Category: Travel

My Concerts – 2021

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date January 17, 2022

Every Monday I post my all-new Top 10 Christian hit music chart based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay from the previous week. It’s the continuation of a weekly hobby that goes back 40+ years.

My chart is offline for this week’s edition. It will return next Monday.

Today it’s a #CountUp special. It’s a look back at my concerts from 2021.

I attended 3 concerts in 2021. That’s a slight uptick from 2020 (Pre-COVID) when I managed just 2 concerts. By comparison I attended 12 concerts / LIVE events in 2019, 5 in 2018, and 5 in 2017.

3 months ago in Tampa Florida I saw MercyMe, Micah Tyler, and Sam Wesley and his band. Sam is Bart Millard’s son, and he also plays guitar for MercyMe on tour.

The next night I drove down to Estero (between Fort Myers and Naples), and I saw Casting Crowns and Matthew West in a show that was postponed twice during COVID in 2020. I had a ticket to the show for 21 months. It was well worth the wait. It was my very first Matthew West concert. My second Matthew West concert may be soon !

The first of the three concerts occurred in February. Here’s what I wrote about it back then:

Last Sunday night (February 14TH 2021) I attended TobyMac’s “Hits Deep Tour 2021” at the BB&T Center here in South Florida (Sunrise). It was my first LIVE concert in over 11 months (since just before COVID shut-down America), and it was my first LIVE concert at the BB&T Center in over 15 months. It was also my 3RD TobyMac concert in mid-February over the past 4 years.

The wearing of face masks was mandatory and strictly enforced by staff. The arena had socially-distanced seating. Individuals and groups were more than 6 feet apart from others both in the standard (elevated) seating as well as the floor seating. Arena seating (usable for the concert) was probably no more than about 20% to 25% full. It was one of the best concert experiences I can ever remember for the simple reason that I had plenty of room to stand-up and dance all around my seat on the floor, and I did just that. Everyone had their own personal dancefloor !

I was seated along the right-edge of the floor in the center of the arena. There were two stages – the main stage up-front – and the center stage to the left of me (by about 20 feet or so).

Unspoken kicked-off the show from the main stage, and then Terrian performed from the center stage. We Are Messengers were up next from the main stage, and then Cochren & Co. took over from the center stage. Tauren Wells performed from the main stage. The first 5 artists split (almost evenly) 1 hour and 20 minutes (about 15 minutes apiece). They were all great. We Are Messengers are my personal favorite of the 5, so naturally I was singing and dancing along through all of their hits. I liked when Chad Mattson (lead singer of Unspoken) guest-performed “Echo” (the Elevation Worship song) with Tauren Wells.

After a 35-minute sermon and fundraising push (Food For The Hungry) TobyMac took center stage for “The Elements”. He performed non-stop hits for the next 1 hour and 35 minutes – performing about half of his set from the main stage – and half from the center stage. The guy has so much energy for his age. (He’s 56.) He’s also from one of my childhood hometowns of Fairfax County Virginia.

Terrian was with Toby for many of his hits. (She’s a back-up vocalist with Toby’s Diverse City band.) Michael Cochren assisted Toby with one of his hits.

What a great night to praise and worship my Lord & Savior Jesus Christ with my instant church family for the night.

This concludes another weekend of blog posts. I’ll do it again this upcoming weekend – with 4 new entries on Thursday, Friday, Sunday, and Monday. I don’t blog on Saturdays. That’s my day of rest.

Your likes, follows, and comments are always appreciated. Thank You for being part of my online ministry to share God’s Good News and win souls for Christ through His music. I’m also on Twitter and Flickr.

Be blessed my friends ! May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Blogging Driving History Military Travel

My November Vacation 2021 Road-Trip

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date January 13, 2022

#TravelThursday continues now with Part 7 of my 7-part blog series on my recent 18-day road-trip between South Florida and North Texas.

Last week I left-off at the end of Day 17 at my hotel destination in Crystal River Florida – about 6 hours from home. Had I not stopped for the night in Crystal River and I continued all the way home – I probably would’ve arrived by 12 Midnight. (Remember I started the previous day in Hattiesburg Mississippi, so that would’ve been an almost 850-mile drive for the day.)

I can’t drive 850 miles in a single day. I used to be able to. I once drove 1,095 miles in a single day from Northern Virginia to South Florida – only to be stopped just shy of the main gate of Homestead Air Force Base because the base was in a short lockdown at the time (almost 3 AM) due to the arrival of Manuel Noriega from Panama. #PerfectTiming

Nowadays 600 miles in a single day is my maximum, and 500 miles is closer to my comfort level. Driving to Texas I had a 519-mile day. Driving from Texas I had two back-to-back 523-mile days. I’m too old to drive much more than that in a single day.

So the drive home – I took Florida State Road 44 eastward to U.S. 27 in Leesburg (a northwestern suburb of Orlando). Leesburg is a city that I’d like to visit for a few days to explore. I’ve only driven through a small portion of it (many times). I think a lot of retired people live there (I know at least two), but as the Orlando Metropolitan Area continues to expand (especially northwestward) I fear that it will experience a population explosion in the next couple of decades and lose its small-town charm. Mount Dora is nearby (about 15 miles from Leesburg). I’ve heard a lot of good things about Mount Dora. Maybe I need to visit the area for more than a few days.

