire session of random thoughts on my mind right this minute:

  • I got my first dose of the Moderna COVID vaccine a couple of days ago.
  • Right now only Seniors are getting in Florida.
  • I work for the military, so I was lucky to get it early.
  • My second dose will be in 4 weeks.
  • I got the COVID vaccine 18 days after getting the Shingles vaccine.
  • That was my second of two doses of the Shingles vaccine.
  • I am not an “anti-vaxxer”.
  • I didn’t know there was such a thing as an “anti-vaxxer” until recently.
  • Some don’t get vaccines because they believe they do more harm than good.
  • Some don’t get vaccines because it’s against their religious beliefs.
  • Getting vaccines are a personal choice for each individual.
  • I neither promote nor denounce vaccinations to anyone.
  • I recently signed-up for the Discovery Plus streaming service.
  • If I’m not careful I can easily binge-watch shows on it for many hours.
  • Looks like I’ll soon sign-up for Peacock as it absorbs WWE Network.
  • I also like to “Hulu & Hibernate”.
  • I don’t “Netflix & Chill”.
  • I’m looking forward to my upcoming Florida road-trip.
  • Looks like I’ll cover about 575 miles in 5 days.
  • I’ll blog all about it after I return home.
  • Looks like I’ll drive more miles this month than 7 months last year.
  • Next month I’ll drive more than twice as many miles as this month.
  • It’s been a chilly winter here in South Florida.
  • I was shivering in December and the first-half of January.
  • I think it’s our coldest winter since 2010-2011.
  • Recently we’ve enjoyed a few days in the 80s for the first time in 2021.
  • But it’s gonna get chilly again starting today.
  • 50s in the morning is chilly for us.
  • We’ve had 7 mornings in the 40s since the start of December !
  • Exactly 35 years ago today the Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated.
  • It occurred right after I got home from work (in England).
  • I think I watched BBC coverage of it for the rest of the night.
  • Exactly 2 years ago today I was in the middle of the Caribbean on a cruise.
  • We were supposed to spend the day on Grand Cayman Island.
  • But we couldn’t reach the island due to ferocious northerly winds.
  • A strong cold front had made it deep into the Caribbean.
  • It was an unusually chilly day on the islands and at sea.
  • So we had an “extra fun day at sea”.
  • I can’t wait to get back on a cruise next year.
  • Here’s my towel animal from exactly 2 years ago:

Towel Animal

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

Categories
Blogging Christian Driving God History Music Radio Travel

My Favorite Music Decade

Greetings my friends. It’s Thursday October 29TH 2020, and it’s the start of another 4-day weekend of blogging – today, tomorrow, Sunday, and Monday. I don’t blog on Saturdays. That’s my day of rest. That’s my day with God’s Word. I also don’t blog on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Those are just my days off from this blog. There are a few Tuesdays each year when I do blog for a special occasion. The next one will be in December.

I normally don’t blog about music on Thursdays because I already do so on Fridays and Mondays, but I’ll make an exception this week.

When I was in the Wichita Falls Texas area last month we were listening to 50s On 5 on SiriusXM in my Uncle’s big Ford pick-up truck. He’ll be 90 in a couple of months, so the 1950s were his decade for pop music. He was 18 to 28 back then, so he heard those great hits on some great old-fashioned AM radio stations. Every so often he would hear a song that he wasn’t too fond of, so he would switch it over to 60s On 6. From there he would switch it over to the Love music channel. That wouldn’t last long, as it was soon back to 50s On 5.

My brother is 45. His favorite decades channel is 80s On 8 – followed closely behind by 90s On 9. That’s what we listened to in his SUV while driving around the northeastern suburbs of Dallas Texas. Every so often he’d switch it over to 70s On 7 – knowing that it’s my favorite music decade.

I loved ’70s music back in the ’70s when it was brand new on the radio. I was 2 to 12 during the ’70s. I remember listening to Top 40 radio for almost as long as I’ve been alive. I remember those childhood years in Prince Georges County Maryland with my very first radio – listening to WWDC AM-1260 out of Washington D.C. – and also WPGC AM-1580 (and then later on FM-95.5). Those were the best pop music years of my life !

But then 1980 hit, and I all but abandoned ’70s music for the next 30 years. Top 40 music continued on, and the ’70s seemed so outdated to me. It also brought back some bad memories for me. I wanted to leave those behind forever.

But then something weird happened in 2010. After 3½ years of listening to only Christian pop, rock, hip hop, and dance music from the day of salvation – I started listening to a local South Florida “oldies” station that was playing ’70s music on my coworker’s radio at her desk. I began reminiscing about the decade that I had left behind. I soon went all ’70s all the time, and that lasted nearly 7 years until 2017. It was actually during those 7 years that my weekly hit music chart was on its longest hiatus since its inception 35 years ago.

I still listen to ’70s music today alongside Christian pop music. My two favorite radio stations are both nationwide – K-LOVE and ’70s On 7. My iPod Shuffles that I listen to at work contain 305 (my area code) of my greatest hits of all-time (interchangeable), and almost 40% of them are currently from the ’70s.

The music that used to remind me of the bad times of my childhood now remind me of the good times. There were so many happy days back then, and now I see the light. The memorable music was the soundtrack of my life and times as a toddler, child, and preteen.

All rights reserved (c) 2020 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

Categories
2000s History Movies Music Radio

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 2005

Every 2ND, 3RD, and 4TH Friday of the month I post the Top 5 of one of my classic hit music charts based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay from either 15, 20, or 30 years ago this weekend (rotating each week).

It’s the 2ND Friday of the month, so I go back 15 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday July 10TH 2005:

  1. “Don’t Mess With My Heart” – Black Eyed Peas
  2. “Incomplete” – Backstreet Boys
  3. “Behind These Hazel Eyes” – Kelly Clarkson
  4. “Hollaback Girl” – Gwen Stefani
  5. “Switch” – Will Smith

This was another forgettable week of pop music during a mostly forgettable summer of a mostly forgettable year. A few good songs came out in 2005. I just can’t remember any of them right now.

Let’s check-out the multiplex cinema scene from this month 15 years ago. I saw “War Of The Worlds”, “Rebound”, “Bewitched”, and “Wedding Crashers”. Surprisingly I rated “Rebound” as the only 4-star movie back then. That’s the one that starred Martin Lawrence as a former college basketball coach who got fired because of his bad temper. So he went to coach his former junior high school’s basketball team with great success. Nope. I don’t remember that movie. I had to look it up on Wikipedia.

You know sometimes history is not pretty – especially our own personal history. 2005 was not a good year for me; yet, I choose to look back at it once a month this year. It was a part of me. It existed. You can’t make a better future if you ignore or deny history – if you forget where you came from. Yeah 2005 was a dark year for me, but 2006 was coming, and there was light up ahead.  

It’s halftime my friends. I’ll be back on Sunday and Monday with 2 more blog posts for this weekend. Enjoy your Saturday. Thanks for going RETRO with me !

All rights reserved (c) 2020 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries