Category: Travel

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Blogging Driving Health Home Life Travel

Spring Season Finale

Greetings my friends. Thanks for checking-in and tracking with me. Happy Thursday June 18TH 2020. It’s the start of another weekend of blogging here at #CountUp – because weekends begin on Thursday mornings. This weekend is special though, as it’s my “Spring Season Finale” (hence the title). What does that mean ? That means it’s time to take a break from social media after 15½ weekends of non-stop blogging and 63 posts in a row.

This Spring season of blogging began on Sunday March 08TH 2020 – just as the global pandemic was gaining steam and forcing us into seclusion in our own homes. I had just returned from a Pastors’ conference of 5,000+ strong in Orlando as well as a MercyMe / Jeremy Camp concert in a packed sports arena near Fort Myers.

This past Monday and Tuesday I drove 21 and 22 miles respectively (to and from my workplace). That 22 miles was (incredibly) the most miles driven in a single day in over 3 months. I actually filled-up my car with gas that day for the first time in 50 days. I had previously gone 48 days between fill-ups.

This past Tuesday was also a rare 3-mile walking day for me (as per my Fitbit). It was the first one in over a month, and only the 9TH one since the global pandemic began. (3 miles is a little over 6,500 steps for me.)

So once this weekend is over I’ll be walking more, I’ll be driving more, and I’ll be getting more natural Vitamin D – outdoors. I’ll be driving about 1,700 miles (round-trip) after this weekend. That’s about the number of miles I’ve driven since February 01ST 2020 ! I’ll share the details with you when I return after the 04TH of July. #RoadTrip

But this weekend is just getting started. I’ll be back tomorrow (Friday) for an all-new RETRO from 2000. On Sunday I’ll share God’s Word with you. And then on Monday it’s my brand new Top 10 music chart. After that I’ll be on hiatus for almost 2 weeks.

I’ll catch you tomorrow. Have a great Thursday !

All rights reserved (c) 2020 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

Categories
Blogging Driving Food Home Life Travel

My New Normal

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began – or more specifically since Friday March 20TH 2020 – I’ve driven a grand total of 367 miles over the past 76 days. That’s an average of less than 5 miles per day. (Generally I average 28 miles per day over the course of a year including road-trips.)

Over the past 76 days I drove 0 miles on 47 of those days. #SaferAtHome

I haven’t driven more than 3 days in a row since March 17TH to 20TH (4 days in a row).

I filled-up with gas on April 27TH – 48 days after the previous time I filled-up. I still have more than a half-tank remaining.

All of this ends later this month when I embark on a 1,600+ mile road-trip. That 1,600+ miles will occur during an 8-day stretch in which I’ll visit longtime friends along the way, and spend quality time with family. #Excited

I finally got a haircut for the first time in over 4 months. Usually I get one after a little more than 2 months. My hair was out-of-control. I was starting to look a lot like disheveled “Younger Me”.

This Friday June 05TH is my birthday, and I’ll be enjoying a nice delicious Lunch inside a popular local restaurant for the first time since March 15TH. I’ll be eating out a lot during this month, as I take advantage of lots of free birthday delights !

It’s Thursday June 04TH 2020, and this blog post goes LIVE at 3 AM EDT (U.S. East Coast time). It’s the start of a fresh new weekend of blogging for me. I’ll be back tomorrow (Friday) to go RETRO – back to a previous birthday from 49 years ago. #1971

All rights reserved (c) 2020 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

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Career Driving Life Military Travel

My Final 3½ Years Of My Air Force Career

I am currently in my final 3½ years of my Air Force career (hence the title above). In 2 weeks I’ll observe my 35TH anniversary as an Air Force employee. After 5 years, and 10 years, and 15 years, and even 20 years – I never imagined making this my career. Even in 2007 after 22 years I was on the verge of moving on. But then the greatest 13 years of my career began, and it continues to this day.