I took U.S. 27 southward for over 240 miles on that last Sunday morning of November through Clermont, Haines City, Lake Wales, Avon Park, Sebring, Lake Placid, Moore Haven, Clewiston, South Bay, and then into West Broward (County). I then picked-up Florida State Road 997 (Krome Avenue) just south of the Miami-Dade County line, and I took that straight into Homestead. I arrived home at exactly 1 PM on that 18TH day of my road-trip.

I drove 325 miles on that final day for a grand total of 2,822 miles from Thursday November 11TH through Sunday November 28TH. By comparison – in the previous 174 days combined I drove 2,823 miles.

Next #TravelThursday – I’m leaving the country.

Tags Crystal Springs, Florida, Leesburg, Mount Dora

Blogging Driving Food Holidays Television Travel Weather

My November Vacation 2021 Road-Trip

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date January 6, 2022

#TravelThursday continues now with Part 6 of my 7-part blog series on my recent 18-day road-trip between South Florida and North Texas.

Last week I left-off at the end of Day 16 at my hotel destination on the west side of Hattiesburg right around sunset that night. It was my 2ND stay at that particular hotel, and it was a good night’s stay. Back in November I wrote all about Hattiesburg Mississippi here on #TravelThursday. On a future road-trip I need to spend a couple of days there exploring the local area rather than just a hotel night.

Early the next morning – Saturday November 27TH 2021 – I departed at dawn with freezing cold temperatures and a heavy layer of frost on my car windows. Temperatures dropped to as low as 30°F / -1°C during the first hour of my drive southeastward along historic U.S. 98. I drove through Semmes and Mobile Alabama right around 8 AM, and on the east side of Mobile (after another scenic drive along Battleship Parkway) I picked-up I-10 eastward.

Post-Thanksgiving holiday traffic on I-10 eastward was a madhouse. Once again it was quite scary driving through Pensacola. It didn’t really get much better after that. I don’t think I’ve seen and experienced I-10 as busy as it was on that Saturday.

I eventually had enough of the extreme anxiety, and I got off I-10 about 95 miles earlier than originally planned – at U.S. 231 – which leads southward into Panama City. I’m very familiar with this road, as one of my longtime friends has lived a couple of miles off the road for the past 20+ years. After a fuel pitstop at Love’s (my new favorite gas station / travel stop on the road) I took a series of backroads across the Florida Panhandle (south of Tallahassee) and into the “Big Bend” area of the Florida peninsula.

U.S. 98 is fun (translation – peaceful) to drive between Hattiesburg Mississippi and Mobile Alabama, and I especially love it along the “Big Bend” area of Florida south of Perry. I picked-up U.S. 98 in Wakulla County – which is another fascinating area of my state that I’ve spent very little time in (other than driving through). I’m a big fan of “Welcome To Plathville” on TLC, and on a recent Season 3 episode the family ventured down to Wakulla Springs State Park for some fun in the sun and sea. Now I want to visit !

I enjoyed a nice #LuDinner (late-Lunch / early-Dinner combined) at an all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant in Chiefland – which incidentally I plan to eat at on every future visit through Chiefland. After my hearty meal I continued on for another hour to my hotel destination for the night in Crystal Springs (another town I’ve spent the night at previously). It’s located along U.S. 98 and Florida State Road 44, and where the two routes meet – it’s a very busy and congested intersection.

From the very cold low-30s up to the mild mid-60s – those were the temperatures during my drive back into my home state.

Just like Day 16 I drove another 523 miles on Day 17, so that’s 2,497 miles on this road-trip so far. And that’s where I’ll end Part 6 of this 7-part blog series. I’ll conclude with my road-trip adventures and experiences next #TravelThursday.

Tags Alabama, Chiefland, Crystal Springs, Florida, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Mobile, Wakulla

1980s Blogging Holidays Music Radio Travel

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1986

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date December 31, 2021

Every Friday 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, 25, 30, or 35 years ago this weekend (rotating each week).

It’s the 5TH Friday of the month, so it’s a special. But since #RetroFriday wasn’t presented last week (due to Christmas Eve) – I’ll go back 35 years ago for this edition. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday December 28TH 1986:

“Dreamin'” – Status Quo
“The Boy In The Bubble” – Paul Simon
“Reet Petite” – Jackie Wilson
“C’est La Vie” – Robbie Nevil
“Open Your Heart” – Madonna

What a memorable last weekend of 1986. I actually flew home from London England to Washington D.C. a few days before that Christmas to spend some quality time with my family after missing the previous Christmas (and two Thanksgivings) with them.

Paul Simon’s “The Boy In The Bubble” was a great song off a great album – “Graceland” – which I owned in cassette form. Like “You Can Call Me Al” before it – I memorized the lyrics of “The Boy In The Bubble” after hearing it numerous times on the radio – British radio. Both singles were far more popular across the European continent (and Australia and New Zealand) than they were stateside. “The Boy In The Bubble” was a # 16 hit in the Netherlands and a # 26 hit in the United Kingdom. On my own personal chart it became a # 1 smash in January 1987.

Here’s the official music video, and I still know its lyrics to this day:

Next Friday on RETRO I’ll go back 15 years ago to January 2007.

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 !