Category: Travel

Miles

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date October 22, 2020

I’m currently on-track to drive just a little over 300 miles this month for the 3RD month in a row. That’s an improvement over April and May (during the peak of the pandemic) when I drove a mere 120 miles and 173 miles respectively. The anomaly months since the pandemic began were June and July when I drove 1,175 miles and 1,227 miles respectively. (Of course I also drove to and from South Alabama while on vacation.)

I’ll finish 2020 with less than 6,500 miles driven – well below my 2015 to 2019 annual average of over 10,200 miles.

I hope to get back to driving in a more normal year in 2021 with a few fun road-trips in the mix. I may also drive almost 3,000 miles to and from North Texas next November. I usually do so every 2 to 3 years, and I last did so last year.

And now for a different type of miles – my walking miles as per my Fitbit. In 2019 I averaged 17.27 miles per week. In 2020 I’m down to an average of 14.95 miles per week. I need to get more exercise in by walking more. I also need for it to cool down a bit here in South Florida. We typically drop into the 60s (20°C and below) in the morning for the first time in 5+ months in late-October / early-November once our 7-month dry season becomes fully entrenched. Once we start feeling the 60s I can get out early in the morning and walk around my neighborhood or drive down to the city park and walk laps around the asphalt track.

It’s all about moving from here to there whether it’s on 4 wheels or 2 feet. It’s all about the miles.

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I Just Flew To And From Texas, And Boy Are My Arms Tired !

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date October 15, 2020

For the first time in 10 months – and first time during the COVID-19 pandemic – I flew the friendly skies between South Florida and North Texas on September 24TH and October 01ST (both Thursdays).

Aside from the “new normal” of constantly wearing a face mask while inside the airports and on the airplanes everything else was close to the way it’s always been. Security was the same. You still had to remove everything from your pockets and take your shoes off. You still had to remove laptops and tablets and liquids from your carry-on bags.

I tried something new for all of my flights. I checked-in via my airline’s iOS app up to 24 hours in advance, and I even paid for my baggage on the app. I used an electronic boarding pass. Once I got to the airports I simply walked-up to a kiosk, scanned my boarding pass, printed my baggage tag, slipped it on my baggage, and turned it in at the counter. It all worked flawlessly. One of the advantages of doing all of that electronically is that the app gives you a current location status of your checked-in baggage. I didn’t have to worry whether or not my baggage was on the same airplane as I was on. I knew it was. I’ll be going electronic on all future flights.

My flight from #MIA to #DFW early in the morning (boarding began a little before 5 AM) was jam-packed at or near 100% capacity. Social distancing only applied up until the point that you entered the aircraft. After that you were pretty much piled on top of each other. I actually took a short follow-on flight from #DFW to #SPS (Wichita Falls), and that flight was perhaps 30% full. #SocialDistancing

A week later on the return trip back to #MIA (out of #DFW) my mid-morning to mid-afternoon flight was once again at or near 100% capacity, and it was a Boeing 777 ! I was actually blessed with extra legroom on this flight, as I was directly behind the main cabin restrooms. Seats were 10 across, and I was in 1 of the 4 middle seats.

Air traffic is down about 70% from last year, and one of the advantages of that are most flights are departing their gates, taking-off, landing, and arriving at their gates early – before their scheduled times. That was the case for all 3 of my flights. At both #MIA and #DFW it was quite eerie to see so few people walking around inside the terminals. At #MIA there were parking spaces available starting at ground level in their main parking garage. I had never seen that before. I pulled-in to a parking space less than a minute after entering.

Want something to eat and drink while inflight ? You’ll get an individually-sealed plastic bag with a small package of cookies and a small bottled water inside. No coffee. No soda. No snack boxes for $5. Those days are over.

Finally it just wouldn’t feel right if I didn’t bring back this gem from the classic days of this blog. This is the way flying used to be en route to Miami, and then once you got here – it was #GoGo time !

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Road Trip !

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date October 8, 2020

I spent a week with my family (immediate and extended) in North Texas during the last 7 days of September. (I actually flew back home to South Florida on October 01ST.)

During the #Texoma portion of my visit we continued tradition by going on a fun road trip about an hour or two away from the Wichita Falls area. In previous years we’ve gone north, east, southeast, and south. This year we went a new direction – northeast – about 70 miles to the historic town of Duncan Oklahoma. We visited a fun museum – the Chisholm Trail Heritage Center & Garis Gallery Of The American West. We also checked-out a large nursery (garden store) as well as some antique stores along the way.

Up until a couple of years ago I was made aware of the destination(s) of our road trips days and even weeks in advance. That allowed me to do research to find out more about it. But then last year my first cousin once removed (leader of our road trips) decided that it would be more fun if I knew nothing about the destination until we got there. She wanted it to be a surprise to me. We’ve occasionally made a wrong turn and gotten lost along the way to some of our destinations, so it seemed like a surprise to her as well. But getting lost along the way is part of the fun of a family road trip.

We didn’t get lost on this road trip to and from Duncan. My cousin knew exactly where she was going.

Another educational and entertaining road-trip is in the books, and I’ve got the photos to remind me of the good times that we shared together. I’m looking forward to the next destination in September of 2021.

Tags Family, Oklahoma, Texas, Travel

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Sunday Scripture

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date October 4, 2020

Greetings family and friends. It’s Sunday October 04TH 2020, and this is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it. Let us celebrate this new day – this new season !

This is the U.S. Autumn Season Premiere of my blog. It will last for 6½ weeks, so that’s 26 blog posts in a row every Thursday, Friday, Sunday, and Monday – starting today !

I’m back home from my annual late-September trip to North Texas to visit family. It was a fun week with good food, lots of laughs, sharing old memories, creating new memories, and visiting new places. I’ll share a little bit more of that over the next few Thursday blog posts.

My Scripture for this Sunday is a good one for travel. Whether you’re driving to church, or driving to work, or taking a flight out to another part of the country or the world – remember this:

Your Word is a lamp to guide my feet, and a light for my path.
I’ve promised it once, and I’ll promise it again: I will obey Your righteous regulations.
I have suffered much – O LORD. Restore my life again as You promised.
LORD – accept my offering of praise, and teach me Your regulations.
(Psalm 119:105-108 NLT)

God’s Word is our light forward, and His light shows us the way – the only way – towards eternal life with Him. Let His light shine forth in your life for guidance and direction. Let His light eradicate the darkness along your path.