Category: Travel

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1990s Blogging Career Driving Geography Home Military Travel Weather

From Melbourne To MacDill

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. In last week’s edition I wrote about my hectic 6-months right after Hurricane Andrew destroyed Homestead Florida. That’s when I was driving back-and-forth between Fairfax County Virginia and Prince Georges County Maryland (Andrews AFB) along the Capital Beltway and also through Washington D.C. I put a lot of miles on my red 1989 Geo Spectrum sedan back then, but I was not yet done.

I drove / moved to Melbourne Florida in March 1993 – just a few days before “The Storm Of The Century” swept through the U.S. Eastern Seaboard bringing hurricane-force winds, sub-freezing temperatures, and even snow to North and Central Florida.

5 months later in August 1993 I was offered a job on the opposite coast over in Tampa at MacDill AFB. I accepted, but I kept my home in Melbourne. I ended-up living in a hotel (paid for by the USAF) in Tampa, working on-base during the week, and taking I-4 and U.S. 192 back to Melbourne on most Friday afternoons – returning back to Tampa on Sunday afternoons.

That was about a 140-mile drive in each direction, and it took anywhere from 2½ to 3 hours. That was also back when I freely drove on Interstates and high-speed expressways. (I don’t do that anymore.) That was also when far less people lived along the U.S. 192 corridor from Melbourne through St. Cloud and Kissimmee to Walt Disney World. Back in 1993 into 1994 St. Cloud had a population of about 15,000. Now it’s over 65,000. Kissimmee is up from about 35,000 to over 80,000. That’s a lot of traffic along U.S. 192 these days. It wasn’t too bad back in 1993.

That back-and-forth commute between Melbourne and MacDill lasted about 7 months until March 1994 – when I moved back to Homestead Florida. For a short period of time I thought that I would live in Melbourne for the rest of my life. But then when I got the job at MacDill AFB I thought that I would eventually move to Tampa full-time and live there for the rest of my life. Then I moved back to Homestead for the next 29 years.

Now I have my longtime Homestead home – and my new Sebring home. And I have a commute of about 185 miles that I do several times per month. I haven’t gotten tired of it yet. I enjoy the scenic and mostly rural drive. I enjoy seeing my church family and even some of my coworkers at my longtime workplace in Homestead. But I especially look forward to the return trip back north again to my new home and pre-retirement life and times in Sebring. I plan to live there for the rest of my life – less than 2 hours away from both Melbourne and Tampa.

Next #TravelThursday we’ll check-out Weeki Wachee Springs. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2023 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

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1990s Blogging Career Driving Geography Home Military Travel Weather

Post Hurricane Andrew

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. 31 years ago this morning on August 24TH 1992 Hurricane Andrew struck Homestead Florida, and within just a couple of hours its winds caused catastrophic destruction across the region. It was unlike anything I had ever lived through before or since. And that’s all I’ll say about it. I’m actually glad that I’m not in Homestead today, as on this day every year it’s what’s on everyone’s mind – that night / morning that lives were changed forever. I don’t like to talk about it. I don’t like to write about it. So I won’t.

Later that same week on that Friday morning I departed the death and destruction of Homestead and drove up Florida’s Turnpike and I-95. The next day I arrived at my former home from when I was a teenager – where my parents, little brother, and cats still lived – in Fairfax County Virginia. On that Monday morning – exactly a week after Hurricane Andrew – I arrived at Andrews AFB on the other side of the Capital Beltway in Prince Georges County Maryland (where I actually grew-up from 1969 to 1980). I checked-in as a “refugee” of Hurricane Andrew. I was not the only one. Others had beaten me there.

For the next 6 months I was stationed at Andrews AFB doing almost exactly the same job that I had left behind at Homestead AFB. I was welcomed with open arms at my new office. I was considered as that extra special bonus person that they didn’t know they would get. I fit right in. It turned out to be the greatest (and last) 6 months (out of 8 years) of my entire USAF active duty tour.

I actually lived in a dormitory room on-base during the week – generally from Sunday afternoons to Friday mornings. On Friday afternoons after work I’d circumnavigate almost half of the Beltway in a clockwise (inner-loop) direction. (What fun that rush hour traffic was.) On the return-trip back to the base on Sunday afternoons (with less traffic) I’d “cut-through” Washington D.C. diagonally from Virginia into Maryland.

Fun Fact: Back then I drove a red 1989 Geo Spectrum. It was the first brand-new car I ever bought. I bought it at Tropical Chevrolet on Biscayne Boulevard (U.S. 1) in Miami Shores Florida. (That dealership is still there today with the same name.) I owned that car for over 8 years, and I put 96,745 miles on it.

That was a crazy time in my life – albeit only 6 months – living and working in the metro area that I grew-up in from age 2 to 18. Yep – 31 years ago I was traversing the Interstate Highway System like I owned it, and not only that – I was on the Capital Beltway. I don’t drive on Interstate highways anymore except in rare circumstances (like rural portions of long road trips to and from North Texas). I generally stick with old U.S. highways and state roads. I feel more comfortable on them in my older age.

Next #TravelThursday I’ll share my coast-to-coast travel adventures along U.S. 192 and I-4 in Central Florida from exactly 30 years ago. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2023 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

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Blogging Travel

My First Caribbean Cruise

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. 32 years ago tomorrow – the 18TH of August of 1991 – I stepped foot on a cruise ship for the first time ever. It was my Dad’s idea at the time to go on a family vacation at sea. He worked with a local travel agency in our hometown of McLean Virginia. He selected the Norwegian Seaward out of #PortMiami. It was a fairly new cruise ship at the time – about 3 years old.

I did not know what to expect prior to stepping foot in a brand-new world at sea. Remember there was no Internet 32 years ago – as least no Internet that normal people like You and I could use. But once I entered that cruise ship – it was love at first sight.

I don’t remember much from that first cruise. It was 7 days and 7 nights – a Sunday afternoon to Sunday morning. There were several ports-of-call including Ocho Rios Jamaica and George Town Grand Cayman. I think we also visited The Bahamas and Cozumel Mexico. It was my first time in those 4 nations. In fact – I haven’t been to Jamaica since then.

We had our family portrait taken on formal night, and I actually wore my military service dress blues for that photo session.

I think I had determined during that first cruise that there would indeed be a 2ND cruise, and a 3RD cruise, and so forth and so on. That 2ND cruise arrived almost exactly 3 years later – on the exact same cruise ship. Just 8 months after that I was on my 3RD cruise – on another NCL ship out of Miami. This past January I sailed on my 24TH cruise – and my 16TH on Carnival. (I sailed 6 times on NCL, once on Royal Carribean, and once on Disney.)

As I approach retirement (and much less income) in the months to come – I don’t know what the future holds as far as cruising is concerned. I’m looking at my 24TH cruise (which was a great one – on a great ship) as perhaps “The Grand Finale” – my last cruise – at least for a while. But I’ll never say never for a 25TH cruise.

Next #TravelThursday is the 32ND anniversary of Hurricane Andrew in Homestead Florida. I won’t discuss that hurricane on this platform or offline, but I will share my travel experiences that occurred in the 6½ months after Andrew. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2023 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

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Blogging Commerce Geography History Shopping Travel

Historic Downtown Sebring

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. I’m currently on my 11TH stay here in Sebring Florida since purchasing my dream home in my dream neighborhood in my dream town in my dream part of Florida. I bought in February, and I’ve been here in Sebring for over half that time. My average stay has been about 9 nights. (I’m approaching my 100TH night here in Sebring.)

When I’m not hanging out with my new friends here in my new neighborhood – or over at the Sebring Historical Society – I’m working at home from my office. (I haven’t retired yet.)

Yesterday I decided to take a day off from work (on official leave) and spend some extra time in historic downtown Sebring. I spent about 2½ hours hanging out with my friends at the Sebring Historical Society. We have some big changes coming up, as well as some big events. We’re losing one of our two historic houses, but we’re enhancing and sprucing-up our remaining one – the Charles F. Weigle House Museum – with an expanded gift shop. I’ll write about that in the weeks to come.

I’ve written about our Museum previously here on #TravelThursday, and I’ll be writing about it a lot more in the future. I plan to be a docent there once I’m retired and living full-time here in Sebring in the new year, and I’ll probably work the gift shop as well. I also plan to write about (promote) our Museum across multiple social media platforms that I’m active on.

Later yesterday morning I ventured over to Strangely Warmed Coffee Co. They are a specialty coffee roaster located in a quaint warehouse just off “The Circle” in historic downtown Sebring.

Fun Fact # 1 – Specialty coffees are markedly different from regular coffees in the sense that they are grown at higher elevations, are traceable, and are processed and graded carefully once harvested.

Fun Fact # 2 – Specialty coffee goes beyond the quality of the beans. The processing, brewing, and roasting are equally important to have a great coffee experience that represents one of the world’s most affordable luxuries.

I met Steve – a co-owner of the company – and he gave me the grand tour of the facility. It was very impressive. It’s a smooth operation. After that we just talked for about an hour. We eventually realized how small our world was. He’s one of my neighbors. He lives in the same exact model condo as I do. Furthermore – he knows one of the Directors of the Sebring Historical Society. They attend the same church together. Finally – my own church here in Sebring serves Strangely Warmed Coffee. (I had no idea.) He knows my Pastor !

I already consider Steve a friend. I’ll be visiting him at his workplace every so often just to hang out for a little while, and to also buy a bag of dark roast coffee (in K-Cups) from him. He gave me a cup of coffee while I was there, and I drank it all up during our conversation. It was definitely very good. It was smoother than grocery store-bought K-Cups. I may have bought my last box of K-Cups from Publix.

Strangely Warmed Coffee Co. is on Facebook, and you can also visit their official web site. Check them out. They also sell their coffee in a few local area stores, and they serve it in a few local area restaurants. I’ll probably write about them again here on my blog and across social media.

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll look back at my very first Caribbean cruise from exactly 32 years ago. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2023 Christopher M. Day, CountUp