Category: Home

Ag Tour

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date March 12, 2026

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last year a couple of my friends at the Sebring Historical Society told me all about an “ag tour” that they went on. It sounded very interesting. They boarded a bus early in the morning, and they went on a guided tour of various agricultural sites around the region. In the middle of it all – a big steak lunch. I was intrigued. Travel & Food together. Two of my favorite pastimes.

The tours are limited to the winter season – January, February, and March – on the last Thursday of each month. They start at 8 AM and end at 5 PM. They are hosted by UF IFAS Extension – which stands for University Of Florida Institute Of Food And Agricultural Sciences. They have Extension offices in all 67 of Florida’s counties. (I’m in Highlands County.)

I didn’t get a chance to sign-up for any of the remaining tours last season (2025), and then I pretty much forgot about them during the “off-season”.

Last month at our Sebring Historical Society board meeting we were discussing an upcoming event when one of our board members pointed out that the date of that event conflicts with an “ag tour”.

Once he said that – bells started ringing in my mind. I went home that night and began looking up the ag tours to get more information on them. One was coming up on the last Thursday of February. I read the itinerary. I was determined to be on it. Less than a week later I actually drove to the Extension Office (for the first time ever) – 10 miles away from home – to sign-up for it and pay for it ($100).

Thursday February 26TH 2026 was the date of the tour, and I arrived back at the Extension office (formally it’s the Bert J. Harris, Jr. Agricultural Center Highlands County). I arrived about 40 minutes before the start of the tour. Apparently – that wasn’t early enough, as there were already several dozen people there before me. I checked-in, I retrieved my big bag of goodies / freebies from the various sponsors of the tour, and I got on the 56-passenger luxury coach.

We departed promptly at 8 AM on a mostly cloudy and chilly morning. We took an unusual route to our first of six stops – perhaps by design. We headed south briefly along U.S. 27 before turning west into Hardee County, and then north into Polk County. It was all two-lane backroads (after U.S. 27) – through the countryside – with farmlands on both sides. Many of the farms didn’t look too good after numerous frosts and freezes. Our UF IFAS hostess narrated and answered questions along the way. She was very knowledgeable and informative.

Our first stop was a few miles east of Fort Meade along U.S. 98. We visited the Dundee Citrus Growers Association (CGA) Citrus Under Protective Screen (CUPS) farm. I’ve actually driven by it several times over the past few years while heading to and from Tampa, Bartow, and Lakeland. It’s easy to spot along the old highway. It’s about 500 acres of screened farms with citrus growing inside – protected by the deadly psyllid insect. All of the sun gets in. All of the rain gets in. But the psyllids stay out. The screens were installed in 2022 and 2023, and the first trees were planted during the Fall of 2023. They grow red grapefruit under the Florida Rubies brand name.

Their grapefruits are available in many grocery stores and also online. They ship to anywhere in the U.S.A. and Canada.

Fun Facts: Their farm is at a high elevation for Central Florida – 215 feet above sea level. You can see it from aircraft flying above at cruising altitude. (Look for white landscape instead of tan.)

Next #TravelThursday – The Ag Tour returns to Highlands County to another citrus grove. I’ll introduce biochar to you. And then we’ll head into historic downtown Avon Park to enjoy a hot and delicious steak lunch. Travel & Food together. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Avon Park, Citrus, Florida, Fort Meade, Sebring

Blogging Commerce Driving Food Geography Home Shopping Travel

Publix

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last month (February) was Homecoming Month. I wrote about driving around Florida and walking around my neighborhood (Feb. 05TH), the Avon Park Depot Museum (Feb. 12TH), the Sebring Historical Society (Feb. 19TH), and the Charles F. Weigle House Museum & Gift Shop (Feb. 26TH). This week I write about a place that is quintessential Florida, and that is – Publix – where shopping is a pleasure.