According to my plans – which are always superseded by God’s plans (I wrote and preached an entire sermon on that) – I’ll be retiring sometime in December 2023 at the age of 56½ (my minimum retirement age). I plan to move about 3 hours north of where I am now – up into the central part of the state of Florida along the Lake Wales Ridge – the spine of the peninsular part of Florida. A long long time ago when present-day Florida was submerged underwater – only the spine existed as a narrow series of small islands (much like the Keys exist today). The sandy ground of the region are remants of when beaches existed there.

There’s a 54-mile stretch of U.S. 27 that rides high atop the Lakes Wales Ridge from State Road 70 to the south to State Road 60 to the north. It includes the historic small towns of Lake Placid, Sebring, Avon Park, and Lake Wales. That’s my retirement destination – with Sebring being Ground Zero.

I’ve already selected a few neighborhoods (online) that I’d like to check-out for future living possibilities. At some of them you have to be 55 years of age or older. OK – I’ll see you all in 2022.

Sebring Pier over Lake Jackson looking back towards downtown

During my retirement years I hope to work part-time somewhere (maybe Publix), and volunteer hours at various places such as a local military museum and a large state park. I also hope to go in to full-time ministry with a local church. I’ll be very busy during my upcoming retirement years, but I’ll also make time to travel more – especially right here stateside – where I’ve only set foot in a little more than half of our 50 states.

It’ll be a brave new world that I’ll enter into in about 3½ years, but I’ll be ready for it.

All rights reserved (c) 2020 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

Categories
1990s Career Computers Home Military Travel

My Last 2 Years On Active Duty Air Force

National Military Appreciation Month continues on this 3RD Thursday of the month with my own appreciation of my 35-year career with the United States Air Force. It’s no secret that I’m currently in the greatest 13-year era of my career. It started at the end of July of 2007, and it continues to this day. But there’s a runner-up to this great era, and that’s January 1991 to February 1993.

I was sent to war (Operation Desert Shield / Storm) as 1991 began. I didn’t volunteer for it. I’m actually quite antiwar. I was sent as punishment by my supervisors at the time. They didn’t like me, and they made life miserable for me. I threatened to report them for harassment. Before I could take action on that they sent me away to Saudi Arabia.

As it turns out my deployment overseas into the war zone turned out to be the turning point of my career back then. I was scared over there due to an uncertain future, but I also made new friends with fellow airmen from other bases, and I matured quite a bit in “Tent City” in the desert. I flopped at building fuel tanks, but I exceled at building bombs.

When I returned home to Homestead AFB after the war I was immediately sent home to my family near Washington D.C. for up to 30 days of uncharged “rest and recuperation” leave. When I returned to the base I met my brand new supervisor. You see my previous supervisor, and a few others as well – were relieved of their duties and sent away while I was away. I wasn’t informed of the specifics, but the outcome was great. There was even a reorganization of our squadron and flight structure. We even moved to a different building down towards the other end of the airfield. It continued the peak of my career at that time that started at wartime.

And then Hurricane Andrew destroyed the base. I became a “refugee” at Andrews AFB Maryland. I picked that base because it was my hometown base at the time – closest to my family. I really liked my supervisor and coworkers at my new base. They treated me nice. They respected me. I respected them. I informed them quite early on that I would not be reenlisting for a 3RD 4-year term in early-1993, so they had me for about 6 months to do what they wanted with me. They had me teach them everything I knew about the computer system and database that we managed and utilized in my career field at that time. They were so impressed that they had me teach the rest of the base as well. I was essentially a teacher for my 6 months there. They gave me a bunch of awards for my work during my short stay there – the most prominent of which hangs on my wall just above my computer workstation here.

My last duty day was the same day that the World Trade Center in New York City was bombed the first time around (Friday February 26TH 1993). We found out about the bombing via overhead TV sets at Pizza Hut where we had my farewell luncheon. I went on “terminal leave” for a month after that, and at the end of March I was officially out of the Air Force after nearly 8 years, or so I thought …

gray plane inside hangar
Photo by Kelly Lacy on Pexels.com

All rights reserved (c) 2020 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries