Category: History

Fort Morgan

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date July 9, 2020

This past Sunday I wrote all about my fun adventures just outside the big city of Mobile Alabama. I praised, worshipped, and celebrated Christ at my friends’ church. I enjoyed a delicious Thai Lunch. I walked a family farm with goats. Sunday was my fun day away from my family on this family vacation.

The next day – Monday – was supposed to be a fun family visit to the local zoo in Gulf Shores. I had planned on this day for many weeks. I was really looking forward to it. I soon realized that (aside from myself) nobody else was really interested in going to the zoo – not even my two nieces (ages 10 and 7). I was a little bit heartbroken about that.

I decided to simply go to the zoo by myself. As I was looking for a coupon to the zoo in a tourist magazine I stumbled across a full-page color ad for a place I had never heard of before – Fort Morgan. It’s an old war fort at the far-western tip of the barrier island that Orange Beach and Gulf Shores are located on about 30 miles away. It sits at the mouth of Mobile Bay where it meets the Gulf Of Mexico. It’s an Alabama State Historic Site and a U.S. National Historic Landmark. It’s on the U.S. National Register Of Historic Places. The brave soldiers that served at this site protected our nation during the War Of 1812, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War 1, and World War 2.

In lieu of the zoo I went to the fort by myself early last Tuesday morning. When I arrived at the entrance gate I was immediately greeted and recognized as a Veteran. I was admitted for free. That was a nice surprise. I spent a couple of hours touring the site. It was bigger and better than I expected. I took 44 photos of the 200+ years of history all around me. I’ve already posted over a dozen of these photos on my Flickr site, and you can also see the last 5 photos posted here on my blog site. Here’s one I haven’t posted yet:

This visit – planned just hours in advance – turned out to be one of the highlights of my recent 9-day / 2-state / 1,690-mile road-trip vacation. I’m glad I discovered it in a tourist magazine. I’ll be talking about this place for years to come.

Tags Alabama, Fort Morgan

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Southwest Florida Road-Trip

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date January 23, 2020

This past U.S. holiday weekend I enjoyed a 3-day / 3-county / 360-mile Florida road-trip to and from Fort Myers. It was my first visit to the region since last July. I always enjoy visiting Southwest Florida (Collier and Lee County). Usually I venture over there to see a concert at the Hertz Arena, and this trip was no exception.

My first stop though after crossing the Everglades via the Tamiami Trail was the flagship branch of the multi-site Collier County Museum in East Naples. It was my first visit since June 2012. Back then I thought it was my first visit ever – until I saw some of the exhibits outside – and then I realized that I had been there years earlier.

At the end of my 90-minute visit I picked-up a brochure for a nearby place that I never knew existed – the Naples Museum Of Military History – at the main terminal of the Naples Airport. So I went there, and I immersed myself in all of the awesome displays there. They were overflowing at the seams in the two rooms that they occupy there. They need more space, and hopefully they get it.

After that I took a ride out to the country and into the woods for another first-time visit ever – the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. What a wonderful and beautiful place this was – especially on a sunny and coolish day. I’m sure that it would be a miserable place to be during our 9-month bug season and especially our 5-month rainy season, but that was truly a great day to be outdoors strolling the 2.25-mile elevated boardwalk absorbing nature’s beauty – created by my Almighty God.

By the way all of the above was Day 1 of my road-trip ! Day 2 started in Fort Myers at probably their # 1 tourist attraction – the Edison & Ford Winter Estates. It was my first visit since April 2011. I love this place. I could work and have fun at this place after I retire from my military / civil service career. I took the 1-hour and 15-minute guided tour which was a lot of fun (even though I had done it before). I’d do it again !

On Sunday night I went to the Hertz Arena to see Franklin Graham conclude his recent tour of Florida. He led us in prayer for our nation and our leaders, and then he preached a classic Billy Graham Crusade sermon on Repentance & Salvation. That’s a topic that I’m quite familiar with, as many of my sermons are about the same. Jeremy Camp opened and closed for Franklin, as he performed 7 of his greatest hits. I’ll be seeing Jeremy Camp perform again at this very same arena in 6 weeks, as he opens for MercyMe.

Day 3 of 3 started back in East Naples at the Naples Botanical Garden – yet another first-time visit. I walked well over 3 miles for 2 hours at this fun place on a chilly and overcast morning.