Publix is my playground. It’s my favorite store in the entire world. I’ve spent more money at Publix over the past 33 years than any other store, and it’s not even close. And this month – March – does indeed mark 33 years as a Publix customer. I first started shopping at Publix in Melbourne Florida when I moved there in March 1993. I shopped at Publix # 704 on South Babcock (built in 1959). I lived a half-mile away from there.

When I moved back to partially rebuilt (post Hurricane Andrew) Homestead a year later in 1994 the Publix (# 510) on U.S. 1 eventually became my new go-to store. And then a 2ND Publix (# 1029) opened in Homestead in 2005. And then a 3RD Publix (# 1136) opened in Homestead in 2007. I shopped at all 3 almost equally. # 510 was my “Original Publix”. # 1029 was my “Work Publix”. # 1136 was my “New Publix”. They were each located just a few miles away from each other. They each had their own unique character. And then a 4TH Publix (# 1229) opened in Homestead just a mile down the road from my longtime neighborhood – a year after I had moved away to Sebring.

And now my Publix (# 1347) – opened in 2008 – is my home away from home – just a couple of miles away from home. I would not have moved to Sebring if there was no Publix. We have 3 Publix stores here in Highlands County, and I’ve never been to the other 2. (No need to.)

Nowadays I average about 40 Publix visits per year, and that’s actually down from my 2015 to 2023 average of 60 visits per year. (I often went to my “Work Publix” for lunch when I was working in Homestead.)

“But Chris – Publix is so expensive. How can you afford it there ?”

I probably don’t pay what you pay at Publix. I meticulously create my shopping list on their digital app based on weekly sales, BOGOs, and coupons. (Wednesday is a great day, as that’s the day they reveal their new weekly ad online.) I typically save anywhere from $10 to $30 or more on my average Publix receipt. Most of the items on my receipt are on sale. And everything I buy is actually less expensive than Walmart. (Believe it or not – I only go to Walmart about 8 to 10 times a year – more so now than I did when I lived in Homestead. Both of our Walmart stores are nicer here.)

So when I enter a Publix store I become noticeably happier. I belong there. If you see me singing in the aisles it could be because of the awesome music that’s playing on the sound system. Long live the ’80s and ’90s !

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll begin a multiple part series on a unique agriculture and natural resources tour of the local area. Go Gators ! Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Florida, Homestead, Melbourne, Publix, Sebring

Blogging Driving Geography Health Home Travel

Driving & Walking In 2025

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date February 5, 2026

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Now that I’m done recapping my 10-day Texas Thanksgiving experience with family it’s time to move on to other travel topics.

Last year I drove a total of 6,210 miles. That’s an average of 17 miles per day. Half of those miles occurred between January 01ST and May 27TH. Almost 70% of those miles occurred during the first 6 months of 2025. June was by far my most traveled month. I drove 1,166 miles in June – including 2 trips to and from my former hometown of Homestead Florida. I closed on the sale of my longtime (30-year) home on June 30TH, and I haven’t been back since. From July 01ST to December 31ST (final 6 months) I only drove 1,910 miles, for an average of a little over 10 miles per day. I drove under 500 miles per month for all 6 months – and under 300 miles per month for 4 of the 6 months. The 6,210 miles driven surpassed only 2022 (by just 66 miles). It was likely my 2ND-least driven year over the past 37 years of driving in Florida. The outlook for 2026 is much less driving – probably less than 4,000 miles.

And now on to my walking in 2025. I wear my Apple Watch 24/7 – except for when I’m taking a shower, or I’m sitting down and recharging it. I got my Apple Watch as a #ThanksChristmasGiving gift in 2022 (IYKYK).

So – I now have 3 full years of data. And for the 3RD consecutive year – I came close, but I did not reach 1,000 miles by foot. I fell short in 2025 at 966.70 miles. That’s compared with 964.71 in 2024, and 995.64 in 2023. My goal is to reach 1,000 miles in 2026. If I can average 2.74 miles per day – then I will achieve that goal. I surpassed 2.74 miles per day last January, February, March, April, November, and December. It’s those 6 months in the middle that I need to increase my walking. Maybe I should try some “mall walking” before the stores open.

I walked around my neighborhood 117 times in 2025 for a total of 142 miles. That represented not quite 15% of my total walking in the year. So – over 85% of my walking was just me walking around and doing things.

Any other Excel spreadsheet nerds out there ?

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll have lunch on the train. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Florida

Blogging Driving Food Geography Holidays Home Travel

Homeward Bound

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date January 29, 2026

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. I returned home from North Texas 54 days ago. This is Part 8 of 8 – the conclusion of my recap of my 10-day experience with my family for Thanksgiving and the week after.

After my gate at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (#DFW) changed from B18 to B17 to B14 to B11 in less than 2½ hours – it changed once again – to D2. That’s right – a completely different terminal !

I got the text message from American Airlines (#AA), and others sitting at the gate obviously got the same text message at the same time, as we all reacted pretty much the same way. We were aggravated, but there was no time for aggravation because boarding would begin in just 38 minutes at a gate far away from there. We all got up, gathered our carry-on bags, and walked briskly to the nearest Skylink (automated people mover) station to reach the new terminal and gate. Of course – Gate D2 was perhaps as far away as possible from the Terminal D (Gates 1-22) Skylink station (and pretty much all other “D” gates). We all made it to the new gate, and we all got good exercise doing so. Strangely – a lot of people were already at that gate, and it looked like they had been there for a while. They obviously knew about Gate D2 long before many of us did.

After a brief respite it was time to board the aircraft to Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport (#SRQ). As with the incoming flight 10 days earlier – the outgoing flight was not quite full, but close to it. There was plenty of space available in the overhead bins, and the middle seat next to mine was vacant. I had a window seat 3 rows from the rear, and I stared out at the sky towards the NNE for much of the flight. Once at cruising altitude I ate a couple of Pop-Tarts, and then I enjoyed the Lotus Biscoff cookies that are handed out on most #AA flights. Additionally – the flight attendants gave us a bag of pretzels. Two complimentary snacks at the same time !

I also enjoyed a cup of black coffee to go with my multiple snacks. Their coffee has always been delicious, but now it appears that they are in the process of switching / upgrading to Lavazza‘s premium coffee blends. That should be available on my next flights later this year.

The flight from #DFW to #SRQ took a normal route ESE across Louisiana and the Gulf straight into Florida – landing more than 10 minutes early. It took a while (longer than normal) to retrieve my baggage at the carousel. (Mine was one of the last bags to appear.)

After that I went to the wrong location to pick-up the shuttle bus to the parking area. I went to the area for hotel shuttles. I blame that on a lack of clear and proper signage. I eventually figured it out on my own due to no available help from anyone who worked at the airport – inside or outside. The shuttle bus driver took me to the secluded parking lot over near the control tower off Tamiami Trail (U.S. 41). There were two vehicles remaining in that temporary overflow parking lot (which was obviously closed for new parking), and mine was obviously one of the two.

The 78-mile drive back home was uneventful – taking me 1-hour and 49-minutes through Sarasota-Bradenton suburbia and into the countryside and up into the hills. I had to deal with a few slow drivers in front of me and a few tailgaters behind me. I arrived home at 7:26 PM on Saturday December 06TH 2025. My 10-day and 6½-hour Thanksgiving trip to and from Wylie Texas was complete. I enjoyed refreshing my memory and writing about it over the next 2½ weeks following my return. (I completed this post on Christmas Eve.) I hope that you enjoyed reading about it over the past couple of months.

As for my next trip to visit family – that may occur in less than 3 months. As for next Thanksgiving – I’ll likely revert back to tradition and fly out 8 days before the holiday (instead of the night before) – and I’ll return back home on the night after the holiday (#BlackFriday). Or maybe I’ll do something completely different and stay home for the Thanksgiving holiday and instead visit my family during the week leading-up to Christmas. I’ll figure it all out in a few months. #StayTuned

How was my driving in 2025 ? I’ll look back at it – next #TravelThursday. Let’s keep traveling together.