Category: Travel

Homestead Homecoming

I’m back from vacation, and this blog is back from its 2½-week hiatus. This is the 13TH season premiere of this blog – a blog that started on Myspace in 2007 towards the end of my first year of salvation in Christ, went to WordPress a few months later, drifted over to Facebook for a few years, and then returned back here to WordPress almost 2 years ago.

I returned home to Homestead Florida after one of the longest road-trips of my life – a 2,990.5-mile / 13-day / 12-night / 6-state / 2-time-zone road-trip to and from North Texas to visit family and friends along the way. It was great to see and catch-up with everyone !

It’s great to be back home again. I went back to work today – almost 10 hours of it. I even loaded-up on groceries at Publix after work. (That’s my favorite store in the world.) I’m especially looking forward to reuniting with my church family this Sunday. I’ll be leading Communion. Life is good. God is great !

All of my regular weekend blog series are back for a new season. Tomorrow (Friday) I’ll go RETRO – back to 2009. On Sunday I’ll share God’s Word with Scripture. On Monday it’s my brand new Top 10 hit music chart. I blog every Thursday, Friday, Sunday, and Monday with new blogs going up at 3 AM EDT (U.S. East Coast time) – except for Sunday which posts later in the day. In-between blogs I tweet occasionally @ChrisMDay.

Animals Church Driving Food Nature Photography Travel

Weekend Kickoff Mini-Thoughts

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date August 1, 2019
1 Comment on Weekend Kickoff Mini-Thoughts

Let’s try this again – a rapid-fire session of thoughts on my mind right this minute:

I went on a short weekend getaway last weekend.
I left at dawn last Friday, and I returned late this past Monday morning.
It was a 76-hour vacation away from home.
I drove about 140 miles away from home, so not too far.
Once upon a time I’d announce my vacations away from home on social media.
I’m much smarter nowadays, as I now reveal vacations after-the-fact.
So I drove to Fort Myers Florida on Friday.
I ate Breakfast at Perkins along the way in Naples.
I like Perkins. I wish we had those here at home.
I enjoyed a late Lunch / early Dinner at Outback Steakhouse.
I can’t remember the last time I ate there (maybe over 10 years ?)
We don’t have one close to home, but we have Longhorn & Texas here.
I love to eat steak !
I saw longtime comedian Brian Regan LIVE in concert that night.
He packed-in a lot of laughs in 55 minutes.
I wish he had performed for 90 minutes.
He left us wanting more, so he did his job as a comedian.
He had an opening act too – a comedian that made us laugh for 15 minutes.
The next morning I headed over to Fort Myers Beach.
I visited “The Island” (as the natives refer to it) 7 times from 2011 to 2015.
It was love at first sight at the end of April of 2011.
I thought I had found my future retirement town.
On subsequent visits I discovered the “seedier” side of town.
I decided not to retire there.
I decided to stop visiting there.
So this was my 8TH visit, but 1ST visit in a little over 4 years.
It’s still a fun place to visit.
I’ll visit for a 9TH time sooner rather than later.
I did considerable research on churches on the island beforehand.
There are a lot of churches along its narrow 7-mile length.
A friend suggested a specific church to visit.
I watched the previous Sunday sermon from the Pastor.
I didn’t care for his style. He was too Jimmy Buffett-like.
He acted too silly for me.
His use of Scripture was mighty thin too.
I like a Pastor with a sense of humor, but this dude was over-the-top.
I ended-up watching a LIVE Facebook feed of my own Pastor back home.
I like his style.
Later on Sunday night I took a fun 3-hour boat cruise that I pre-booked.
It was billed as a “Dolphin & Shelling Sunset Cruise“.
There were 38 of us including the Captain & Skipper.
Both narrated portions of the cruise.
We saw lots of birds at play on the various islands.
Dolphins jumped all around us at the rear of the boat.
Those dolphins know how to get from Point A to Point B quicker.
They simply ride the waves created by the boat.
I didn’t get any pictures of the dolphins because there were lots of kids too.
They blocked my view, but it’s all good.
The sunset was beautiful too, but again my line-of-sight was blocked.
I did manage to get one reasonably good photo of the sunset.

Sunset (Cruise)

You’re lookin’ good Fort Myers Beach !

1980s Career Food Health History Life Military Travel

Chanute AFB Illinois

I’m coming up on the 34TH Anniversary of my graduation from USAF BMT. That stands for United States Air Force Basic Military Training. I was stationed at Lackland AFB in San Antonio Texas from June 13TH 1985 (early in the morning – like right after Midnight) to July 29TH 1985 (at dawn). It was the roughest and toughest 46 days / 6½ weeks of my life at that point. (I had just turned 18.)

On July 29TH 1985 (a Monday) I boarded a plane (with others) from San Antonio Texas to Champaign County Illinois. I got food poisoning on the plane. That was when full hot meals were still served on airplanes. After landing we were transported from the airport to Chanute Air Force Base (near Rantoul Illinois). Everyone else was taken to their respective squadrons for in-processing. I was taken to the Base Hospital where I spent a couple of days and nights recuperating.

On the 3RD day I rose again – out of my hospital bed fully recovered, and I was released to my squadron. I moved-in to my dormitory room – my home for the next 3 months. School started soon for me. I would soon learn how to be an Aircraft Maintenance Systems Analyst (think “Statistician”). I was in a class of 4.

Today – 34 years later – I am an Analyst / Statistician, and I work for the United States Air Force.

Animals Career Driving History Life Military Music Radio Travel

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 2004

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date July 12, 2019

Every Friday night I post the Top 5 of one of my classic hit music charts based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay from either 10, 15, 20, or 30 years ago this weekend (rotating each week).

It’s the 2ND Friday of the month, so I go back 15 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday July 11TH 2004:

“Ocean Avenue” – Yellowcard
“Meant To Live” – Switchfoot
“The Reason” – Hoobastank
“Hey Mama” – The Black Eyed Peas
“Pieces Of Me” – Ashlee Simpson

15 years ago this weekend seems so long ago. I had recently flipped away from electronic dance music and returned to my roots in calmer pop music. I actually don’t remember much about 2004, and I really choose to not remember much about that year. It was a forgettable year. I wasn’t happy at work, and I wasn’t particularly happy at home either. I came home to my cat every afternoon, and he adored me. He was my best friend at the time. I still miss him over 12 years after his passing. #Boots

It’s interesting what I discover when I review old E-Mails. 15 years ago TODAY – the 12TH of July of 2004 (a Monday) I drove about 650 miles from a hotel very near Walt Disney World (like a mile away) to a suburb south of New Orleans. I was TDY (military term = temporary duty) at NAS JRB New Orleans during that week. According to my extensive records I filled-up with gas twice that day during my drive westward, and I paid $1.959 and $1.919 per gallon for gas.

It’s halftime my friends. I’ll be back on Sunday afternoon and Monday night with two more blog posts for this weekend. Enjoy your Saturday. Thanks for going RETRO with me !

Tags 2004