I’ve got over 80 photos of this fun road-trip to and from Southwest Florida – also known as Florida’s Paradise Coast. At least 60 of those 80 photos will probably be uploaded and captioned on my Flickr site over the next few weeks. But I’ll close this blog post with a sneak-peek. It’s a photo of the chalkboard at the start of the boardwalk at the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary where visitors can write-down what they’ve seen along their walk on the boardwalk. A little less than 90 minutes later – there were more sightings documented on the chalkboard.

Tags Estero, Florida, Fort Myers, Naples

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Weekend Kickoff Mini-Thoughts

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date October 10, 2019

Let’s try this again – a rapid-fire session of thoughts on my mind right this minute:

It’s been awhile since I last did this.
In fact it’s been since Thursday August 01ST 2019.
I’m not sure that some of you “get this” feature.
If you’ve been following my blogs for the past 12 years then you “get this”.
For those that don’t “get this” no worries – just follow along.
Last night was our last sunset at 7 PM or after here until next March.
It’s getting darker earlier, and I like that.
In a little over 3 weeks we return to Standard Time.
I prefer Standard Time over Daylight Saving Time.
I wish we stayed on Standard Time all year long.
Most people don’t know what Daylight Saving Time is.
Pretty soon we’ll start getting cooler here in South Florida.
By “cooler” I mean the 60s in the morning instead of the 70s.
We’re still a good month away from feeling some 50s.
Our 5-month rainy season is almost over.
It’s been a below average rainy season.
I enjoy our 7-month dry season from October to May.
I hope to begin my dry season weekend fitness walks soon.
I hope to do much better than I did last dry season.
It’s Columbus Day Weekend here in the U.S.
I adore 3-day holiday weekends.
Maybe I’ll go for a walk in the park this Saturday morning.
I mostly plan to continue writing my next sermon this weekend.
It’s on God’s “Kindness & Love”.
I have another sermon that I’m working on titled “Ways & Memes”.
I’ll be stepping completely out of my comfort zone for that one.
There’s a few movies that I hope to see on HBO On Demand this weekend.
One of them is that World War 1 movie, “They Shall Not Grow Old”.
I’m really looking forward to a quiet and productive weekend at home.
Tomorrow on the blog my RETRO series continues with 15 years ago.
My new blog posts go LIVE at 3 AM U.S. East Coast time aside from Sunday.
I blog 4 times per weekend on Thursdays, Fridays, Sundays, and Mondays.
I don’t blog on Saturdays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays.
If I were to add a 5TH day of blogging then I’d add Tuesdays.
But I have no plans to do that anytime soon.
Programming Alert: The 50TH GMA Dove Awards are coming soon.
The show occurs LIVE in Nashville next Tuesday October 15TH.
It airs on TBN the following Sunday October 20TH at 8 PM EDT.
I’ll be live-tweeting during the entire telecast !
Join me that night on Twitter @ChrisMDay as I talk God’s music.
The next morning I’ll reveal my brand new Top 10 music chart.
Well those are my rapid-fire one-line thoughts for now.
Enjoy your weekend and this 10TH day of the 10TH month.

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Chanute AFB Illinois

I’m coming up on the 34TH Anniversary of my graduation from USAF BMT. That stands for United States Air Force Basic Military Training. I was stationed at Lackland AFB in San Antonio Texas from June 13TH 1985 (early in the morning – like right after Midnight) to July 29TH 1985 (at dawn). It was the roughest and toughest 46 days / 6½ weeks of my life at that point. (I had just turned 18.)

On July 29TH 1985 (a Monday) I boarded a plane (with others) from San Antonio Texas to Champaign County Illinois. I got food poisoning on the plane. That was when full hot meals were still served on airplanes. After landing we were transported from the airport to Chanute Air Force Base (near Rantoul Illinois). Everyone else was taken to their respective squadrons for in-processing. I was taken to the Base Hospital where I spent a couple of days and nights recuperating.

On the 3RD day I rose again – out of my hospital bed fully recovered, and I was released to my squadron. I moved-in to my dormitory room – my home for the next 3 months. School started soon for me. I would soon learn how to be an Aircraft Maintenance Systems Analyst (think “Statistician”). I was in a class of 4.

Today – 34 years later – I am an Analyst / Statistician, and I work for the United States Air Force.